[Jean Poitiers]

I was at the Paris Photo Salon/Expo last Saturday and I stopped by the huge Sigma booth to look at the new full frame "fp".

I told the rep that I was not happy at all that Sigma had stopped supporting Pentax ... to which the rep replied, "We didn't stop supporting Pentax, Pentax stopped supporting themselves."

Then he added, "Where are they?" ... to which he was quite right.

Pentax did NOT have a booth at the annual Paris Photo Salon/Expo.

ZERO. NADA. ... and with 100 years to celebrate as well ... ZILCH.

Who was there? Canon (huge booths), Nikon (huge), Sony (huge), Fuji, Olympus, Leica, Hassy, Tamron, Samyang, Irix, dji, French national camera chains, resellers of lighting/strobe equipment, etc., etc., etc.

NO PENTAX ... sorry to break this news to you, but it's the reality here.

[Kunzite]

I told the rep that I was not happy at all that Sigma had stopped support Pentax ... to which the rep replied, "We didn't stop supporting Pentax, Pentax stopped supporting themselves."

Accepting responsibility for one's own actions isn't a strong point of Sigma reps, I see...
And people would buy their excuses

[mlt]

No, this is the way of the future for large photographic equipment shows. Sony was a no show at the recent event in NYC, instead had a small off-site venue. Look at the list of non attendees at the upcoming Photokina (if it even occurs) show. Sigma obviously has no more interest in supporting the K mount, so snide indifference is not unexpected.

[reh321]

I was at the Paris Photo Salon/Expo last Saturday and I stopped by the huge Sigma booth to look at the new full frame "fp".

I told the rep that I was not happy at all that Sigma had stopped supporting Pentax ... to which the rep replied, "We didn't stop supporting Pentax, Pentax stopped supporting themselves."

Then he added, "Where are they?" ... to which he was quite right.

Pentax did NOT have a booth at the annual Paris Photo Salon/Expo.

ZERO. NADA. ... and with 100 years to celebrate as well ... ZILCH.

Who was there? Canon (huge booths), Nikon (huge), Sony (huge), Fuji, Olympus, Leica, Hassy, Tamron, Samyang, Irix, dji, French national camera chains, resellers of lighting/strobe equipment, etc., etc., etc.

NO PENTAX ... sorry to break this news to you, but it's the reality here.

Ricoh cannot go to every show, and with their decision to have local celebrations of the founding of Asahi, they’re probably actually going to fewer than usual.

[BigMackCam]

I was at the Paris Photo Salon/Expo last Saturday and I stopped by the huge Sigma booth to look at the new full frame "fp".

I told the rep that I was not happy at all that Sigma had stopped supporting Pentax ... to which the rep replied, "We didn't stop supporting Pentax, Pentax stopped supporting themselves."

Then he added, "Where are they?" ... to which he was quite right.

Pentax did NOT have a booth at the annual Paris Photo Salon/Expo.

ZERO. NADA. ... and with 100 years to celebrate as well ... ZILCH.

Who was there? Canon (huge booths), Nikon (huge), Sony (huge), Fuji, Olympus, Leica, Hassy, Tamron, Samyang, Irix, dji, French national camera chains, resellers of lighting/strobe equipment, etc., etc., etc.

NO PENTAX ... sorry to break this news to you, but it's the reality here.

The conversation with Sigma conflated two separate issues as a result of the Sigma rep shamelessly passing the buck.

Sigma pulled out of K-mount because it wasn't selling enough K-mount units - period. It is Sigma's decision, Sigma's responsibility, and Sigma's fault that our favoured brand and mount no longer has its support. For the rep to wriggle out of that by inferring it's Ricoh / Pentax's fault is utter tosh and diversion. Having said that, I fully understand the decision, and if I was part of Sigma management, I would probably have voted in favour of that decision. The company is in business of making money, not altruism.

Ricoh, too, is in the business of making money. However, whilst I understand attending shows and events costs money, and Ricoh Imaging may rightly believe that it does not get sufficient return on such costs to justify attendance, I think this element of its strategy is short-sighted. Time will tell whether Ricoh's strategy delivers results both in isolation, and in relation to other market participants.

