Originally posted by Edgar_in_Indy (…)
But I'm still not sure I'm completely convinced on the original point. Does Pentax make money from the lenses they sell? In other words, did the research and development of their current lenses pay off, and continue to pay off? If so, then it stands to reason that they should develop and offer more lenses. On the other hand, if they're not making money on their lenses, then it seems that the company is on pretty thin ice.
The business model of a DSLR manufacturer is close to the Gillette one, that is taught in each and every business school: sell the razor (here: the camera) at cost, even subsidize it (cameras are not but margins are paper thin), and make money on the blades (here: lenses and accessories).
Pentax has therefore to make money from the lenses they sell, from all of them if possible. This has not always been the case: to take an example I know of, Pentax never sold more than A COUPLE of FA* 200mm f/4 Macro per year in France.
My original point is the following: the lower your market share (or, for an OEM, the market share of a specific mount), the closer you have to stick to mainstream lenses, those you are sure to sell containers of, and the less you are inclined to venture into exotic territories (large aperture lenses, telephoto macro lenses, very long lenses, etcetera).
And it's not even to pay for research and development: sometimes sales, actual or forecast, are so low that you cannot even justify to afford the manufacturing costs, inventory costs and other costs linked to the sale of a lens in a specific mount. Think for instance of Cosina terminating the production of Voigtländer SL and Zeiss lenses in K mount.
The declining market share is the reason why Pentax's portfolio of lenses shrank between Takumar / K lenses and A lenses and again between A lenses and F/FA lenses.
On the other hand, the higher your market share, the more adventurous and prodigal you can afford to be. Just remember that, from 1952 to 1958, when they created then dominated the SLR market in Japan, Asahi Kogaku put FIVE different standard lenses on the market. Five over seven years! and with widely different designs:
- 1952: a Tessar formula, the Asahi Kogaku Takumar 50 mm f/3.5 (M37 mount)
- 1954: a Heliar formula, the Asahi Kogaku Takumar 58 mm f/2.4 (M37 mount) which became the Takumar 58 mm f/2.4 (M42 mount) in 1957
- 1957: a Sonnar formula, the Takumar 58 mm f/2
- 1957 again: a simplified double Gauss / Planar formula (5 lenses only), the Takumar 55 mm f/2.2
- 1958: a full-fledged double Gauss / Planar formula (6 lenses in 5 groups), the Takumar 55 mm f/1.8, the first of a long series of lenses, the latest being the DA 50mm f/1.8.