[Chris Mak]

It's Ricoh way of doing thinks: they remain silent and one day, after many months, a camera or a lens is moved on their website from current to discontinued. That was already the case with the GXR. There hasn't been any notice of the Q discontinuation either, yet any and all Q cameras now appear as discontinued models.

Something has happened to the 645 line. Is it significant? I don't know. The 645 lens roadmap hasn't changed since 2016. 'Hasn't changed' as in 'no change at all': the mention on the left of the roadmapped lenses is still '2017 or Later'.

http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/japan/products/lens/images/645_Mount_Lens.pdf

This certainly contributed in giving me the last push to sell my Pentax gear and move to Canon. Not saying that it is the main reason, but if it had not been for the dead silence of the past years on Ricoh/Pentax side, I think I would at least not have sold my DA560. So I know first hand how a total lack of transparency and communication can affect the loyalty to a brand that everyone develops I guess in a certain way.

[RobA_Oz]

It's Ricoh way of doing thinks: they remain silent and one day, after many months, a camera or a lens is moved on their website from current to discontinued. That was already the case with the GXR. There hasn't been any notice of the Q discontinuation either, yet any and all Q cameras now appear as discontinued models.

Something has happened to the 645 line. Is it significant? I don't know. The 645 lens roadmap hasn't changed since 2016. 'Hasn't changed' as in 'no change at all': the mention on the left of the roadmapped lenses is still '2017 or Later'.

http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/japan/products/lens/images/645_Mount_Lens.pdf

I must admit to not taking a great deal of notice of the 645 lens roadmap before, but of course the two mooted lenses don’t add an awful lot to the present lineup. The standard zoom seems to cover the range of the existing 45-85, so unless that’s not well-regarded, you’d have to wonder whether it’s particularly urgent. Likewise, the tele-zoom sits at the top end of the zoom range of the existing 80-160, so perhaps the same applies.

Not being in the market for a 645, I really don’t know, but the present range of lenses looks fairly comprehensive to me, unless there’s a market for an exotic lens or two, like a shift-tilt for instance. I’d be guessing that a move up to a full-frame sensor might be a better use of scarce design resources.

[fsge]

As far as I know, Pentax is leading the MF market. I agree, it will be dumb to completely kill it. Maybe they should simply redesign the camera for a more compact and lighter camera.

Certainely not. I expect current leader to be Fuji

[RobA_Oz]

Certainely not. I expect current leader to be Fuji

Maybe so, but we still haven’t seen any hard data.

[MMVIII]

I must admit to not taking a great deal of notice of the 645 lens roadmap before, but of course the two mooted lenses don’t add an awful lot to the present lineup. The standard zoom seems to cover the range of the existing 45-85, so unless that’s not well-regarded, you’d have to wonder whether it’s particularly urgent. Likewise, the tele-zoom sits at the top end of the zoom range of the existing 80-160, so perhaps the same applies.

Not being in the market for a 645, I really don’t know, but the present range of lenses looks fairly comprehensive to me, unless there’s a market for an exotic lens or two, like a shift-tilt for instance. I’d be guessing that a move up to a full-frame sensor might be a better use of scarce design resources.

I think you are right here. The zoom and wideangle lenses that came out new were necessary because with the crop sensor the angle of view of the existing lenses was practically narrower. An uncropped 645 system might not use these 2(?) lenses with insufficient image circle - well, probably with some cropping still no problem - but existing lenses would be here and/or could be updated.

[thibs]

Simple: DA645 are cropped format lenses, DFA645 are full 645 format lenses.

[Mistral75]

(...)I don't know if the recent 645 lenses are optimised for a crop or a full 645 sensor.

• smc Pentax-D FA 645 55mm f/2.8 AL [IF] SDM AW (March 2010)
• smc Pentax-D FA 645 25mm f/4 AL [IF] SDM AW (February 2011), replaced from March 2012 onwards by the smc Pentax-DA 645 25mm f/4 AL [IF] SDM AW (increased tolerances), then discontinued
• HD Pentax-D FA 645 90mm f/2.8 ED AW SR Macro (September 2012)
• HD Pentax-DA 645 28-45mm f/4.5 ED AW SR (August 2014)
• HD Pentax-D FA 645 35mm f/3.5 AL [IF] (revamping, November 2015)