But I'll say again, these are two separate issues.

[Jean Poitiers]

The conversation with Sigma conflated two separate issues as a result of the Sigma rep shamelessly passing the buck.

Sigma pulled out of K-mount because it wasn't selling enough K-mount units - period. It is Sigma's decision, Sigma's responsibility, and Sigma's fault that our favoured brand and mount no longer has its support. For the rep to wriggle out of that by inferring it's Ricoh / Pentax's fault is utter tosh and diversion. Having said that, I fully understand the decision, and if I was part of Sigma management, I would probably have voted in favour of that decision. The company is in business of making money, not altruism.

Ricoh, too, is in business of making money. However, whilst I understand attending shows and events costs money, and Ricoh Imaging may rightly believe that it does not get sufficient return on such costs to justify attendance, I think this element of its strategy is short-sighted. Time will tell whether Ricoh's strategy delivers results both in isolation, and in relation to other market participants.

But I'll say again, these are two separate issues.

Well said and agreed.

I think that it's a shame that the "100 year milestone" was ignored, except for a small venue night get-together at a Paris arts workshop ... I got an e-mail invite to this event, but I thought that I would see the Pentax booth at the Paris Photo salon/expo.

[Zygonyx]

Nor did I include the 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM. Those aren't 'Global Vision' lenses and they are older:

• 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM (discontinued): February 2005
• 10-20mm f/3.5 EX DC HSM: March 2009
• 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM: February 2010.

And the 8-16mm that i own.

[Mistral75]

Wow so they havent actually made a new lens for years. The 17-70mm is one i'm considering and its interesting to find out it was introduced 7yrs ago.

Sigma haven't launched a new K-mount lens for years, that's true. It's even worse with Tamron: their latest K-mount lens was announced in February 2008.

[Chris Mak]

Sigma pulled out of K-mount because it wasn't selling enough K-mount units - period. It is Sigma's decision, Sigma's responsibility, and Sigma's fault that our favoured brand and mount no longer has its support. For the rep to wriggle out of that by inferring it's Ricoh / Pentax's fault is utter tosh and diversion. Having said that, I fully understand the decision, and if I was part of Sigma management, I would probably have voted in favour of that decision. The company is in business of making money, not altruism.

Ricoh, too, is in the business of making money. However, whilst I understand attending shows and events costs money, and Ricoh Imaging may rightly believe that it does not get sufficient return on such costs to justify attendance, I think this element of its strategy is short-sighted. Time will tell whether Ricoh's strategy delivers results both in isolation, and in relation to other market participants.

Actually, thinking this through properly, it is your fault that Sigma dropped K-mount support, your fault and every Pentaxian's fault.

Let me explain: Sigma dropped K-mount support, because sales of Sigma k-mount lenses were insufficient to make it commercially interesting. Now who buys K-mount lenses...? Right: Pentaxians do. Or, actually...., they didn't, or at least, not enough. So I concur: Pentax is off the hook, Ricoh is off the hook, Sigma is.... off the hook. But you aren't.

I hope you're not offended by my jest, it contains a grain of truth I believe...

disclaimer: I bought the Sigma 500mm f4.5 k-mount. So I believe I'm off the hook, or sort off.

[Mistral75]

sony got it right by being first, that's for sure. all of the smart adapters are 3rd party... and it took a while to get it right. so unless sony owns or helps metabones(or whoever) they benefitted most by being first. (which i think is what you're saying?) (...)

It depends on what you designate as 'smart adapters'. There are Canon EF - Canon RF AF adapters made by Canon, Nikon F Nikon Z AF adapters made by Nikon, Sigma SA - Leica L AF adapters made by Sigma and Sony A - Sony E AF adapters made by Sony. Cross-brands smart adapters are third-party adapters save for the Canon EF - Leica L AF adapter made by Sigma (Sigma being a member of the Leica L mount alliance) and some medium format adapters.

