Originally posted by monochrome Until they come up with something else that says 'Pentax' the way the FA Limiteds do what else do they have? I suppose some day they'll be viewed as once-great but obsolete. All Milestones are, or will be. I don't think we're there yet.
Oh I missed this response until now.. yes but I'm not sure having something that says 'Pentax' really appeals to many buyers today?
Of course they appeal to the already Pentaxians. But, getting out of those shoes and seeing it from the majority view, photographers that aren't Pentaxians don't see the value in the 'Pentax' lens designs. They're looking for those industry standard designs (big physical size but fast aperture and common FL). With a brand that has publicly admitted several times that it wants to grow in the market, do they continue in their niche and hope views/needs of the public at large changes? Or do they appeal to the masses?
I feel the old pentax lens designs (the small sized, mid-fast aperture primes) work better on smaller camera bodies. Which would work well with Mirrorless systems. But Pentax is designed around the Pentaprism. They're not going to quickly give up the OVF I suspect.
I say they need to take some of the more popular lens designs (85mm f/1.2 or f/1.4, 135mm f/1.4 or f/2, etc) for primes. Though, hands down, the most used lens on FF is the 24-105 f/4 on Canon and between the 24-120 f/4 and 24-70 f/2.8 on Nikon. And it isn't even close. Majority run with zoom lenses than primes in the almost 16 Million images they checked (sample data).
The Most Commonly Used Camera-Lens Combinations
That is to say, Pentax has traditionally been well regarded for their primes. But primes aren't seemingly as popular today. While they definitely sell by the bunches, those mid-fast zooms seem to really take the cake.