[Allison]

Didn't he say that they were 'looking at it harder than ever now"? That sounds a lot like "I'm still thinking about it" and, as such, I won't be anymore.

Combine 'still thinking about it" with an 18month to 2 year development period and you just might be reading about this camera a few days before Photokina 2014.

This is exactly what the "FF Whiners" are worried about and that is what keeps pushing us towards going the way of Canikon. The only thing holding me back is that I really love my K5 and my lenses. I wanted to upgrade my system to include both FF and Crop and I didn't want to have to start over in a new manufacturer to do so.

Most of the people crying about full frame and more lenses don't even have the funds to upgrade never mind having to get that past the wife. How about looking at what is already here? K5 image quality is better than any camera in the same price point, fully weather sealed body and many weather sealed lenses that are less expensive than the competition, DNG raw files, in camera pixel mapping, ability to use older lenses and being an individual who buys their gear without buying into the marketing and hype.

But the K5 image quality is not the same as a FF. Buying into the gear and not marketing and hype is what has kept me at Pentax, but it is hard to continue to buy into a system that does have several lingering questions about their future.

Plus, I really don't have to clear anything with my husband about upgrading my gear for my business. And the business has the funds to immediately purchase. I think you would find that most people looking for FF have been trying to prepare for it and also plan on selling some aps-c lenses and cameras to finance it.

Now that Pentax is in more permanent hands than under Hoya, they could make a definitive statement one way or another. It is time to get off the fence.

This is exactly right. Added bonus for all of the people whining about the people whining about FF is that all of us whining about FF would shut-up and either gear up for new Pentax or sell everything off for the great switch.

[Pål Jensen]

. FF doesn't change the photographers eye or artistic vision. For many photographers on these forums, aps-c will always produce the high enough IQ that they need. But this is a different story for some of the advanced amateur/enthusiast pentaxians and the small handful of remaining pentaxian pros. That difference in IQ for a pro can be a difference in bottom line.

Actually it does alter if not the artistic vision but the implementation of it. I have no wish to go back to the times I shot 35mm film just with better high ISO flexibility. That would be a step backwards. The Q 10 can do more for my photographic vision than any FF camera. An FF camera would for me be a suplement to smaller formats.
Pros are conecerned by the bottomline. FF means more expoenses; thats why most pros use APS. APS quality is so good now that you cannot really fault qualitywise in commercial terms. That some prefer or want something even better, or prefer the particulars of the 35mm format (or any other format), is another discussion.

[Winder]

Err...Minolta? They're Sony now. Sony bought them outright and ramped up the company with their larger distribution and marketing network. Sound familiar?

Who sells Minolta cameras today?


There is nothing left of Minolta cameras. Sony makes cameras and lenses that are compatible with the Minolta mount. The A900 was the last camera that had Minolta DNA. The 135mm STF is a Minolta design, but most of the lenses for the line now were designed by Zeiss or Sony.

Minolta is dead. There is no comparing Ricoh - Pentax to Sony - Minolta.

[D0n]

dear pentax... please take k-01 add three simple things:
touch screen...
live hdmi out during recording...
a round of evolutionary improvements including: af, video codecs (including 4k video)....

make the k-01 into a poor mans RED and you will find a crapload of indie film makers lined up to buy this thing.... and prime lenses.....
I kidd you not.

http://whatblogisthis.blogspot.ca/2012/03/so-close-yet-so-far.html

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Last edited by D0n; 09-20-2012 at 07:29 AM.

[Docrwm]

Who sells Minolta cameras today?


There is nothing left of Minolta cameras. Sony makes cameras and lenses that are compatible with the Minolta mount. The A900 was the last camera that had Minolta DNA. The 135mm STF is a Minolta design, but most of the lenses for the line now were designed by Zeiss or Sony.

Minolta is dead. There is no comparing Ricoh - Pentax to Sony - Minolta.

Are you just argumentative for the sake of it? Sony bought Minolta, the name was changed to Sony after a brief period. The engineers still worked at the same desks and the factories turned out the same things just with a small change - the name plate was 3 letters shorter

[Pål Jensen]

I question the future of Pentax if these Full-Framers get their wish. In fact, I wish I had a few million dollars to buy everyone that "needs" a FF camera a Nikon or Canon so that they'll go away and let the company focus on actually fixing itself. Honestly, I couldn't care less if they ever release a FF camera, because they will never last as a company without fixing their marketing and distribution problems. They absolutely shouldn't be wasting cycles on throwing a minority a bone, when they ought to be focusing full-time on entering markets like India and fixing ones like the US to increase their visibility and market share. They need an increased market share a lot more than they need to put good money into a FF camera nobody is going to buy because they've never heard of Pentax.

