[pres589]

Those "K-1 lab" photos are really terrible, for any lens. I think Ricoh really dropped the ball on that site, it is not a good advertisement. Checking the forum here for user reports, the sample photo gallery, the "DA lenses on Full frame" thread, the user lens reviews, etc. is much better to get a good idea about a lens' performance

Agreed. I'm a little surprised that Ricoh representatives that have been on this forum in the past haven't tried to work with folks to get more pictures that actually impress people to get their work added to the K-1 site.

[Na Horuk]

Was just curious, I'm still going to wait and see what this new DFA turns out, kind of want the "latest and greatest" for my fifty)

Oh, no worries, I totally get that if you are planning a purchase you do your research first, so you get the best you can. But this is why I'm posting, because Ricoh's website gives a rather poor impression of a lot of those lenses. Looking at what users have posted on this forum shows how stunning even older DA lenses can be on FF.
The DA* 55mm is a premium lens, being * and all (WR, QS, SDM), but I think its primarily designed for portraiture (55mm on APSC is kind of like 85mm FoV on FF), so it is good at rendering skin tones and bokeh. I expect the announced DFA* 50mm, judging by the size, will rival Sigma 50mm art and maybe even the Zeiss. I expect its sharpness will be uniform, with a lot of optical corrections overall. Big and heavy 50mm is not for me, though. Hope you find the 50mm you want, there are many options

[Kunzite]

Agreed. I'm a little surprised that Ricoh representatives that have been on this forum in the past haven't tried to work with folks to get more pictures that actually impress people to get their work added to the K-1 site.

The K-1 lab is no PPG. It's not gathering art, but sample images which should give you an idea about a lens' characteristics. I guess they preferred quantity over quality... but also, those images should not avoid showing a lens' faults.

[Na Horuk]

The K-1 lab is no PPG. It's not gathering art, but sample images which should give you an idea about a lens' characteristics. I guess they preferred quantity over quality... but also, those images should not avoid showing a lens' faults.

Advertisments always stretch the truth. Turn on the TV, look at a magazine. Why not Pentax? And I think those photos in the lab are actually worse than what you objectively get

[D1N0]

Yeah Pentax should really show of legacy FA 28-80 lenses as stellar, instead of mediocre.... No need to buy D FA lenses at all.

[Kunzite]

That's not advertisement.
Neither is - let's say - an user manual. Would you want an user manual to "stretch the truth"? Or a specification sheet?

[Sandy Hancock]

How is da*55 on k1?

It's fantastic. For more details on my opinion, see post #150 in this thread.

[JPT]

I think the K-1 Lens Lab is a clever way for Ricoh to illustrate that DA crop lenses and FA-era lenses are indeed usable in FF mode, without officially saying they are FF compatible. Sure, they could come out and say that the DA*55 is K-1 compatible, but they would open themselves to complaints when people started looking for signs of vignetting. This way, they can just let users show to what extent the lenses can be used, and potential buyers can decide for themselves whether it's acceptable.

[awscreo]

Oh, no worries, I totally get that if you are planning a purchase you do your research first, so you get the best you can. But this is why I'm posting, because Ricoh's website gives a rather poor impression of a lot of those lenses. Looking at what users have posted on this forum shows how stunning even older DA lenses can be on FF.
The DA* 55mm is a premium lens, being * and all (WR, QS, SDM), but I think its primarily designed for portraiture (55mm on APSC is kind of like 85mm FoV on FF), so it is good at rendering skin tones and bokeh. I expect the announced DFA* 50mm, judging by the size, will rival Sigma 50mm art and maybe even the Zeiss. I expect its sharpness will be uniform, with a lot of optical corrections overall. Big and heavy 50mm is not for me, though. Hope you find the 50mm you want, there are many options

Sure, my quest continues I have 4 fifties (although only one is semi-modern, DA 50 1.8), and I enjoy using them, but after playing around with the A 50 1.4, I really want a modern one. As for Ricoh's dreadful choice of pics - few weeks ago they posted their ambassador protogs, and pics were maybe 300x200px lol, stretched in a facebook post. Looked so bad, and kept posting them until comments just ridiculed them basically forcing them to somewhat improve resolution. I'm not sure who's in charge of their social platform development, but he needs to get a facebook account and look at what other companies are doing)

[Na Horuk]

few weeks ago they posted their ambassador protogs, and pics were maybe 300x200px lol, stretched in a facebook post. Looked so bad, and kept posting them until comments just ridiculed them basically forcing them to somewhat improve resolution. I'm not sure who's in charge of their social platform development, but he needs to get a facebook account and look at what other companies are doing)

Yeah. Pentax is almost famous for outsourcing this stuff to pretty bad companies. I've seen official brochures that stated completely wrong info, like that DA 40mm XS has quickshift (it does not)..
And this is why I say Pentax has to improve the advertisments.

