Originally posted by Chris Mak I wonder: how much sense do expensive, professional grade lenses like a FF 50mm f1.4, make? Before the K1, at least Pentax/Ricoh did not have to care much about the professional market, they could simply make very good, high value products for the serious amateur market. If you go after the "pro" market, than Ricoh's current efforts cannot really be taken serious next to the status of Canon and Nikon, and the dazzling pace at which Sony is getting their pro mirrorless act together.
I kind of would like to see Ricoh/Pentax return to the serious amateur market, or otherwise, go all out to conquer the pro market with Sony-like pace and investment.
The way it is now, nothing much at all is happening anymore. For instance: where the h**l is my K3 successor!!
Chris
Chris, I believe you are quite mistaken about the role of the D FA* primes.
Having the D FA* lens line doesn't mean Pentax/Ricoh is going after the professional market, nor that they should go "all out". Whatever Sony is doing is not feasible for Ricoh anyway, and we don't know if it will work out for Sony.
Those lenses, IMO, are precisely aimed at both the serious amateur market and the "pro" one.
The serious amateur market, now, why would you trace imaginary and unnecessary limits on how high should they aim? It's the same as with the FF itself, there were people who said "no, Pentax should stay APS-C". Yet the K-1 worked, people bought it - not only Pentaxians. People bought the D FA* 70-200 and the D FA 150-450, too.
IMO if there are serious amateurs willing to buy the D FA* lenses, then Pentax/Ricoh should make a reasonable attempt at getting and keeping those customers. Because they're the best spenders.
Then, there's the "pro" market, and here there are more than one way - Sony way - of approaching things.
You could go "all out" and hope that in the end you'd somehow recover the huge expenses. If not... things could go bad, very bad. Or, you could set more down to Earth targets, see what kind of pros you can serve, and gradually expand your limits.
Just because Pentax cannot stand at Olympics next to Canon, does it mean they shouldn't even dream about "pro" landscape photography, or weddings, or events for example? Perhaps they should drop the relations with the existing pros, Kenspo included, as they're "too much" for Pentax?
Of course that's not what you're suggesting. But, there's no such thing as stagnation - you either move forward, or you'll be moving backwards. The D FA* primes means moving forward. They're a necessity.