[MJSfoto1956]

Yes, and none of those are small. None of Pentax' small and relatively small primes, including the FA and DA Limiteds, are weather sealed.

Which is why Fuji has been eating Pentax's lunch these past 2 years. It has nothing to do with "mirrorless".

Michael

[FantasticMrFox]

Which is why Fuji has been eating Pentax's lunch these past 2 years. It has nothing to do with "mirrorless".

I agree. Pentax has some great lenses (and some average, and some not so great ones), but they need to push out more modern designs and make some features uniform. All the lenses they have been putting out in the recent years are weather sealed, have modern HD coatings and modern DC focusing, but there is still a bunch of stuff out there that is not sealed and suffers from noisy legacy screw drive.

Weather sealing and robustness is a big selling point for Pentax, but recently almost all cameras have been given some degree of it. Fuji X-T1, Olympus OMD EM5 and EM1, Canon 80D, Nikon D7200, Sony A7R II ... What most of these manufacturers fail at though is consistent high quality sealing of lenses. This is where Pentax could score, by sealing all of their lenses - every single one. So far many zooms are sealed, but few primes. Take all these great designs that Pentax has, like the Limiteds, and slap on weather sealing. Ideally also DC or SDM and HD.

[TomTextura]

A mirrorless medium format standard would be an interesting possibility. Take on Phase and Hasselblad.

[RonHendriks1966]

Pentax doesn't have a strategy or focus on outdoor photography. That is why lenses and camera's are all over the place when it comes to specifications. Even for 645Z the new 35mm prime isn't wr.

[IchabodCrane]

agree -- it is pretty clear to me that Fuji is going after the same market as Pentax: WR, small, lightweight, high-quality. The fact that it is mirrorless is besides the point.

Michael

I think Fuji is aiming more toward the space Nikon has somewhat neglected in APS-C. The Fuji lenses tend to be faster and larger than DA Limiteds.

As far as collaboration goes, Fuji would be a good potential partner as each can maintain their distinct color filter arrays. Both Bayer and X-Trans CFAs have their own sets of fans.

[FantasticMrFox]

Pentax doesn't have a strategy or focus on outdoor photography.

And they should have. They are certainly not the professional's first choice for sports and action, and neither in anything that requires advanced lighting. But with the ruggedness of their bodies the suitability for all things outdoors (landscapes, travel, mountaineering, exploration) is something they should exploit in advertising.

I think they have realised that as all of their K-mount lenses released over the past years sport WR or AW - HD DA 55-300 WR, HD DA 20-40 Ltd. WR, HD DA 16-85 WR, DA 18-50 WR and the five new FF zooms. I'd be surprised if the primes on the roadmap would not be weather sealed, and I hope they go back to some of their other popular designs and update them with HD, DC, WR.

[monochrome]

One major issue for Pentax brand managers and marketers is the existing inventory of lenses and designs. As ownership has changed over the last 15-20 years (including the early foray into digital) it seems there have been three or four changes of direction and brand focus, none of which was ever given time to mature. That leaves Pentax with an incomplete catalog of lens designs AND an inventory of lenses spread over four sensor formats that don't share a core brand identity or design / feature cue's. It must be maddening for senior Pentax executives plotting strategy and tactics, green-lighting new products while simultaneously trying to shoehorn the old stuff into a coherent brand strategy.

They can't just throw the old stuff away and start over, but a Sony or Fuji doesn't have the legacy albatross.

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Last edited by monochrome; 04-22-2016 at 03:47 PM.

[Winder]

I'm sorry if I didn't understand it properly but what can Pentax gain by partnering with Fuji?

Fuji makes all the Medium format lenses for Hassy and all of the professional grade HD broadcast lenses for Sony. Fujinon glass is very good and they have the capacity to produce much needed glass for Ricoh. Ricoh needs to upgrade its MF glass line and Fuji would be the perfect partner for that. While the Tamron re-badged lenses are very good for the money, I would expect Fuji would have better quality control and designs. I would expect that a more expensive D-FA* 24-70mm is coming eventually.

[mikegor]

I've been using Fuji X system since 2013 and have tried out quite a number of lens. Fuji glasses are sharp and render beautiful colors. I'm new to Pentax. I'm going to pick up K-1 early next month.

I'd be excited if Fuji can make glasses for Pentax K-1.

[Zygonyx]

DA*55
DA*200
DA*300
Are wr
.....

Obviously, we don't share the same signification for "small prime lens"

[Tony Belding]

That leaves Pentax with an incomplete catalog of lens designs AND an inventory of lenses spread over four sensor formats that don't share a core brand identity or design / feature que's.

It's quite a disorderly hodgepodge of lenses, isn't it? And yet, when I was window shopping versus the newer mirrorless systems, I quickly saw how sparse and pricey the lens options were, and what a bounty we have in K-mount by comparison.

[biz-engineer]

So far many zooms are sealed, but few primes.

Ironically, weather sealing on zooms is pretty useless as air must come in and out. Weather sealing on primes makes much more sense, but not all Pentax primes are weather sealed.

[IchabodCrane]

Ironically, weather sealing on zooms is pretty useless as air must come in and out. Weather sealing on primes makes much more sense, but not all Pentax primes are weather sealed.

I think the common argument against weather sealing prime lenses is people change them out during use which negates the whole purpose of weather sealing.

[FantasticMrFox]

I think the common argument against weather sealing prime lenses is people change them out during use which negates the whole purpose of weather sealing.

Just because you may change them some time doesn't mean the entire purpose is negated. You can switch them all the time and simply elect to not do it in inclement weather. If you've got an all purpose prime mounted there is no reason why weather sealing wouldn't be useful, plus a good weather sealing will keep dust out of the lens too.

[biz-engineer]

You do realize, don't you, that air comes in and out any lens without floating element focusing, e.g. nearly all of the Pentax limited primes?

He he... yes, I wrote a post and then also realized that even primes that are not having internal focusing breath in and out.

When I bought the DFA150-450, I questioned myself about durability of the zoom over time compared to the DA300 prime or a longer lens such as DA560 or Sigma 500. The DA300 prime has internal focusing, so I believe weather sealing may be more effective against dust. I think with zooms from Tamron with several years of use, some of them ended up having a few dust inside the lens that can't be cleaned without opening the lens.