[Mistral75]

As an addition to my post above:

(...) Q series was originally a Kenko product. (...)

Sure. This is the reason why Pentax Q was announced on June 23rd, 2011 whilst Kenko had presented in February 2011 at CP+ the prototype of a 14 Mpix C-mount mirrorless camera (which apparently never made it to production), the kinship of which with Pentax Q is obvious





See Boîtier mirrorless Kenko en monture C written at that time by yours truly, Kenko to unveil their interchangeable lenses digital camera tomorrow (C-mount) | Photo Rumors, http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20110201_424152.html, http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20110209_425820.html and DigitalCamera.jp.

[D1N0]

Full of crap?

It's all about context

[Nicolas06]

As an addition to my post above:



Sure. This is the reason why Pentax Q was announced on June 23rd, 2011 whilst Kenko had presented in February 2011 at CP+ the prototype of a 14 Mpix C-mount mirrorless camera (which apparently never made it to production), the kinship of which with Pentax Q is obvious





See Boîtier mirrorless Kenko en monture C written at that time by yours truly, Kenko to unveil their interchangeable lenses digital camera tomorrow (C-mount) | Photo Rumors, http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20110201_424152.html, http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20110209_425820.html and DigitalCamera.jp.

At least this one had a large choice of lenses !

[Mistral75]

At least this one had a large choice of lenses !

Indeed! These lenses are Tokina CCTV lenses.

[Zygonyx]

@Fogel70 : Patented by Pentax / Doomed if you want

---------- Post added 13-08-15 at 15:10 ----------

Indeed! These lenses are Tokina CCTV lenses.

At least, Hoya/Pentax did make sure most CCTV lenses would adapt on Q thanks to shorter registration distance

[GlassJunkie]

IMHO, Kenko should buy Zojirushi, and improve the controls on their rice cookers and make better little windows in their thermal food containers. Fitting and a socially positive use for their optical skills.
Kenko making a camera is right up there with Helmerich and Payne making nuclear centrifuges... Just not right...

[monochrome]

Why?

The guy (Jun Hirakawa) who designed the:
- FA* 85/1.4
- FA* 80-200/2.8
- FA77 Limited
- FA43 Limited
- DA* 55/1.4 SDM

Now works for Tamron. Hoya forced him to "retire". You don't want this guy designing new lenses for K-mount?

Repeat this Repeat this Repeat this Repeat this Repeat this Repeat this Repeat this Repeat this.

[monochrome]

In house design software is only one consideration for a green light to manufacture, the marketing and finance departments of Ricoh will have their say on the matter, why design and "tool up" production yourself when others will make a "off the shelf" conversion to your specifications and then if all fails the "in costs" will have been lower to get into the market segment you want, if the projected "market penertration" is successful replace the bought in components with your own, Pentax has "outsourced" many parts of its product catalogue for decades, the fash system was Panasonic, after k10 it went to Nissin, that's why the flash protocol changed, so Nissin had a chance to sell guns along side the new k20 k7 Ect, the 31/43/77 used to be made by Cosina/Voightlander, Tamron have supplied several zoom lens, and my bet is the 150-450 is a Sigma, long time cooperator with Ricoh since the Sigma SA1 (A Ricoh KR10 rebadged and supplied with a Sigma 28-70 zoom, and the KR10 was a Nikkormat with a k mount and more electronics), Seikorex make the shutters, ME range was the first (Sekonic light and flash meters, Seiko watches any electronic timing device) Sanyo make the rechargeable bits batteries and chargers, Tokina made the 16-50 and 50-135 and will supply the new standard zoom 24-70 and a new wideangle zoom, the new 70-200 maybe Tamron or Tokina, 645z is in house but the lens are now made by Tamron who owned and made the medium format Bronica range, Q series was originally a Kenko product. sorry to upset you guys who think Pentax is a large manufacturing giant, sorry its not, its been a bit of a "Paper Operation" for some time.

Don't forget for more than 40 years every single piece of multi-coated glass(1) used in every single lens made by every single optical manufacturer on earth was coated by Pentax or in a Pentax-designed and licensed evaporator.*

So there.



(1) Leica didn't multi-coat until Pentax patents expired.
* Source: Paragraph 3

[Pål Jensen]

Why?

The guy (Jun Hirakawa) who designed the:
- FA* 85/1.4
- FA* 80-200/2.8
- FA77 Limited
- FA43 Limited
- DA* 55/1.4 SDM

Now works for Tamron. Hoya forced him to "retire". You don't want this guy designing new lenses for K-mount?

This is another of those urban internet myths (this time originated from RiceHigh). I was told in the late 90's that Hirakawa was not employed by Pentax (probably employed by someone else. Tamron? I assumed at the time that he was retired) but only used on freelance/consulting basis.

---------- Post added 08-14-15 at 03:17 AM ----------

Full of crap?

Almost everything in the post original refering to is crap. Another example; Seiko shutter first used in the ME series. This is wrong. It was used in the K2 also.

---------- Post added 08-14-15 at 03:19 AM ----------

And slight dose of fantasy IMO.

An overdose...

[monochrome]

This is another of those urban internet myths (this time originated from RiceHigh). I was told in the late 90's that Hirakawa was not employed by Pentax (probably employed by someone else. Tamron? I assumed at the time that he was retired) but only used on freelance/consulting basis.

