[beholder3]

Indeed, their 85mm f/1.4 Art is awfulesome:...

That is an acceptable lens only for geeks who rather go off on MTF charts.
Forums are full of it.
Otherwise it's a complete fail.

[Glorfindelrb]

I hope the Pentax short tele on the roadmap will be as bad as this Sigma.

[rawr]

There seems to be a flood of fast full-frame 85mm's in just the last year or so, from Samyang, Sigma, Zeiss, Sony, Tamron, even Yongnuo.

Nikon (last 85mm in 2012), Canon (last 85mm in 2006?) and Pentax (last 85mm in ?) seem to be losing the 85mm fast-prime arms-race (or are just opting out).

[mee]

There seems to be a flood of fast full-frame 85mm's in just the last year or so, from Samyang, Sigma, Zeiss, Sony, Tamron, even Yongnuo.

Nikon (last 85mm in 2012), Canon (last 85mm in 2006?) and Pentax (last 85mm in ?) seem to be losing the 85mm fast-prime arms-race (or are just opting out).

Of those, only the Samyang is currently offered in K mount. And it isn't an AF lens.

Pentax is fashionably late... just like the K-1.

[Mistral75]

There seems to be a flood of fast full-frame 85mm's in just the last year or so, from Samyang, Sigma, Zeiss, Sony, Tamron, even Yongnuo.

Nikon (last 85mm in 2012), Canon (last 85mm in 2006?) and Pentax (last 85mm in ?) seem to be losing the 85mm fast-prime arms-race (or are just opting out).

smc Pentax-FA★ 85mm f/1,4 [IF] : 1992.

smc Pentax-FA 77mm f/1.8 Limited: 1999.

[rawr]

smc Pentax-FA 77mm f/1.8 Limited: 1999.

I forgot about that. A viable current option.

A 2017 DFA★ 85mm f1.4 would be a welcome addition to the lineup too, of course.

[aurele]

I forgot about that. A viable current option.

It's quite an expensive option thought.

I know it's better built than the Canikon 85/1.8 counterpart, but it's really expensive.

And if Pentax create a DFA 85/1.4 what will be the price ? the 77 is almost 1,000€ here (1 month of minimum wage here).

Pentax have great asset in lenses, but sometimes i have hard time getting the strategy put in place in the plast.

[monochrome]

Yikes.

1. Pentax doesn't make an x lens.
2. Yes they do! This one.
3. Yeah, sure, but that's an expensive lens.

No wonder they don't make small-volume lenses any more.

[rawr]

if Pentax create a DFA 85/1.4 what will be the price ?

Such a lens will be expensive, I bet. Pentax could probably create a less expensive plastic 85 f1.8 in the same class as the Nikon 85 f1.8 G or the older Canon EF 85mm f/1.8, but I get the feeling that any new fast Pentax full-frame primes are going to be premium lenses and premium priced.

[beholder3]

Such a lens will be expensive, I bet.

The best benchmark is always the latest OEM addition with the same focal length and aperture, here the Sony 85/1.4. It was priced at 2,000 EUR, but that was published way before we saw the broad Yen driven price increases between +10-20%.
So a fair average starting price outside fairy wonderland for those lenses requested would be 2200-2400 EUR today.

[Winder]

Such a lens will be expensive, I bet. Pentax could probably create a less expensive plastic 85 f1.8 in the same class as the Nikon 85 f1.8 G or the older Canon EF 85mm f/1.8, but I get the feeling that any new fast Pentax full-frame primes are going to be premium lenses and premium priced.

It appears that the new lenses will either be D-FA* lenses or Limited lenses. There are enough old lenses on the used market to satisfy the budget minded photographer. The current trend in lenses is for high end glass. Sony's G-Master series, Sigma ART Series, Zeiss Batis, Nikon's new 100mm F/1.4, Tamron's SP line (35mm, 45mm, 85mm F/1.8 are in the mold of the Limited lenses). With the new update to the K-mount I think we see the Tamron SP 35mm, 45mm, 85mm either as a rebadge or as 3rd party.

With the release of the KP I kind of think we will see Limited lenses. How far is Ricoh going to take the retro style?

[JPT]

This 85mm F1.8 question is a good example of why I'm not in a hurry to rush into full frame. I don't see the point in stepping up to full frame if you are only going to be able to afford budget lenses for it. Of course, it's a different calculation if you already have nice film era lenses. I think I would rather get the best APS-C body I could and the DA55mm F1.4, which I believe would produce very similar results to a 85mm F1.8 on a K-1, but it would be cheaper and make a smaller kit.

I agree with Rawr, it makes more sense for Ricoh to come out with high end lenses for FF. I think that means they will be either F1.4 ("Large Aperture" on the roadmap) or F1.8 Limited and thus still relatively expensive.

[aurele]

There are enough old lenses on the used market to satisfy the budget minded photographer.

Let's agree to disagree on that one, especially in the 85mm range with AF

So a fair average starting price outside fairy wonderland for those lenses requested would be 2200-2400 EUR today.

If Pentax create a DFA 85 as good as the 70-200, indeed i guess the price will be pretty high.

I have the feeling that Ricoh will slowly but surely re-structure the current offering to offer lenses that match there current offering in bodies : small and compact (like the KP) or high end (K-1).

To me, this would be great ! Ricoh, make Pentax great again (i had to do this joke, i can't hold it anymore ...)

[redrockcoulee]

No, those Pentaxians should be sent on vacation to put their assortment of lenses to use.

I have all the Pentax lenses I need or maybe even want and will be retiring at the end of March. I volunteer to be sent out on vacations to use my lenses, all expenses paid of course.

I am not against new cameras or lenses just not for me. I am all for holidays and photo trips. Nice of you to offer

[deepbluish]

This 85mm F1.8 question is a good example of why I'm not in a hurry to rush into full frame. I don't see the point in stepping up to full frame if you are only going to be able to afford budget lenses for it.

You seem to by implying that budget lenses are inherently bad, or not worthy of an FF camera. I strongly disagree. The DA 35mm f2.4 is a budget lens which performs great on the K-1.