[biz-engineer]

Eye AF might be usefull for a selfie in front on the mountain landscape. That said, Pentax does face AF in LV mode, can be triggered by IR remote.


Back on the topic of Sigma drops the k mount. As everyone knows, it's down to market share and how projects compete for budget, there may not be enough budget left to develop lenses for all kind of lens mounts. Due to projects being in competition to get funded, the top selling mount get a lens, then the second best selling mount lens gets funded as well, maybe a third mount, and that's how some third party lenses are made only for a limited number of camera brands.

Now, about market share and popularity of camera brands, it is almost always assumed by customer that less market share is obviously its cause in less performing products, I read that all the time. And that's a wrong assumption. There are many reasons why a company has more market share, it can be simply that they are the kind of low cost electronics grabing 80% of the market, and that doesn't mean that the products are the best, far from it. I remember when Microsoft dominated Apple, MS OS were lower quality than Apple, but Microsoft has a far superior retail organization that Apple didn't have, which prove the point that lower market share can have nothing to do with products.

[biz-engineer]

Regarding Pentax market share, the likely caused by long term minimal presence in retail relative to big brands. When Canon release a new camera model, even a very minor upgrade, they automatically sell 20 times more than Pentax. Typically, if the Pentax K-1 was sold by Canon, it would have sold 20 times more then when the same product is sold by Ricoh, and probably 10 times more when Canon would sell the same Pentax K-1 product compared to if Sony was selling the same product, simply be a systematic effect of the large sale/retail force of Canon.

[MrKodak]

Does this link work?

Sigma stops K-Mount support - Page 2 - PentaxForums.com

Yes, it did, thank you!

[MrKodak]

But you will admit that Sigma has come a long ways from the "Stigma" days where they produced cheap lenses that really weren't terribly well made. The real questions are (a) if Pentaxians have gotten over their biases against Sigmas enough to buy them over Pentax brand lenses (b) if they work well enough on K mount cameras to make people want them and (c) if the real quality lenses are available in K mount.

Sigma must have, I have no experience of my own of Sigma's more modern lenses, just a 24mm I bought in the mid-1980s for budget restraints, besides a couple of zoom lenses I got with cameras I bought but never really used, although it was supposed to be better than average I never liked the lens and later when AF came in the picture their lenses were notorious for hunting for focus, something that Tamron was much better at.
But probably that is in all earnest because Tamron had a deal with Minolta and subcontracted several of their lenses, so they knew how the focus signals worked.
Lately, I have read a lot of reviews that confirm they are much better and especially after firmware updates.

The second issue I have heard about Sigma lenses is from people in the business working with repairing lenses and for all their "feeling" apart, mechanically the Sigma's are inferior and prone to break, especially the aperture turns into a salad after a few years of good use. The Sigma zooms I picked up by accident when buying cameras pretty much confirm it; half are "dead" focusing screw, zoom mechanism or aperture are broken.

Though I confess lately Sigma has made some tempting lenses, I still consider buying but; it's hard for an old dog like me to change my habits.

[WillWeaverRVA]

Yes, it did, thank you!

Not a problem!

[luftfluss]

You'd be surprised...

https://www.wired.com/images_blogs/photos/uncategorized/2008/12/23/nikons60_2.jpg

Source article: Nikon's Smart and Hilarious Face-Detecting Camera Ads | WIRED

Nikons suffer from Pareidolia, eh?

[RobA_Oz]

Nikons suffer from Pareidolia, eh?

From the looks of the Z50, it's more like body dismorphia.

[Gerbermiester]

I've had bad luck with all the Sigma lenses I ever bought less the 30mm f/1.4. The rest have been unreliable in one or more ways. The 50-150mm f/2.8 couldn't figure out of our wanted to front focus our back focus, the 24mm f/1.8 broke a plastic focusing gear, and the first 10-20mm f/4-5.6 I bought was decentered (I could still exchange it luckily).

I was tempted by the 18-35mm f/1.8 for a while until I saw the reviews for it here. I didn't want a repeat of the 50-150mm which I sold promptly after it let me down at a wedding.

[troenaas]

Such limited choice, only a couple of primes, no aperture rings, and no long focal lengths.

Not a single lens that interests me.

Exactly my feelings as well.

[phoebus]

I spoke to the Sigma rep at the Birmingham UK Photography show a few years ago. He told me that Pentax was not being supported on the new lenses due to [lack of] market share and the extra engineering required for the mechanical aperture linkage. This was before KAF-4 made an appearance.

