[Sandy Hancock]

1. That's precisely the topic of this thread.
2. The source is Ricoh Imaging Japan; Photo Rumors only relays the official information.
3. There is no "again": the only (tentative) release date until this morning was and has been spring 2018.

You can't cure the Pentax Is DoomedTM mob with reason. It's like convincing a flat earther or any other conspiracy theorist.

Move on.

[Mistral75]

Let's try nevertheless. The main milestones concerning the HD Pentax-D FA★ 50mm f/1.4 SDM AW are the following:

1/ 25 February 2016 (CP+ 2016): New "Pentax K-Mount D FA Lens Roadmap" including the "Large Aperture Standard Single Focus Lens" The same roadmap is also shown at Photokina 2016 in September.

2/ 22 February 2017 (CP+ 2017): First mention of the D FA★ 50mm f/1.4, formerly known as Large Aperture Standard Single Focus Lens, in a press release. Mock-up showcased under glass.

・Market launch: Not decided

Source: Reference Exhibit at CP+ 2017｜RICOH IMAGING

3/ 27 October 2017 (Photo Plus Expo 2017 and Salon de la Photo 2017): Prototype showcased under glass. Happy few people (e.g. Yaotomi staff) are allowed to photograph the lens and play a bit with it. Second mention of the lens in a press release, this time with a more complete name "HD Pentax-D FA★ 50mm f/1.4 SDM AW" and first mention of the tentative launch date.

・Market launch: Scheduled for the spring of 2018

Source: RICOH develops new-generation, high-performance Star-series lenses for digital SLR cameras｜RICOH IMAGING

4/ 30 November 2017: First picture taken with a prototype lens posted on Facebook by Ricoh Imaging

5/ 24 February 2018: Four full resolution official pictures taken with a prototype lens are published by Ricoh Imaging.

6/ 27 February 2018 (pre CP+ 2018): Third mention of the lens in a press release and second mention of the tentative launch date.

・Market launch: Scheduled for the spring of 2018

Source: RICOH to Exhibit One Reference Product at CP+ 2018 Camera and Imaging Show｜RICOH IMAGING

7/ 1-4 March 2018 (CP+ 2018): Pre-series lens showcased. People may play with it and take pictures but may not keep the files.

8/ 13 April 2018: Fourth mention of the lens in a press release. The commercial launch is delayed until summer 2018.

in order to finalize the quality control stage and shift to mass production, we have changed the launch date from the previously announced, spring of 2018 to the summer of 2018.

Source: Development update regarding the HD PENTAX-D FA★ 50mm F1.4 SDM AW (Tentative name)｜RICOH IMAGING

[repaap]

You can't cure the Pentax Is DoomedTM mob with reason. It's like convincing a flat earther or any other conspiracy theorist.

Move on.

What! Earth is flat?! Well that explains it. God is not flipping coin with my life, it is doing that with all of us.

[normhead]

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your past, present and continued support of Ricoh and PENTAX products.

Thanks for posting. Thanks for continuing to make great camera gear. Please don't let the fact that a few can't appreciate your efforts deter you in your quest for excellence.

[beachgardener]

Fantastic that Pentax takes the time to let everyone know, good onya, what I like about Pentax is that they release when it is ready and not before, they take their time to produce a master piece. No rush with patience is a virtue.

[JeaPea]

What a surprise! Pentax annouce a delay in the availabilty of the teased 50mm f/1.4. When will the delay in the availability of the long-overdue wide angle zoom for APSC bodies be made? Maybe Pentaxians should ask either Tokina or Tamron when these lenses will be launched?

[normhead]

What a surprise! Pentax annouce a delay in the availabilty of the teased 50mm f/1.4. When will the delay in the availability of the long-overdue wide angle zoom for APSC bodies be made? Maybe Pentaxians should ask either Tokina or Tamron when these lenses will be launched?

Announcements about coming Pentax product should not be the place to start griping about all your perceived Pentax issues. I'm tired of having every Pentax announcement used a a dumping ground for every imaginable gripe anyone has with Pentax.

You just post here because if you started a thread called "the what's wrong with Pentax thread" most of us, especially experienced users would avoid it like the plague. Personally, I just dropped in for the latest news. To bad it sent you into such a negative tailspin. Hope you recover soon.

I'm not sure many of these negative posters understand how they appear tot he rest of the forum. If this guy is trying to make first impression, he's going about it all wrong.

My suspicion is you are a camera store salesman troll from a store that doesn't sell Pentax setting up a link to point to, to chase possible customers away from Pentax. Show me where you've posted something that might change my opinion and I'll be happy to offer an apology.

---

Last edited by normhead; 04-13-2018 at 06:45 AM.

[sculptormic]

That's better.
Still, most of the time they're finding things from Mistral75; and it's posted here first

You are a bit to patronising to my taste.
Is it so difficult to admit that lenses for the K-1 are coming very very slow....

[D1N0]

I sense a moderator swooping in and slapping a great big lock on this thread pretty soon

[BigMackCam]

I sense a moderator swooping in and slapping a great big lock on this thread pretty soon

You sense correctly.

Folks, those who can't discuss this in a friendly and courteous manner without resort to criticism and sniping at each other, shouldn't discuss it at all. Those who seek only to criticise Pentax (or any other brand) for no constructive reason but rather to be inflammatory, should also desist.

I'll leave the thread open for now, but any further personal comments - direct or indirect - will result in thread bans and infractions. Same for anything I consider to be needless brand-bashing.

Thanks for your help in keeping this place friendly

[Kunzite]

I'm not trying to be patronizing, sorry. I was a bit pedantic though.

[repaap]

I do think that it is great that they openly apologize of the delay, in fact. Also giving K-1 owners quite cheap way to upgrade canera an all of this makes it more valuable than more effective fast gimme your money way. Product line is quite delicate and small obviously. Hopefully all these new things on the market in the end will bring new customers. The end product is the one that actually matters, because it us there to be evaluated. Sure this delay do little eat the credibility, but it is small prize.

Hopefully one day they do find that it is reasonable to enlarge factory line, or even bring it back to Japan so they will get better output. That would need a lot of sales, I believe. No one can deny that there is some high quality lenses coming.
About that thing that lenses or lot of things are computer designed. It is true, but it still has to be honed down, made, modelled ect. A lot of work before they can put those things on production line. And quite a bit of ones that they put through before any ’duplicating’ happens. Even quite finished preproduction models can be even cancelled before that last and final product run. This goes for other designing and modelling than just lenses.

[Walkingwolf]

Thanks for posting. Thanks for continuing to make great camera gear. Please don't let the fact that a few can't appreciate your efforts deter you in your quest for excellence.

I fully agree!

[jatrax]

Let's try nevertheless. The main milestones concerning the HD Pentax-D FA★ 50mm f/1.4 SDM AW are the following:

Wow! Actual facts presented in logical order. Thank you!

Sadly the trolls and Pentax Is DoomedTM crowd will just ignore them.

Congrats to Ricoh for keeping us updated on something I am sure they would rather not have to.


---------- Post added 04-13-18 at 09:11 AM ----------

PS. I was so upset with RIcoh about this that I ordered a DFA 15-30 to make myself feel better.

[JPT]

Well this is not great news, but since I had a perfectly functioning copy of this lens in my hands at CP+ a month ago, I can assure you that this is not just vapourware. It's a real existing product. I'm sure this is just a minor production issue and the only new is that it will be available in summer rather than spring.