Originally posted by juu Ah, it's you again. Taking something out of the context, setting up a strawman, still failing miserably to make a point.
a) The topic of the discussion is mirrorless standards
M-mount is mirrorless. It has been since 1954. The topic of discussion is actually sensor size for Pentax EVIL.
It says so in the title.
Originally posted by juu b) By "fully" supported I mean by producing both lenses and bodies which support AF. In the context of the discussion of mounts Pentax should support for their EVIL, mounts which don't support AF like M-mount are quite irrelevant.
Are there any modern mounts besides m43 for which multiple companies currently produce bodies (supporting AF)?
And, yeah, I have no problem whatsoever referring to the original K-mount and Leica M-mount as standards and yeah they were supported by multiple companies. Go bonkers. So what?
Now you're trying to drag an entire discussion into your very narrowly defined terms like AF-compatibility. Who made you architect?
Quote: mounts which don't support AF like M-mount are quite irrelevant.
Why?
How is this any different from Schneider or Cosina who typically produce only MF lenses and are now licensees of m43? Isn't MF their brand appeal?
As many will prefer an eye-level VF and many still prefer MF (especially those willing to pay $9,000 for an M9 body only) what's the point of such orthodoxy and doctrine? The market is large and can accommodate many preferences.
And a major feature of Pentax has been its backwards compatibility for non-AF lenses; the whole lens mount loyalty which has sustained them in the first place.
No one has restricted compatibility to AF lenses but you. The "context of the discussion" is sensor size--says so in the title. m43 is smaller. It has less IQ compared to APS-C for which k-mount has a solid lens array. Any Pentax move to EVIL will be to preserve their APS-C IQ and not downgrade to m43. They may pull an Auto 110 trying to take share away from the superzoom/G12/high-end sort of compact range, but will do so so as not to cannibalize their APS-C DSLR base providing them by far the bulk of their gross revenues.
As I stated earlier, the core of Pentax's margins is the Limited lens buyer and any downgrade to a smaller sensor for the established lens line would destroy the brand's customer base, right where the bulk of profits are made.
m43 is a "standard' no more unique than k-mount in 1975 or m-mount in 1954 save that royalties go to Olympus. It's only difference in the digital world is it uses an inferior sensor to APS-C. If the choice is an inferior sensor or keeping its Limited crowd it seems Pentax's decision is obvious.