Originally posted by Fogel70 In a mirrorless system for the future I do not see much use in keeping K-mount.
You missed where I wrote, "ignoring the mirrorless issue". So did everyone else; perhaps I should have included it in the bold. I wanted to focus on things like electronic aperture, not registration distance.
Originally posted by Clinton I find this whole notion is preposterous. First, why buy Pentax if not for the K mount and support.
I am putting forward the idea that they stick with the K-mount for another 3-6 years, and then bring in a new mount that can better support forthcoming lens features that don't currently exist.
The interview talk about better-than-HD resolution TV seemed almost out of place. Possibly it refers to criticisms of electronic viewfinders, and is also hinting that it would be premature to switch to the new system right now. Indeed, most of the interview could be read as saying, "This stuff is obvious and inevitable, but not yet".
Quote: And when all is said and done, your camera isn't actually going to be any thinner than it is now.
As an aside: isn't this mostly about weight? People don't necessarily want a full-frame inter-changeable lens camera to be tiny in size, especially if they have big hands. Part of the joy of an SLR is having a large body with large buttons and controls and plenty of them. However, if you have to carry it for any length of time you want it as light as possible. Getting rid of the mirror should make it lighter. The bigger the sensor, the bigger the mirror, and the heavier that chunk of glass will be. The interview also implies they see a major image quality benefit in eliminating mirror-slap. So a mirrorless full-frame does make sense for reasons other than size - or will do when the EVF gets good enough.
Presumably Pentax have continued doing research under Hoya, but presumably also Hoya didn't give them much of a budget, so they have lots of ideas but not much actual development. Now Ricoh has come along with money and faith. Innovative things can happen, but not immediately. I am now wondering if the Q was a sort-of dry run, an experiment into releasing a new mount. I'd expect other forthcoming bodies to test the waters in other ways (perhaps a mirrorless APS-C K-mount to trial their EVF, for example), with the big splash new mount coming later.