I have bought the 10-20/3.5 and the 18-35/1.8 new and 15/2.8FE and 24-70/2.8 second hand. Optically the 18-35 is stunning, but on the K-5 the autofocus was hit and miss; it works better on the KP. I like the 10-20 and the 15FE (which I believe is still available new). The 24-70 is the only one I don't like.

I wonder if things would be different now if KAF-4 had be released a few years earlier?

[Rondec]

I spoke to the Sigma rep at the Birmingham UK Photography show a few years ago. He told me that Pentax was not being supported on the new lenses due to [lack of] market share and the extra engineering required for the mechanical aperture linkage. This was before KAF-4 made an appearance.

I have bought the 10-20/3.5 and the 18-35/1.8 new and 15/2.8FE and 24-70/2.8 second hand. Optically the 18-35 is stunning, but on the K-5 the autofocus was hit and miss; it works better on the KP. I like the 10-20 and the 15FE (which I believe is still available new). The 24-70 is the only one I don't like.

I wonder if things would be different now if KAF-4 had be released a few years earlier?

Probably not.

Pentax is small and even if 10 or 15 percent of Pentaxians purchased a Sigma lens that probably wouldn't move the decision needle much for Sigma. But the bigger issue for Sigma right now is that they are really focused on L mount cameras and getting their lenses ported over for those cameras. I don't think they have a lot of energy and resources to focus on porting lenses to tiny players like Pentax.

I do wonder if their L mount decisions could end up hurting them in the long run. Not the releasing of L mount lenses (although I doubt they are selling many of those), but the efforts they are making to release L mount MILCs which feel as though they will command even less market share than Pentax's cameras do.

[RobA_Oz]

I do wonder if their L mount decisions could end up hurting them in the long run. Not the releasing of L mount lenses (although I doubt they are selling many of those), but the efforts they are making to release L mount MILCs which feel as though they will command even less market share than Pentax's cameras do.

I’ve been wondering the same thing. It’s not quite at the stage of betting the company on an untried product, but I’d have been having a good hard look at the risk analysis if I was on the board.

[biz-engineer]

I do wonder if their L mount decisions could end up hurting them in the long run.

Usually in business, more upside business potential goes along with more risk, against the certitude of making low sale for an existing mount for which there are already plenty of lens options for customers. Making lenses for the L mount could hurt but it could also but a very profitable operation because currently there are almost no affordable lenses available for the L mount, no one fill those gaps for Panasonic, the seats are empty. It's not like coming up with K mount lenses such as a 50mm 1.4 when there is already a top notch Pentax D-FA* 50 1.4, in that case the business potential for Sigma is close to zero. For a third party lens maker like Sigma or Tamron, being first to offer a lens that OEM don't have is golden business opportunity.

[phoebus]

Probably not.

Pentax is small and even if 10 or 15 percent of Pentaxians purchased a Sigma lens that probably wouldn't move the decision needle much for Sigma. But the bigger issue for Sigma right now is that they are really focused on L mount cameras and getting their lenses ported over for those cameras. I don't think they have a lot of energy and resources to focus on porting lenses to tiny players like Pentax.

I do wonder if their L mount decisions could end up hurting them in the long run. Not the releasing of L mount lenses (although I doubt they are selling many of those), but the efforts they are making to release L mount MILCs which feel as though they will command even less market share than Pentax's cameras do.

I'm sure you're correct, but that is now. I'm talking about 5+ years ago. AFAIK the last Pentax mount released was the 18-35/1.8. The decision to not release K mount for the majority of the A range must have been taken back then, when all other mounts just required an EM aperture control. The mechanical linkage for the K mount must have been a large factor in making it prohibitive commercially. Conversely, it probably helped sales of the DFA 150-450 and DFA* 50, that may have been lessened if the 150-600 and 50/1.4 Sigma had been available.

[Mistral75]

(...)

I do wonder if their L mount decisions could end up hurting them in the long run. Not the releasing of L mount lenses (although I doubt they are selling many of those), but the efforts they are making to release L mount MILCs which feel as though they will command even less market share than Pentax's cameras do.

Sigma are familiar with launching cameras, the sales of which are confidential:

• sd Quattro and sd Quattro H in 2016
• dp0 Quattro in 2015
• dp1 Quattro, dp2 Quattro and dp3 Quattro in 2014
• and so on.

I doubt the impact of the Sigma fp launched this year and of the camera with a 24x36 Foveon sensor expected for 2020 on Sigma's bottom line will be different from that of the above cameras.