[Uluru]

I have also observed how quiet Pentax / Ricoh have been on the new lens front...but I view that as being a possible POSITIVE thing.

How many times have people here said "if they release a FF camera they need new lenses to go with it"?

So...why have they not released any new K-Mount lenses for a while? Perhaps they have been very busy developing new ones for.....

Just my musings...maybe I'm wrong...

Come on. I mean, let us not be so desperate, or, to think there "must be a plan" when things are definitely not unfolding at all. Or, "Ricoh must be doing it right because Pentax is not dead". But it isn't well alive either. More new lenses for Pentax K-mount Sigma has released in last 3 years than Ricoh!

Cameras are important, but lenses are the heart of any system. There are many lenses missing, many new were shown on the roadmap for years, then removed, then some we had have changed coating only without any warning. Then nothing. Then there are perceptional, or real SDM issue, never resolved. Etc.

But the fact remains — nothing is happening. That is beyond worrying — it is devastating. What I want to say, if Ricoh thinks this is cool, that they can keep their mouth closed forever, that this is some kind of "marketing strategy" ... no it is not. Such behaviour is corporate arrogance, it is wrong and utterly irresponsible.

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Last edited by Uluru; 05-19-2014 at 11:54 PM.

[Cynog Ap Brychan]

I'm wondering just what new lenses people are desperately waiting for. In the K mount, we have all focal lengths covered from 10 - 300mm (and a bit of a leap to 560mm). Tilt and shift? Sure, that would be nice, but who'd buy it? Fuji's X mount is relatively new, so of course they have released a bunch of lenses for it. Perhaps a 400mm f4 or 5.6 would fit, or something on the lines of a 100 - 400mm zoom, but I can't think of anything else I'm missing. Of course, many of you will have different needs than I. The one thing I really, really want from Pentax is world beating auto focus. Whether this can be accomplished with the current range of available lenses, I don't know, but I suspect we'd need improvement to the focussing motors.

[cport]

I am waiting for something like 24/1,4. But it seems that Sigma will prepare this lens earlier.

[MMVIII]

Come on. I mean, let us not be so desperate, or, to think there "must be a plan" when things are definitely not unfolding at all. Or, "Ricoh must be doing it right because Pentax is not dead". But it isn't well alive either. More new lenses for Pentax K-mount Sigma has released in last 3 years than Ricoh!

Cameras are important, but lenses are the heart of any system. There are many lenses missing, many new were shown on the roadmap for years, then removed, then some we had have changed coating only without any warning. Then nothing. Then there are perceptional, or real SDM issue, never resolved. Etc.

But the fact remains — nothing is happening. That is beyond worrying — it is devastating. What I want to say, if Ricoh thinks this is cool, that they can keep their mouth closed forever, that this is some kind of "marketing strategy" ... no it is not. Such behaviour is corporate arrogance, it is wrong and utterly irresponsible.

I also don't get all this FUD. Since I am with Pentax - 90ies of last millennium - they never ever could produce the same wast amount of cams as CaNi (from very crippled beginner cams to super expensive heavy specialist cams), never could bring the newest tech-gadgets like Sony (how many cameras? that are distinguished by what?), never made such a radical cut like Oly (twice!), did not try keep a hipster retro chic while loosing on ergonomy like Fuji (focus by wire? EVF? Ok, but be sure to not be happy with the one you buy now in two years...) but they where slowly but constantly progressing in their comfort zone, thus becoming the price/feature leader in the still biggest category of DSLRs, becoming the price/feature leader in the IQ premiere league.
It's all no surprise and I think this is one of the virtues of the system, therefore I really don't get this Pentax is doomed self induced agony, which by the way is legendary by itself, not even original any more.
But this might be just my thoughts and of course YMMV, as always and maybe this time it's really over, but I highly doubt that ;-)

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Last edited by MMVIII; 05-20-2014 at 01:46 AM.

[steve1307]

I am waiting for something like 24/1,4. But it seems that Sigma will prepare this lens earlier.

Samyang 24mm f/1.4 ED AS IF UMC but its manual focus
Samyang 24mm F1.4 Lens Reviews - Samyang Lenses - Pentax Lens Review Database

Sigma 24mm F1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro Lens Reviews - Sigma Lenses - Pentax Lens Review Database 2/3 of a stop difference, AF

SMC Pentax-FA* 24mm F2 AL [IF] Reviews - FA Prime Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database 1 stop difference, AF and Pentax * quality.



I'd like to see the what the * Tele Zoom is all about before looking into the 60-250 any further. Buys me some time to save up.

[Kunzite]

But the fact remains — nothing is happening. That is beyond worrying — it is devastating. What I want to say, if Ricoh thinks this is cool, that they can keep their mouth closed forever, that this is some kind of "marketing strategy" ... no it is not. Such behaviour is corporate arrogance, it is wrong and utterly irresponsible.

Nothing that you can, and are willing to see.
In the mean time, Ricoh Imaging is growing. Not as fast as we'd like, but not many companies are able to say that.

[aurele]

a good 24mm is all we need in the lense line-Up. Everything else is covered.

[mecrox]

a good 24mm is all we need in the lense line-Up. Everything else is covered.

Not really, imho. In addition, the basic 18-55mm and 50-200mm kit lenses badly need a makeover, I think. They need lens motors and better optical formulas to deal with today's high-res sensors. The 55-300mm needs a lens motor too, imho; it was an odd omission from the lens's recent makeover. Bear in mind that the kit lens is often the gateway/introduction to a company's whole system so a kit lens does need to be good and the competition is fairly fierce.

