[Uluru]

My Q dreams just shattered.

What hurts this system and its users severely is the sad fact that only Ricoh Imaging designs and makes lenses for it.
No one else finds any interest in it.
If there was another supplier willing to design lenses for the Q, we wouldn't brook such disappointments and many gaps would be covered.

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Last edited by Uluru; 11-06-2013 at 08:47 PM.

[Pablom]

Didn't they learn anything from pricing the original Q a gazillion dollars?

[baro-nite]

Yes it's costly, yes it's slow, yes the zoom range is smaller than just about any other lens, and no, I probably won't buy one. But I'll wait till I see the IQ before I decide.

[Mistral75]

European price: EUR 449 / CHF 569.

Das PENTAX-08 Weitwinkelzoom wird ab Anfang Dezember für 449 Euro / 569 SFr (UVP) erhältlich sein.

[monochrome]

Since we've heard took longer to integrate the Pentax and Ricoh teams than was originally imagined perhaps the Pentax marketing people with sticky heels were shunmted into Q. This fells like old Pentax pricing strategy, not new Ricoh pricing strategy.

[ElJamoquio]

When it doesn't sell at $500 the price will come down.

[fuent104]

I don't understand one thing: there was a demand among Q users for a wide faster prime lens, but not for wide slower zoom lens.
Reason for it is that faster prime would allow use of more valuable f-stops before the diffraction kicks in. That is why 01 lens is still the best and only choice to see what the Q system is capable of.
But with this 08 lens, there are barely two stops usable, and that's about it — for $500?! I mean, c'mon Ricoh Imaging, this is almost a fixed aperture lens for a small fortune and limited use!

I completely agree with you. In my opinion, the very pi FDA behind the lens is simply not in accordance with what a lot of users want.

I am also not convinced about the size. I don't believe any of the elements has to be multiple times larger than the sensor. This hasn't been the case in lenses in the past. I am truly convinced, at this point, that pentax engineers do not take photos of moving subjects low light. For the past decade, the have lagged behind the competition terms wide-open performance, even when their lenses are more expensive that the competition's (faster) lenses. At least that is how it feels.

[Uluru]

I completely agree with you. In my opinion, the very pi FDA behind the lens is simply not in accordance with what a lot of users want.
I am also not convinced about the size. I don't believe any of the elements has to be multiple times larger than the sensor...

There is one more problem: 08 was obviously designed for Q7, not really for older Q bodies.
On Q and Q10 diffraction is there long before than on the Q7.
So only on Q7 one has stop and half to use it, but not on older Qs. On those 2 bodies such an expensive lens makes zero sense — well, unless one doesn't care and is willing dump $500 for a result that doesn't matter at all.

Is this is Ricoh Imaging's way of telling us we should get rid of old Qs and buy Q7s instead?
If it is, I find the joke little amusing.

[VisualDarkness]

I won't complain about the 08 pricing after seeing this: Pentax 22157 Telephoto Zoom Lens 027075217546 | eBay

[Alizarine]

What hurts this system and its users severely is the sad fact that only Ricoh Imaging designs and makes lenses for it.
No one else finds any interest in it.
If there was another supplier willing to design lenses for the Q, we wouldn't brook such disappointments and many gaps would be covered.

But who would even make lenses for a system this small... and perhaps that would only be possible if more 1/1.7" ILC's from the m4/3 guys would come out. But that's close to impossible too. Not even Canikon would think about making one.. perhaps just compacts but no ILC's

[VisualDarkness]

I think shutters are the main problem for third parties, all lenses without one get handicapped.

[lytrytyr]

But who would even make lenses for a system this small.

Miyazaki:

MS Optical Sonnetar 25mm f1.1 Q mount - Japan Camera Hunter

[VisualDarkness]

Miyazaki:

MS Optical Sonnetar 25mm f1.1 Q mount - Japan Camera Hunter

So hard to get now but I would love one.

[Alizarine]

Miyazaki:

MS Optical Sonnetar 25mm f1.1 Q mount - Japan Camera Hunter

This should have been in the forum news... rare as it is, when orders come in, so will the production increase.

[LeRolls]

This should have been in the forum news... rare as it is, when orders come in, so will the production increase.

Agreed! I would have been interested in this lens.