Originally posted by THoog There is only ONE way to get third parties to make K-mount lenses, and that is for there to be enough people buying K-mount lenses to make it profitable. For better or worse, Hoya's positioning Pentax as a "budget" brand means that Pentaxians are less likely to spend the big bucks. So not only are there 8+ Canons and 8+ Nikons and 1+ E-mount for every K-mount, the K-mount owners are less likely to pay MSRP for high-priced new glass.
I for one can say that I own the most expensive lens I will ever purchase for this system - That is my Sigma 70-200 HSM II that cost about $950 new.
If I decided I was going to start spending more money than that for a lens, I would seriously consider making the jump to a system that might cost more, but also has:
A) *** BETTER AFTER-SALE SUPPORT
B) Better AF, our AF is seriously lacking.
C) More Options (i.e. Crop or FF)
D) Better flash support
I am a hobbyist, if I was a pro I frankly would not put much trust in what we have here at this time. Face it, we buy from a company that can't seem to get cameras fixed under warrantee within a couple month time frame lately. How much money should one put into such a system when alternatives are available?
If Pentax wants to play with Canikon and if we want to see the 3rd party support that they get, Pentax will need to up their game and show that this is a system worth spending big money on.