[Rondec]

Let's be honest. In a perfect world for manufacturers, they would all change mounts every 15 years or so and make their new mounts completely incompatible with previous generations of lenses. The reality is that anyone who did that would suffer the wrath of their users who would flee to other mounts that can easily take their old lenses.

Of course, brands are hoping to sell new lenses when they go mirrorless, but they can't do anything if photographers are happy with their previous generation lenses with an adapter. The solution is to make new lenses smaller, have faster apertures, or just be sharper. So far, the biggest thing I have seen with new mirrorless lenses is that they are quite a bit more expensive...

[Dieseler]

......Pentax needed a completely new, modernized camera - and they did exactly that.

Let's be honest, their "new, modernized camera" has very few better specs than a nearly 5-year old competitor, and in some instances like the RAW buffer, worse. Admittedly, this competitor also took a very long time to become available as an update to the previous body.


I must say, I am getting impatient for the release as I am one of their target market for this body, owning the DFA 150-450, so I may come across as bitter about any delays, if so, I apologise.

In hindsight (always 20/20 ), I should have switched systems a long time ago, but now I feel we are so close to the finish line it would not make sense, hence my frustration.

However, we must have sympathy for the staff and engineers of Pentax who must be just as frustrated about this delay.

[Hayashi]

I think it's just very common and usual for Ricoh/Pentax to be late

They almost get delay everytime

[RobG]

I think it's just very common and usual for Ricoh/Pentax to be late
They almost get delay everytime

I think you're right. I just hope and believe that the K3iii will be worth it, at least for me. I really can't wait to see how it performs with the DFA 150-450!

[surfar]

You can use 60 years worth of lenses on a Pentax DSLR. You can’t say the same thing about Canon, at least not EF.

K mount started 1975,whats the 60 years?How was the AF 60 years ago?

Canon present Dslr or Mirrorless bodies can use EF/s lenses dating back to 1987,theres 150 million OEMs produced plus the third party ones.FD and Those screw mounts can be used too.What year did those start?

[repaap]

One thing what needs to be clarified is that this is new, completelly new thing we are talking, when it comes to Pentax. new AF and there is a hint of possible hybrid things in the future, but still keeping the mirror. Old pentax (yes my K-1 is in that group too) has AF system that was dated already in last models, even if it has been okay, but pentaxians has made that work. One and almost only thing where Pentax has been and still is in many ways is image quality. Now it seems to be highest ISO too. Differences are small ofcourse.


Now they have added things to AF which will make more things available in the future also, as LV performance can be upgraded too. They have mademovie SR back also and I suppose it will be more effective too.

Sure, -competition- has moved on and there are now those lenses coming they have been talking about when they went to short flange system. Now that is not actually free from problems either. This seems to be hard to admit for some. Let us see when Ricoh installs these new thins they'v done for aps-c to next K-1 and 645 series. All of a sudden those will leap couple steps up. Sure. They will be 'late', but for some reason I do feel happy that there are these options and I'm going to buy them. I'm not alone with that thought.

Ricoh has not stepped away from here, they have just chosen different path and things are going to improve. Let us see when they will actually make changes to their factoryline which has been problematic before too. althou this time problem came from -outside-.

[robbiec]

More hair pulling and Doom is nigh stuff going on again? ��
It's no big deal unless you really need to a new camera to seriously improve your photography as it has x or y feature and if that is the case, we'll you're really in the wrong place.

Anyways I was about to say that the delay is very much not indefinite but more in the 3 to 6 months range and I'm going to take a wild guess that it is ABF substrate related (think of it as glue to hold chips together) and that is showing to be causing constraints across numerous different supply chains. It is what it is.

[Wheatfield]

K mount started 1975,whats the 60 years?How was the AF 60 years ago?

Canon present Dslr or Mirrorless bodies can use EF/s lenses dating back to 1987,theres 150 million OEMs produced plus the third party ones.FD and Those screw mounts can be used too.What year did those start?

They started the same time Canon screwed their FD user base. That would be the late 1980s.
You can apologize all you like for that.
The fact is, being able to put an FD lens on a Canon mirrorless is coincidence not some corporate plan to finally play nice with the customers they betrayed 3 decades ago.

[Serkevan]

Let's be honest, their "new, modernized camera" has very few better specs than a nearly 5-year old competitor, and in some instances like the RAW buffer, worse. Admittedly, this competitor also took a very long time to become available as an update to the previous body.


I must say, I am getting impatient for the release as I am one of their target market for this body, owning the DFA 150-450, so I may come across as bitter about any delays, if so, I apologise.

In hindsight (always 20/20 ), I should have switched systems a long time ago, but now I feel we are so close to the finish line it would not make sense, hence my frustration.

However, we must have sympathy for the staff and engineers of Pentax who must be just as frustrated about this delay.

How's the IBIS on the D500?
Jokes aside, Nikon has much more R&D muscle to develop things, and they could keep the D500's body price somewhat low because it reused a lot of tech from the D5 so there was not a huge to pay for the development (yes, dual processors, fast buffer, etc. Though let's be honest, most electronic components on cameras are not really expensive).

IMO one should never buy a system based on what *could* happen with said system, but on what *is* available already.

