Originally posted by dansamy I think a FF could have been released as late as 2013 & still been impactful for the brand, its shooters & the company. But honestly, Ricoh needed to get out an excellent APS-C camera to shore up Pentax until they could R&D a full frame. I think the K-3 did an excellent job of that. I don't own one, but everyone who's used one says that significant improvements were made even over the K-5 series, which are excellent in their own right.
I think folks who absolutely needed a FF camera have long since abandoned Pentax for other brands. Although, I think if one earned their living through photography & needed a larger image file, they'd buy a digital medium format & Pentax is clearly the value king in that arena. I think it was Norm who made the point that a professional should be investing into the tools of their trade & offering their clients more than what they could get by letting Uncle John take their wedding pictures with his SoCaNikon for free, as his "gift". I agree with him.
Many Uncle Johns routinely show up with absolutely professional kit: 5D's, D810's, Sony A7IIr's and all the >$2000 lenses you could imagine. And most of the time they look down their noses wondering how my wife and I could be charging money! Then of course when the bride gets the photos, it's always the same: "WOW, your photos are so beautiful, all the guests just took snapshots, your pictures capture the emotions!!" Or something like that.
It's not the gear.
24mp APS-c is more than enough for 99% of anybody taking a photo of anything. Those other 1% know who they are and are shooting other cameras. (Maybe a slight exaggeration, but the point is correct.)
I won't be trading in my 50-135 to buy this 70-200, but the 70-200 will make a GREAT! 100-300 2.8 on my K3II...
Someday...