The 31mm, 43mm and 77mm FA Limiteds are on end of line, so what happens to them? The DA 12-24mm is long in the tooth and could do with a motor, WR and a new optical formula (one could say the same of the DA 17-70mm). Then there are longer lenses of the zoom variety and the whole SDM issue which, apparently, has caused some folks to say that they've gone on a lens-buying strike. Having been bitten by this myself with the DA* 16-50mm, I'm a bit reluctant to have another go although the DA* 55mm is very tempting.

It's not as if there's anything wrong with any of these lenses; in the right hands they can all produce fabulous images and not a few of the lenses I've mentioned are very highly regarded of course, rightly. However, markets change, perceptions change, manufacturing and assembly systems change, sensor performance changes. So a company's lens catalogue does need to change too. But not too much. That's as unsettling as doing nothing. A company needs to keep the buyers coming.

[aurele]

Not really, imho. In addition, the basic 18-55mm and 50-200mm kit lenses badly need a makeover, I think. They need lens motors and better optical formulas to deal with today's high-res sensors. The 55-300mm needs a lens motor too, imho; it was an odd omission from the lens's recent makeover. Bear in mind that the kit lens is often the gateway/introduction to a company's whole system so a kit lens does need to be good and the competition is fairly fierce.

The 31mm, 43mm and 77mm FA Limiteds are on end of line, so what happens to them? The DA 12-24mm is long in the tooth and could do with a motor, WR and a new optical formula (one could say the same of the DA 17-70mm). Then there are longer lenses of the zoom variety and the whole SDM issue which, apparently, has caused some folks to say that they've gone on a lens-buying strike. Having been bitten by this myself with the DA* 16-50mm, I'm a bit reluctant to have another go although the DA* 55mm is very tempting.

It's not as if there's anything wrong with any of these lenses; in the right hands they can all produce fabulous images and not a few of the lenses I've mentioned are very highly regarded of course, rightly. However, markets change, perceptions change, manufacturing and assembly systems change, sensor performance changes. So a company's lens catalogue does need to change too. But not too much. That's as unsettling as doing nothing. A company needs to keep the buyers coming.

You are not saying that Pentax need anything new in the focal range.

You are just adding that Pentax need to upgrade the "housing" of the glass (in lens motor mainly).

You are also saying that Pentax need to update the Kit-lens. I don't agree for the 18-55WR wich is very good, compared to the Canikon 18-55.
However i do agree a lot for the 18-135 which is very weak for a lens of this price.

[cport]

Samyang 24mm f/1.4 ED AS IF UMC but its manual focus
Samyang 24mm F1.4 Lens Reviews - Samyang Lenses - Pentax Lens Review Database

Sigma 24mm F1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro Lens Reviews - Sigma Lenses - Pentax Lens Review Database 2/3 of a stop difference, AF

SMC Pentax-FA* 24mm F2 AL [IF] Reviews - FA Prime Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database 1 stop difference, AF and Pentax * quality.



I'd like to see the what the * Tele Zoom is all about before looking into the 60-250 any further. Buys me some time to save up.

I know these lenses, none of them is the one I need :-) I know my reasons :-)

[aurele]

Pentax has at least six (6) all new lenses ready, and some released during 2013, but all have been postponed for unknown reason by Ricoh.

You seem to know what are those 6 lenses. Any clue what it can be ? Will it be exciting ?

Or are you just guesstimating ?

---------- Post added 20th May 2014 at 01:23 PM ----------

I know these lenses, none of them is the one I need :-) I know my reasons :-)

Which are ? i'm just curious, as i'm tempted by those

[cport]

FA 24/2 is not fast enough for my pictures, Samyang is a manual focusing lens (and I am not able to focus manually at this focal length) ... and I don't like the rendering and bokeh of the old Sigma 24/1,8.

[cali92rs]

Fast primes? Fast zooms WITHOUT SDM?

[Aristophanes]

DA560 announced and presented at Fotokina 2012. When it came out is another embarrassment for Ricoh, not a “proof” that it came out 15 months ago.

Since DA560 announcement, only one lens design for K-mount was seen: DA20-40. And that is it.

No other manufacturer in their right state of mind would neglect their major camera mount as such. I was excited in October 2013 because there were indeed more than DA20-40 in the line to be shown with the K-3 (I had received specs for two), but alas! Nothing! Now even 7 months later, nothing! Even with K-3 on the shelves, no new lenses. Considering DA560 is design promised and designed under Hoya, under Ricoh we have had only one damned lens coming out! What kind of commitment to the K-mount is that? One new lens allowed reluctantly in almost three years of ownership?

It’s shocking. As a comparison, in 3 years Fujifilm has delivered all of its new X-mount cameras and all the lenses: they made nine of them while Ricoh "in its endless corporate wisdom" barely allowed one.

And no matter if PF users like this or not, and will the Ricoh fanboys jump in to defend the corporate mindset, but I can say Ricoh's change of management and planning for the K-mount is downright poor and ignorant.

In defense of Pentax, they had a relatively mature line and Fuji (bleeding money doing so, by the way) had to start from scratch. Fuji lenses are also very expensive.

Interestingly Canon just released a budget super-wide.

It is very hard to evolve the K-mount. It is tied to a mirror and a prism. It is a mature tech and unfortunately the market share cannot sustain many more lenses such TS or a super-macro.

IMO Pentax needs to look at the Canon SL1 with its very small forma factor and get a body like that out to help sell its small primes, recently re-issued. This would be a body that would complement the 20-40 well. I find the Pentax lens and body design parameters to be out of sync. Until Ricoh re-crafts their GR/GXR system to a mirrorless mount, this is how the traditional OVF DSLR crowd can compete. I would not look to a slew of new lenses from Pentax to drive sales in such a mature, and even declining, market.

[cali92rs]

Fuji lenses are also very expensive.

When is the last time you compared the prices of Pentax and Fuji lenses?
I think you will find that neither are particularly cheap and in some cases the Pentax lenses are much more expensive.