Sony had a very small residual market share with their A-mount equipment, therefore it was easier for them to jump and embark the mirrorless ship than for Canon and Nikon. They took advantage of being the first manufacturer (apart from Leica) to launch 24x36 mirrorless cameras, that's for sure. (They have also taken advantage of designing their own sensors.) They now have a portfolio of 54 E-mount lenses and converters, that's a huge advantage over their competitors which explains in part the L-mount alliance (join forces to launch more lenses more quickly).

(...) it did not take very long for 3rd party to make nikon/canon dslr/milc adapters though, and they probably got it right the first time. now if you buy a sony/nikon/canon milc, you can use any brand dslr lens and have af/ae... except for pentax.

If you buy a Sony mirrorless camera, yes indeed. If you buy a Canon EF-M, Canon RF or Nikon Z camera, not so much. Apart from the OEM adapters, the only smart adapter for these cameras I'm aware of is the Sony E - Nikon Z adapter made by Techart.

[Mistral75]

(...)

Sigma pulled out of K-mount because it wasn't selling enough K-mount units - period. It is Sigma's decision, Sigma's responsibility, and Sigma's fault that our favoured brand and mount no longer has its support. (...)

It's definitely their responsibility, their choice and their decision. I wouldn't go as far as employing the word 'fault' here.

[Mistral75]

(...)

I think that it's a shame that the "100 year milestone" was ignored, except for a small venue night get-together at a Paris arts workshop ... I got an e-mail invite to this event, but I thought that I would see the Pentax booth at the Paris Photo salon/expo.

You should have read Pentax Forums (not easy with the ongoing raffles, I know; the signal-to-noise ratio is currently quite low) or the French-speaking forums: Chassimages, Forum Pentax, PentaxKlub, PentaxOne and more. Ricoh Imaging not attending the Salon de la Photo this year was announced in any and all of them.

[Mistral75]

And the 8-16mm that i own.

This one, launched in February 2010, was discontinued some times ago, at least its K-mount version.

[BigMackCam]

Actually, thinking this through properly, it is your fault that Sigma dropped K-mount support, your fault and every Pentaxian's fault.

Let me explain: Sigma dropped K-mount support, because sales of Sigma k-mount lenses were insufficient to make it commercially interesting. Now who buys K-mount lenses...? Right: Pentaxians do. Or, actually...., they didn't, or at least, not enough. So I concur: Pentax is off the hook, Ricoh is off the hook, Sigma is.... off the hook. But you aren't.

I hope you're not offended by my jest, it contains a grain of truth I believe...

disclaimer: I bought the Sigma 500mm f4.5 k-mount. So I believe I'm off the hook, or sort off.

LOL

No, I'm not offended, Chris... I get the joke, and the grain of truth. Indeed, we bemoan the loss of Sigma's support, but didn't buy many (or "enough") of their lenses in the first place. Go figure

I bought three new Sigma lenses in KAF... the 18-300, 17-50/2.78 HSM and 30/1.4 Art. All nice, especially the 17-50 and - one of my favourite K-mount lenses - the 30/1.4 Art...

So, I'm off the hook too... kind of

[reh321]

LOL

No, I'm not offended, Chris... I get the joke, and the grain of truth. Indeed, we bemoan the loss of Sigma's support, but didn't buy many (or "enough") of their lenses in the first place. Go figure

I bought three new Sigma lenses in KAF... the 18-300, 17-50/2.78 HSM and 30/1.4 Art. All nice, especially the 17-50 and - one of my favourite K-mount lenses - the 30/1.4 Art...

So, I'm off the hook too... kind of

Since switching back to Pentax 4-1/2 years ago, I have purchased 5 KAF lenses, 2 Sigma and 3 Pentax. The variable aperture 10-20mm lens was the one thing I missed when I left Canon, and so I was excited when I could get one for Pentax also. I have considered the f/3.5 variant, but I can't justify it because I honestly don't use UWA often enough. I don't see any reason to feel guilty - Sigma has made a business decision.