Seeing how hard it is for Pentax to get a cheap APS camera into the stores, how hard would it be to get someone to stock a $2500 Pentax FF camera?

[Pål Jensen]

Okay, but what will they do when the last of their pros leave because they feel that we are a minimum of 2 years from FF? .

Why do you assume that all, or even the majority of pros use FF? Pros use all kinds of formats; even 4/3. I've hardly seen a pro with an FF camera. If they own one it is usually to compelment smaller formats.
Pentax doesn't have many K-mount pros users in the first place. Pentax pros are medium format users. It has been like this for 44 years....

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Last edited by Pål Jensen; 09-20-2012 at 07:33 AM.

[bossa]

Now that Pentax is in more permanent hands than under Hoya, they could make a definitive statement one way or another. It is time to get off the fence.

It's difficult to get off the fence when you're wearing tight pants. Especially when your arse is nailed to it.

PS: Maybe I should have said "was nailed to it for so long" They haven't had their way for awhile now and it must take some time to get back up to speed. Unfortunately, at my age, I can't hand around waiting.

[Pablom]

Minolta is dead. There is no comparing Ricoh - Pentax to Sony - Minolta.

by the same logic you could say Pentax is dead since 2007. A name is just that, a name.

[bossa]

by the same logic you could say Pentax is dead since 2007. A name is just that, a name.

Everyone has a name, not many are a brand.

[Winder]

Are you just argumentative for the sake of it? Sony bought Minolta, the name was changed to Sony after a brief period. The engineers still worked at the same desks and the factories turned out the same things just with a small change - the name plate was 3 letters shorter

Why don't you go over to Alpha Mount World or Dyxum and ask the legacy Minolta users how they feel about the Sony deal. You can argue with them about it. Minolta DNA is dead. There is more to it than simply being made in the same factory.

[Blue]

Who sells Minolta cameras today?


There is nothing left of Minolta cameras. Sony makes cameras and lenses that are compatible with the Minolta mount. The A900 was the last camera that had Minolta DNA. The 135mm STF is a Minolta design, but most of the lenses for the line now were designed by Zeiss or Sony.

Minolta is dead. There is no comparing Ricoh - Pentax to Sony - Minolta.

The Alpha mount isn't dead and you have been talking about the mounts. Again, Nikon has been with their mount for over 10 years longer than Pentax has been with the K-mount. I won't go as far as to say the K-mount has saved Pentax, but had they dumped it I wouldn't be with them.

[hkiran1]

2. India is a tough market, but we (Pentax Ricoh) do plan to start selling products there in the very near future

We, few Pentaxians here were literally stranded here. Had to depend on foreign returnees to get our gear and no chance for any service and warranty.
Thank you Adam for posing the Q and the same to Pentax for considering it and giving a solid answer for once. He was right to say that India is a tough market with C/N grabbing the most of it, but if Pentax can give the same price difference which is seen in other countries along with the ruggedness helping in the diverse weather conditions, they can make good enough inroads into C/N market share.

NB: Get hold of a good going IPL Cricket team as brand ambassadors, trust me, that will help.

[Winder]

by the same logic you could say Pentax is dead since 2007. A name is just that, a name.

It is more than just a name change. Pentax has been on life support since 2007, but Hoya never integrated Pentax. Sony consumed Minolta. Sony made some pretty radical changes in camera design and outsourced the premium glass to Zeiss. It all might be for the best, but like Pentax, Minolta has some excellent glass that rendered very differently than what we see from Zeiss or Sony today. The 135mm STF and a few lenses have been updated, but most of the glass designs are gone. It would be like Ricoh doing away with the Limited line from Pentax and outsourcing it to Cosina. Limited glass is a corner stone of who Pentax is.

[ogl]

Who sells Minolta cameras today?


There is nothing left of Minolta cameras. Sony makes cameras and lenses that are compatible with the Minolta mount. The A900 was the last camera that had Minolta DNA. The 135mm STF is a Minolta design, but most of the lenses for the line now were designed by Zeiss or Sony.

Minolta is dead. There is no comparing Ricoh - Pentax to Sony - Minolta.

A mount is alive. Minolta lenses (with Sony name) are in production.
35/1.4
20/2.8
135/2.8 STF
70-200mm f/2.8
100mm f/2.8 macro
28-75mm f/2.8
11-18mm f/4.5-5.6
18-70mm f/3.5-5.6

No wonder that Sony made new lenses for A mount. Not to stopped at old lenses.