Originally posted by Rude Silly question. This lens reminds me of those really cheap 500 or 1000mm "telescope" design lenses that you see all the time on ebay, etc. Is it possible that Pentax took the basics of one of those designs, then gave it fairly good glass, coatings and higher manufacturing standards? If that is the case, could we see a fairly inexpensive ($799) price tag for a lens that delivers so so optical performance?
Aimed at moon snappers, parents shooting a soccer game, dudes with "equipment" envy? Is this one of those, "we owned the design patents from our telescope group, so we're slapping them together with a k-mount because we can?" Not sure if I'm crazy, perhapsI'm trapped in an eternal stream of pessimism.
Do you have $10,000 or $15,000 to spend on a ~600mm telephoto? I don't and you can bet that most Pentaxians don't either.
Canon and Nikon have a large base of existing customers to draw from, so even if they only sell an expensive telephoto to a tiny percentage of customers, they can still sell a number of them. Pentax used to be included in this group when it was selling millions of cameras, which is exactly when we saw their legendary telephotos on the market. That is not the case today and they know it.
The only other reason to produced an extremely expensive telephoto is to give your product line credibility. Sony is rumoured to be releasing a $15,000 telephoto, but Sony is also wanting to be seen as a photographic company and (for right or wrong) not just an electronics company. Some could argue that Pentax is in the same boat, but either they don't feel that way due to their history, or (more likely) Hoya had no interest in creating a loss leader when they were trying to create a condition to sell the company.
If your interest in a new Pentax telephoto stops at reading about how it stacks up against the best from other brands for bragging rights, then you probably won't like this lens. If you would like to be able to add Pentax as a possibility if you are in the market for a ~600mm telephoto, then this should be viewed as good news.