Yeah Pentax should really show of legacy FA 28-80 lenses as stellar, instead of mediocre.... No need to buy D FA lenses at all.

That is clearly not what I said. The DA* 55mm is still in production and if you look around the forum, lots of people love it on their K-1. But that lab makes it look like its not worth the money, barely better than DA 50mm f1.8. Its like saying to someone "You want to buy our camera? Oh no, there are no lenses for it, why bother" meanwhile all the other brands spend a lot of money on marketing. That is part of the reason why Pentax is not taken as seriously. Maybe you think you don't fall for marketing hype - great for you! But 80% of potential buyers do.

The K-1 lab is no PPG. It's not gathering art, but sample images which should give you an idea about a lens' characteristics. I guess they preferred quantity over quality... but also, those images should not avoid showing a lens' faults.

That is not what I am saying. I said that the photos look sub par, worse than what those lenses are capable of. They are not 'honest', they are 'bad'. And artistic is part of it. Look at Canikon sites - full of artistic photos. Most people who are deciding which brand to buy have no idea of the difference between technical quality and content quality. Those photos in Canikon adverts are taken by professionals with lots of special support gear (reflectors, flashes, software, assistants, models, makeup artists, etc.). Then the Pentax photos look like someone who has a camera for less than a year went into a forest and took a couple snaps
You don't get new users by showing them boring photos, with poor resolution, too much compression, possibly even poorly taken.

[Rondec]

DA *55 has dark corners wide open. It is decent at f2 and more than usable for landscapes stopped to f4 or below.

This is a lightning photo at f14 on K-1



f2 shot of my sons.



Landscape at f2 with minimal processing.

[Kunzite]

That is not what I am saying. I said that the photos look sub par, worse than what those lenses are capable of. They are not 'honest', they are 'bad'. And artistic is part of it. Look at Canikon sites - full of artistic photos. Most people who are deciding which brand to buy have no idea of the difference between technical quality and content quality. Those photos in Canikon adverts are taken by professionals with lots of special support gear (reflectors, flashes, software, assistants, models, makeup artists, etc.). Then the Pentax photos look like someone who has a camera for less than a year went into a forest and took a couple snaps
You don't get new users by showing them boring photos, with poor resolution, too much compression, possibly even poorly taken.

I don't think Canon has anything like the K-1 lab; you can't even put EF-S lenses on FF cameras so why would they? Nikon can't be bothered either as they have an extensive FX lens line.

And you continue to talk about adverts, which the K-1 lab isn't. But can you show me one of those "photos in Canikon adverts taken by professionals with lots of special support gear" which shows heavy vignetting to the point the lens is not usable without cropping?
If no, you're completely missing its point.

[Na Horuk]

And you continue to talk about adverts, which the K-1 lab isn't. But can you show me one of those "photos in Canikon adverts taken by professionals with lots of special support gear" which shows heavy vignetting to the point the lens is not usable without cropping? If no, you're completely missing its point.

So what is the K-1 lab, then? Just something that exists for its own sake, with no promotional intent? There is a reason it exists, it is an investment meant to bring returns of some sort.
Of course Canikon don't have websites showcasing backwards compatibility, I never claimed they did. I was talking about the various Canikon websites that they do have. And exactly, those don't show heavy vignetting or images with poor jpeg compression or images with bad resolution! Because they are meant to sell their stuff, not showcase their weaknesses
But hey, if you think the point of the "K-1 lab" is to show objective measurements (which even actual reviewers barely do) it still falls short. Anyway, I am done talking about this. Hope the new DFA* 50mm is good and everyone gets the lens they want, whether its Samyang 50mm, Horus Bennu 50mm f1,7, Zenitar 50mm f2, Pentax DA 50mm f1.8, Pentax DA* 55mm, Pentax DFA 50mm f2.8 macro or the new DFA* 50mm f1.4!

[Kunzite]

It's a tool allowing you to see if a certain lens is "good enough", or if it isn't. By your own admission, you'll never see an advert showing you the weak points of a product... yet that's required for the K-1 Lab.
How about a K-1 Lab which doesn't show vignetting for any DA lens? (I guess creative use of Content Aware Fill would be required)

I never claimed they're doing "objective measurements", by the way; you're once again completely missing the point (and what I write, and what's written on the website). Those are photos made by volunteering users, with some basic EXIF data and a comment.

[pres589]

Why wouldn't they want to show awe-inspiring photographs taken with whatever lens from their current or recent offerings on their new hot rod full frame DSLR? One of the selling points to some folks is the k-mount and how you can install lenses from decades ago onto a brand new digital body. Plus it helps show what is possible when you don't have a pile of lenses that were described as full frame but you've got such a body for sale.

And who cares that Canon or Nikon doesn't have something like this?