Originally posted by ogl What about Pentax?
Slow DA70/2.4, DA35/2.8, DA40/2.8, non-cheap DA*55/1.4....Hmmmmm.
It's not slow. That's thinking form ages ago, from film days, and people still believe that crazy myth for some odd reason. Same as thinking big Cray supercomputer is better because it's bigger than today's iMac, which is better than Cray in every other way than in its size.
Give me "slow" but optically excellent DA40 f2.8 and I'll give you tons of cheap 50mm/1.4 for a swap. Take all of them. It's Canon, Nikon and especially old dog Zeiss who still play that old, boring game for people who haven't changed their thinking yet.
All Pentax primes will be three times faster and three times more valuable on a new body with several extra clear f-stops gained from capable sensor alone. We're just stepped into the territory that shifts digital photography away from film by a second huge step ahead: 1. not just with clearer / more defined image (for those who like that feature), but also 2. super hi-iso capability, unthinkable before. So far with our K20Ds, K-7s, etc. we have had just that first step ahead and thus same need for big, super-fast lenses. Big, prestige glass. Something we can be proud of and gloat about. But with K-x and new toys around .. it changes.
With Pentax now you actually have more better, smaller and capable choices, but many people don't realise that. All this was unthinkable in an old world where f1.4 was a paragon of a good photography. But those extra digital f-stops ahead change our needs and perceptions about lenses too, size of our DSLR equipment, etc. Yet we refuse to see it. There's something romantic about it, I admit. Makes us look like brontosauruses in love. :-)
PS. I know, I know, someone will jump in and say it's also about DoF, not just light gathering. However, optically excellent f2.8 lens will have a far better bohkeh and clarity from start than some mediocre 1.4 lens stepped down, but priced and produced to catch sales only. It's quality, baby, it always shines, even if its small. ;-)
PPS. Hoya got this right, my friend. They bet on future,
not on past thinking.