[ilihai]

Just read this interview:
Fuji investigates full-frame system camera sensor
Déjà vu?

You see, after sony's RX1, Fuji feel the threat.
What about pentax?

[ENicolas]

And for others who have posted in a similar vein about possible anti-competitive practices on the part of Sony.

I'm not privy to the internal workings of Sony, but I would guess that the sensor division will want to sell as many as possible to whoever wants them. Besides which, favouring their own camera division would break competition laws in practically every country on the planet.

Right. Sony emphasizes its transparent mirror and AF technology - selling sensors to other companies shouldn't hurt them.

[Winder]

OK, thanks I see that.

Pentax is going to miss out on possible sales from existing users across all platforms for another two years and is already seeing a drain of current users to other platforms due to availability and price of FF cameras and MILC. The price you pay for being late to the table is that most of the food has already been eaten. Going back over previous threads related to FF on these forums spans years. Way back in 2008 people were predicting "this is the year" and it never happened.

I bought a D800E and will probably sell off my K-5 system to fund another body and a telephoto but that money (and that already spent) could have been spent on a couple of Pentax FF or high end ASP-C bodies. I originally sold two K-5 bodies expecting the new model to have 24mp, an articulated screen (maybe), better video (definitely) and Focus Peaking (definitely). I ended up buying another K-5 at a pretty decent price to get me through a few weeks of no Nikon (focus calibrations) but now appears to be a good time to sell the lot.

Six months is probably about it. There will be people saving money for a new camera (D800?) and it just might work out that they are ready to buy at about the time a FF Pentax camera becomes available. But I suspect they won't release anything like that for at least a year or, mostly likely, not until Photokina 2014.

If you want a full frame DSLR then my advice is to jump ship and get on with life. Life is too short to keep hanging around waiting for other people to deliver something when it's already available elsewhere. Would you willingly starve to death waiting for a pizza delivery that never comes when you can cook yourself great food every day of the week?

I'm a long, long time Canon user and always had a little bias against Nikon. I had a 5D and when the 5DII was released I decided Canon was not where I wanted to be. I looked hard at Sony with the A900, but I did not know what Sony was going to do or the direction they were going. SLT came out and even though I loved the EOS RT, I just don't like the technology of the SLT. Finally sold my 5D and glass and I will probably replace my FF body in the Spring (but I said that last year as well). I still use film and my Contax 645 80% of the time. It is still my favorite camera. After all of this It looks like I will have to swallow my pride and buy a D800E. I still shoot with a few Canon guys and I'll have to face a few Nikon shooters I've made fun of over the years.

I do think Pentax will release a FF. I'm in no real hurry. If My Contax 645 or Minolta Multi film scanner goes down then I might be in a hurry. Before I would drop $2,000 on a 120 film scanner I would probably buy a D800E at this point. The more I read about the D800E the more I am thinking about buying one and picking up an EVIL ASP-C like the XP-1 as my casual fun camera.

[thibs]

I do not see the difference between Fuji position regarding FF to Pentax position.
Even Fuji just launched a systrem they'd alienate part of their users by going FF. Talk about commitment...

As for XPro1 and associated cams; how can a company design such kind of cameras and opt for a focus by wire manual focus ??
That alone killed any wish for their crap manual focus. HUGE mistake. Lost a sale.

[Aristophanes]

Pentax has used Sony APS-C sensors for all their APS-C cameras except the K20D and K-7. Ricoh also uses Sony sensors. Clearly they do have a FF sensor supplier whenever they are ready.

Given supply constraints it is more likely Sony is the one more likely to signal they are ready.

The whole FF debate I solely related to the cost/sensor and the correlated maximum size of the intended market as divided by brands. The Pentax dilemma is too high a price and too small existing market share. So Pentax gets in when the price curve drops.

I half expected a Pentax FF mock-up at PK 2012, but am not surprised by the absence.

[junyo]

I do not see the difference between Fuji position regarding FF to Pentax position.
Even Fuji just launched a systrem they'd alienate part of their users by going FF. Talk about commitment...

As for XPro1 and associated cams; how can a company design such kind of cameras and opt for a focus by wire manual focus ??
That alone killed any wish for their crap manual focus. HUGE mistake. Lost a sale.