[reh321]

Let's be honest. In a perfect world for manufacturers, they would all change mounts every 15 years or so and make their new mounts completely incompatible with previous generations of lenses. The reality is that anyone who did that would suffer the wrath of their users who would flee to other mounts that can easily take their old lenses.

Of course, brands are hoping to sell new lenses when they go mirrorless, but they can't do anything if photographers are happy with their previous generation lenses with an adapter. The solution is to make new lenses smaller, have faster apertures, or just be sharper. So far, the biggest thing I have seen with new mirrorless lenses is that they are quite a bit more expensive...

Not at all.

There was a reason so many manufacturers settled on the M42-mount and then stayed there for some time. They change mount only when they have a compelling reason for doing so.

Manufacturers make money when they sell cameras and lenses, which means that users have to purchase them.
Users are most likely to purchase them if there is some assurance that the lens used on the current camera can also be used on the next one.

When I chose a camera in 1995 twenty five years ago - to replace my Pentax “Super Program” I chose between a Canon and a Nikon camera ..... both cameras used lenses that are still usable on DSLRs today, and with adapters both are usable in some form on MILCs today, the Canons having all functions usable.

[Kunzite]

Let's be honest, their "new, modernized camera" has very few better specs than a nearly 5-year old competitor, and in some instances like the RAW buffer, worse. Admittedly, this competitor also took a very long time to become available as an update to the previous body.


I must say, I am getting impatient for the release as I am one of their target market for this body, owning the DFA 150-450, so I may come across as bitter about any delays, if so, I apologise.

In hindsight (always 20/20 ), I should have switched systems a long time ago, but now I feel we are so close to the finish line it would not make sense, hence my frustration.

However, we must have sympathy for the staff and engineers of Pentax who must be just as frustrated about this delay.

Which part of my post wasn't honest? I was arguing against Pentax making a "fast to release" camera, and in favor of launching a modernized one as a top priority.
How about your post? Are you honest?

Are there more than two areas where the D500 is - from a mere specs comparison, because that's all we have for now - better? Those being: AF module specs and storage support?
(The D500 doesn't have insanely high amounts of RAM - its large buffer is actually fast writing to XQD cards: Nikon D500 XQD and SD UHS-II Card Performance comparison test for continuous shooting, buffer and write speed - Camera Memory Speed Comparison & Performance tests for SD and CF cards)

[Rondec]

Not at all.

There was a reason so many manufacturers settled on the M42-mount and then stayed there for some time. They change mount only when they have a compelling reason for doing so.

Manufacturers make money when they sell cameras and lenses, which means that users have to purchase them.
Users are most likely to purchase them if there is some assurance that the lens used on the current camera can also be used on the next one.

When I chose a camera in 1995 twenty five years ago - to replace my Pentax “Super Program” I chose between a Canon and a Nikon camera ..... both cameras used lenses that are still usable on DSLRs today, and with adapters both are usable in some form on MILCs today, the Canons having all functions usable.

Yes, but with a mature mount, like the F mount, it is tough if your users feel that their cameras and lenses are "good enough." If you own one of Nikon's 70-200 f2.8 lenses, a D850, and a normal lens of some kind, what would Nikon do to get you to "upgrade" your gear? Even if they came with a 70-200 f2.8 VR III tomorrow, my guess is that most folks with an earlier version would skip as they are satisfied and the cost of upgrading is considerable. The same with the camera body.

My hypothetical was a situation where a camera brand had a monopoly on the camera market and wanted to maximize their sales. Obviously we don't live in such a world (fortunately) and camera brands have to have some backwards and forwards compatibility for lenses that their users own. That said, I do think that Nikon and Canon will stop servicing older gear or make it inordinately expensive to do so. This is the easiest way to get users with older gear to upgrade.

[Mistral75]

From asahi man on the other forum:



Source: Is there No Pentax INSIDER who will talk? | Pentax SLR Talk Forum | Digital Photography Review

[reh321]

Yes, but with a mature mount, like the F mount, it is tough if your users feel that their cameras and lenses are "good enough." If you own one of Nikon's 70-200 f2.8 lenses, a D850, and a normal lens of some kind, what would Nikon do to get you to "upgrade" your gear? Even if they came with a 70-200 f2.8 VR III tomorrow, my guess is that most folks with an earlier version would skip as they are satisfied and the cost of upgrading is considerable. The same with the camera body.

My hypothetical was a situation where a camera brand had a monopoly on the camera market and wanted to maximize their sales. Obviously we don't live in such a world (fortunately) and camera brands have to have some backwards and forwards compatibility for lenses that their users own. That said, I do think that Nikon and Canon will stop servicing older gear or make it inordinately expensive to do so. This is the easiest way to get users with older gear to upgrade.

The easiest way to get users to upgrade is progress, even if it is slow.
I have an eight-element Takumar 50mm f/1.8 lens which I seldom use - because I generally prefer auto-focus.
My K-30 came with an 18-55mm lens, but I purchased an 18-135mm lens almost immediately because I have always preferred in-lens AF motors to screw-drive.

[Dieseler]

How about your post? Are you honest?

I feel my post was very honest, ergo I am.