[RGlasel]

That or they got an extra R&D allowance to go from 70-200mm to 70-210mm.

8 posts in and no mention that Pentax is introducing their Tamron 70-210mm f/4 Di VC USD copycat for $400 more than what the Tamron original in F mount is listed for (and is on sale for another $200 less -$599- at the moment), without including OIS and not offering a 5 year warranty.:) I have to assume this means that there was an in-house project that has either been shelved or redirected, surely there would not have been teasing about something like this for about 18 months if the original plan was to have Tamron build it with Ricoh imaging coatings and o-rings.

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Last edited by RGlasel; 01-20-2020 at 12:10 PM. Reason: in the time it took to write this post, there another 7 posts and one mentioned the price gap

[WorksAsIntended]

IF this is another Tamron rebrand, I will be very disappointed. It is a nice lens, but just too expensive with Pentax written on it and the missing vr is bad too. The Tamron not being available for Pentax is not a strong argument for me, especially as with the small market share Pentax does need to get new customers, not only users that already commited into their system.

[Riddler]

70 210 tamron for Canon 400 euro. For Pentax euro 1100. A shame

[Serkevan]

It says Pentax on the outside, and presumably has Pentax coatings. Plus, it's K-mount. The Tamron is not available in K-mount and never will be.

Yep, as I said, we don't have any other option.

[Reed]

If Ricoh provide a Dock unit, for that and maybe other lenses of their portfolio, that would be unique feature for OEM manufacturers. Still I doubt that there will such device offered becouse no one will ever admit that OEM lens need adjustment or firmware update made by user. Of course there are a lot of firmware changes during the product life cycle, but as of today only accessible by debug menu and lens.eep firmware swap.

[biz-engineer]

IF this is another Tamron rebrand, I will be very disappointed. It is a nice lens, but just too expensive

Introduction price to avoid orders exceeding production, price may drop over time when the initial demand slows down. It a good think if Ricoh reuse known good lenses already developped by others, in order to put more effort on primes lenses having differentiated performance. For sure, the general situation of Pentax market share won't change overnight but that's not the topic of that lens / thread.

---------- Post added 20-01-20 at 20:17 ----------

70 210 tamron for Canon 400 euro. For Pentax euro 1100. A shame

Bah... the introduction price of the tamron 70-210 was much more than 400 euros.

[Serkevan]

I have to assume this means that there was an in-house project that has either been shelved or redirected, surely there would not have been teasing about something like this for about 18 months if the original plan was to have Tamron build it with Ricoh imaging coatings and o-rings.

Yes, it makes no sense. Unless they redesigned the optical elements and the AF motor + keep the VR for dual stabilization this doesn't make a lot of sense.

---------- Post added 01-20-20 at 12:20 PM ----------

Bah... the introduction price of the tamron 70-210 was much more than 400 euros.

799€ and it's at half that a year and a half in (which is when we are getting it). So it's still a 50% price increase over MSRP.

[Riddler]

Sorry too expensive 1100 euro. Dont buy it

[RGlasel]

manufacturing tolerances tighter than those usually retained by Tamron are definitely a possibility

it is virtually impossible to change manufacturing tolerances for the same tooling, and even more difficult to selectively improve quality without setting up an extra production line. Selective downgrading in manufacturing happens all the time, sometimes it is as simple as lowering the QA standards at final inspection (so the scrap rate is lower), but the reverse never.

This looks very much like what was done with the D FA 15-30, and anything to increase the value of the K-1 system is a good thing in my opinion, but I can buy the latest and most expensive version of a Canon 70-200 f4 for no more money, whereas Pentax pricing has traditionally been 20-25% lower than Canon and Nikon. Tamron's aggressive prcing for their own version has accentuated the Pentax premium in this case, but Ricoh Imaging has still missed the mark on this one, in my opinion.

[boriscleto]

799€ and it's at half that a year and a half in (which is when we are getting it). So it's still a 50% price increase over MSRP.

The Pentax will come down from launch price even quicker.

$1200 at launch and it will be selling for $800 in the fall. The 18-270 rebadge was $799 at launch, how long did it take to fall below $500? It still sells for $100-150 more than the Tamron.

[BigMackCam]

IF this is another Tamron rebrand, I will be very disappointed. It is a nice lens, but just too expensive with Pentax written on it and the missing vr is bad too. The Tamron not being available for Pentax is not a strong argument for me, especially as with the small market share Pentax does need to get new customers, not only users that already commited into their system.

I don't disagree that the Pentax version looks as if it will be considerably more expensive than the Tamron for a lens that is remarkably similar (though not identical). Pentax isn't the only brand to do this, of course... Sony, for years, re-branded Tamron lenses (with small Sony-specific tweaks) for A-mount and sold them at considerably higher prices than Tamron (also without image stabilisation, since the bodies - like Pentax - have it built in).

The Tamron not being available for Pentax is not a strong argument for me, especially as with the small market share Pentax does need to get new customers, not only users that already commited into their system.

There is no argument, frankly. If you're sticking with Pentax, you'll need to get used to the idea of collaborations and re-brands (with, let's not forget, Pentax specific tweaks) where lenses are concerned, and accept the launch prices that Ricoh sets for Pentax lenses. That's just the way it's going to be. Alternatively, switch to a different brand and buy Tamron or other third party lenses. It's a fairly clear-cut choice...

[ZeljkoS]

Nikon 70-200 F4 is currently ~$1400, so there's that. Canon is not far off.
Those lenses do have stabilization in them though...


I'm sure Pentax didn't just slap their name on the lens, there are coatings and weather sealing which are the best in the business.

[boriscleto]

I'm sure Pentax didn't just slap their name on the lens, there are coatings and weather sealing which are the best in the business.

The Tamron is "Weather Sealed". Is the WR in the 15-30 any different than the weather sealing in the Tamron version?

[RobA_Oz]

It certainly looks like a Tamron re-work, so why this took so long to appear, we can only guess at, but maybe it was to maximise sales of the D FA*70-200/2.8.

I can understand that, with limited resources, Ricoh went to Tamron for the 15-30/2.8 and the 24-70/2.8, to fill out the lens lineup when the K-1 was announced. However, this latest move, assuming it is a Tamron re-work, isn't exactly contributing to pushing the Pentax brand into premium territory, no matter how good the Tamron lenses are. Confusing signals – the D FA*50/1.4 certainly points to premium, and presumably so will the D FA*85/1.4 – so this should have been out before the 50 (unless RGlasel is right, and an in-house development was scrapped, of course).

[sundown]

Is it sharp ?