The difference is the Fuji X mount is less than a year old and not designed for FF, and Fuji's already looking at whether FF is feasible in that mount. K mount is 30+ years old, native FF, and Pentax is looking at whether or not FF is feasible. The age of timid companies that can take years to react to market forces is over.

I'm not a FF booster. If one where available in K Mount, I'd likely buy it, but I think Pentax has a lot of other issues to work through first. Anyone that doesn't think that Pentax is doing an extraordinarily bad job of having or communicating their value proposition to consumers is delusional IMO.

[monochrome]

Anyone that doesn't think that Pentax is doing an extraordinarily bad job of having or communicating their value proposition to consumers is delusional IMO.

Hoya did a horrible job. Ricoh starts now - the recent changes at PRIAC being the first visible move. In a year let us see whether Pentax remains such a horrible communicator.

[glanglois]

You could have included Brazil in the "No distributor"

Just my thought. Someone lost the first letter in BRIC. Don't worry, they'll find it soon ....

[Winder]

I do not see the difference between Fuji position regarding FF to Pentax position.
Even Fuji just launched a systrem they'd alienate part of their users by going FF. Talk about commitment...

As for XPro1 and associated cams; how can a company design such kind of cameras and opt for a focus by wire manual focus ??
That alone killed any wish for their crap manual focus. HUGE mistake. Lost a sale.

The mount issue is pretty new. Pentax had a 67 mount, a 645 mount, K-mount, & 110 mount. Pentax did not design one mount to fit all formats. Each format had its own mount and its own line of lenses.

I like the idea of specific mounts optimized for the format. Cameras like the K-01 are a compromise of technology, and a bad one at that.

[Laurentiu Cristofor]

As for XPro1 and associated cams; how can a company design such kind of cameras and opt for a focus by wire manual focus ??

There is no contradiction between manual focus and focus by wire systems. Fuji botched their initial implementation, but the good thing about this technology is that its behavior can be tweaked with firmware updates. I expect that in the future, manufacturers will allow users to tweak lens behavior according to their own preference (already you can adjust direction of focus) - there will come a time when you'll go back to a mechanical lens and wonder how did you manage to manually focus effectively with it. As long as Fuji is listening to customers and tweaking and improving their technology in response, they'll do just fine.

[Laurentiu Cristofor]

Speaking of Fuji, the X-E1 looks great in these images.

[Winder]

Speaking of Fuji, the X-E1 looks great in these images.

Yes. I have been seriously thinking about moving to a Nikon D800E and going with the Fuji X-E1 as my APS-C casual camera.

[Quazimoto]

Also, when I asked them about the full-frame (even as I was reading the question), everyone couldn't help but smile. People smile when they're hiding something

Hm, no, I think they were probably smiling because they knew the question was coming - they know that us enthusiasts have wanted this for years, and they expect a question about it every time they talk to "us".
It's just like I smile when I say I'm really into cars, and I can see people looking at my car and I know even as they are asking, what exactly they're asking (which is "Why that car then?") it's like the "Yeah here we go again, thing."

Honestly I think that if a FF dSLR were less than 18 months away, they wouldn't bother hiding it - why lose a few more customers while they hide it? Why not just say "Look, we ARE developing a FF, but it takes a lot of time and money and research so please be patient and stick with our APS-C cameras, hang on to any full frame lenses you have, and we'll update you as we know more."

To me, although that wouldn't be "fun", it would make business sense.

[Macario]

I was at the photokina yesterday, and at the Pentax booth they had a FA 35 f2 on display. Maybe it was s subtle hint?

[thibs]

There is no contradiction between manual focus and focus by wire systems. Fuji botched their initial implementation, but the good thing about this technology is that its behavior can be tweaked with firmware updates. I expect that in the future, manufacturers will allow users to tweak lens behavior according to their own preference (already you can adjust direction of focus) - there will come a time when you'll go back to a mechanical lens and wonder how did you manage to manually focus effectively with it. As long as Fuji is listening to customers and tweaking and improving their technology in response, they'll do just fine.

I certainly hope the best for them (Fuji) but I have yet to see a focus by wire better than mildly useable. I pretty much doubtful.
Probably like OVF vs EVF thing. I really don't think it can beat the other tech. That being said, I admit each can have its strength.

In fact I don't see why Fuji couldn't chose propoer manual focus in later lenses if they chose to do so. We'll see