Originally posted by BROO Thanks for that good resource for those who are interested.
I guess you will have to correct the Pentax forums review?
"The SMC Pentax-DA 10-17mm F3.5-4.5 Fish-Eye ED [IF], which was released in early 2006, is the first and only Pentax fish-eye lens designed exclusively for APS-C format Pentax K-mount cameras. This is one of the lenses that Pentax developed in conjunction with Tokina, who currently offer the same lens for Canon and Nikon."
Just one thing. Is it unusual for a lens to be patented some time after its introduction or is the PF review incorrect on the introduction date too?
Not my job. But it surprices me that the forum has such a sloppy error. The facts are well known. Pentax and Tokina had a deal then where several Pentax lens patents were licenced to Tokina, and Tokina licensed one lens design to Pentax. It upset some people as unfair. But obviously the net cash-flow went from Tokina to Pentax, even though the sum was never purlic. It should be noted that the research section at Tokina is small, much smaller than at Pentax prior to the Hoya purge, and still smaller than the optical R&D at Ricoh today. Both Tamron and Sigma has substantially larger research teams than Tokina, so Tokina is dependent on this sort of deals.
As for the dates, it is the date when the patent was finally accepted. Production often start when the patent is still pending. That's a terrible slow process.
---------- Post added 06-21-18 at 05:53 AM ----------
Originally posted by Kunzite Without the collaboration with Tokina, this lens might've been a different - lesser - product.
Originally posted by thibs It was licensed to Tokina.
Patents are clear enough I believe.
sTill, without the TOkina collaboration this lens might not have been developed, that's the real meaning of this sentence IMO.
I don't think so. Pentax was quite eager to repeat the success of the F 17-28mm fisheye zoom in APS-C format. And it worked, the DA 10-17mm has sold very well.
It was interresting to observe what happened with the 2nd hand price of the F 17-28mm fisheye zoom when the K-1 came. Since a lot of them where sold back in film-days, but the lens where nearly useless (or pointless) on APS-C, it was valued very low. Prices jumped up quite a lot. It works very well on the K-1.