Really? I don't know precisely what 'Assignee' means, nor whether a contractor would assign his patents to a company, but click on any of his patents HERE and read Asahi Kogaku Kogyo . . . or Pentax Corporation. The newest is from 2008.

And then there's the 'Work History' section at Patent Buddy . . . . . . (scroll down)

Sure - it's only the internet, but, REALLY?

[Winder]

This is another of those urban internet myths (this time originated from RiceHigh). I was told in the late 90's that Hirakawa was not employed by Pentax (probably employed by someone else. Tamron? I assumed at the time that he was retired) but only used on freelance/consulting basis.[COLOR="Silver"]

Hirakawa Jun - Camerapedia
Seems to be a pretty prevalent internet myth.
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/10-pentax-slr-lens-discussion/107233-jun-hirakawa.html
RiceHigh's Pentax Blog: NEWS: Mr. Jun Hirakawa Now Works for Tamron and Mr. Blurry Cameraphone has Left Pentax China
Jun Hirakawa's technical report probably explains this: Pentax SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review
Hirakawa Jun - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jun_Hirakawa
Adios, amigos !...
Lessons from a Legendary Lens Designer | Photographic Ideals, Basic Principles | The Northcoast Photographer
Patents by Inventor Jun Hirakawa - Justia Patents Database Filed Patents for Hoya in 2010. Exactly who told you he was not working for Pentax in the late 90's. They might want to check the patent records.

[JPT]

Hirakawa Jun - Camerapedia
Seems to be a pretty prevalent internet myth.
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/10-pentax-slr-lens-discussion/107233-jun-hirakawa.html
RiceHigh's Pentax Blog: NEWS: Mr. Jun Hirakawa Now Works for Tamron and Mr. Blurry Cameraphone has Left Pentax China
Jun Hirakawa's technical report probably explains this: Pentax SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review
Hirakawa Jun - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jun_Hirakawa
Adios, amigos !...
Lessons from a Legendary Lens Designer | Photographic Ideals, Basic Principles | The Northcoast Photographer
Patents by Inventor Jun Hirakawa - Justia Patents Database Filed Patents for Hoya in 2010. Exactly who told you he was not working for Pentax in the late 90's. They might want to check the patent records.

This idolizing of Jun Hirakawa always seems a bit much to me. I have a number of the lenses he is associated with, and they are very good (not perfect), but he didn't do them all by himself. The list of great Pentax lenses that he had nothing to do with would be far longer than the ones he did, and it includes the FA31, which was deemed better than the design he created, if we want to talk about urban myths. There must have been a lot of unsung heroes on the Pentax lens design team. Besides, what's just as important is the upcoming designers and people who came with the integration of Ricoh team. Ricoh's lenses on compacts and GXR modules have been pretty good over the past couple of decades too.

[thibs]

So is the D-FA 150-450/4.5-5,6

btw, do we have a link to the patent?
It would be interesting to write down the author and keep track of any further patent from the guy...

---------- Post added 14-08-15 at 08:17 ----------

Well the part where the protocols change 'cos they changed flash subcontractor is funny too.

[Rondec]

This idolizing of Jun Hirakawa always seems a bit much to me. I have a number of the lenses he is associated with, and they are very good (not perfect), but he didn't do them all by himself. The list of great Pentax lenses that he had nothing to do with would be far longer than the ones he did, and it includes the FA31, which was deemed better than the design he created, if we want to talk about urban myths. There must have been a lot of unsung heroes on the Pentax lens design team. Besides, what's just as important is the upcoming designers and people who came with the integration of Ricoh team. Ricoh's lenses on compacts and GXR modules have been pretty good over the past couple of decades too.

I think the big thing is that his leaving Pentax while Hoya owned them, was a symbol of how Hoya was gutting the company. The "new" lenses that were released under Hoya were mostly weather sealed versions of existing lens designs and lenses that were mostly done at the time of their acquisition of Pentax.

I seem to remember a pretty long time period where the only new lens released was the DA 18-135 -- an OK lens, but certainly not an example of top end glass from the glory days.

Certainly Ricoh has put a lot of effort into reassembling a good optics team at Pentax and even if Hirakawa isn't there, they should be able to turn out good quality glass (the 150-450 and 70-200 both look pretty good to me). The big thing is that they have put enough money into it that new, good quality lenses should be forthcoming.

[Winder]

This idolizing of Jun Hirakawa always seems a bit much to me. I have a number of the lenses he is associated with, and they are very good (not perfect), but he didn't do them all by himself. The list of great Pentax lenses that he had nothing to do with would be far longer than the ones he did, and it includes the FA31, which was deemed better than the design he created, if we want to talk about urban myths. There must have been a lot of unsung heroes on the Pentax lens design team. Besides, what's just as important is the upcoming designers and people who came with the integration of Ricoh team. Ricoh's lenses on compacts and GXR modules have been pretty good over the past couple of decades too.

I'm not idolizing him. People are saying Tamron doesn't have the resources to make good glass, and Jun is now at Tamrom. Just pointing out that Tamron has good designers who are more than capable. Designers who know what K-mount users want in glass.