[Samsungian]

I've seen great images with 14mm DA. The 15mm Limited vignettes. Neat design for sure. Neither is weathersealed. If I didn't own a 1990's era 14mm 2.8 tamron for pentax AF I would have bought the 14mm 2.8 DA a couple years ago. Because I own the tamron 14mm, it allows me to pass on 12-24mm DA also. 14mm on aps-c is still pretty wide & quite enjoyable.

Does anyone have inside information if there's going to be still more UK or Europe price hikes? A certain UK retailer (SRS) is selling the 15mm ltd lens on Ebay for about 600 punds and this is what they say:



Geez if that's true!

I'm seriously considering three options now: 1) I'll keep my current Pentax system and wont buy new lenses no matter if I need some or not, 2) I'll buy just one badly needed wide lens - such as the DA 15mm - and that's it (like option 1 after that), 3) I'll sell all my Pentax stuff and change brand.

Off topic:

I've seen great images with 14mm DA ... 14mm on aps-c is still pretty wide & quite enjoyable.

Based on what I've read, a DA 14mm seems to be in many ways as good as or better than a DA 15mm ltd. However, I'd want the WA lens to be rather small, so that doesn't leave much more than 15mm ltd and 21mm ltd and 21mm isn't very wide really.

[mattdm]

I've seen great images with 14mm DA. The 15mm Limited vignettes. Neat design for sure. Neither is weathersealed. If I didn't own a 1990's era 14mm 2.8 tamron for pentax AF I would have bought the 14mm 2.8 DA a couple years ago. Because I own the tamron 14mm, it allows me to pass on 12-24mm DA also. 14mm on aps-c is still pretty wide & quite enjoyable.

I'm likely to eventually get the 15mm for my general use. The 15mm weighs half as much, is significantly smaller, and shares a filter size with all the other DA Limited lenses. That means there's a place for it in my camera backpack; the 14mm would live at home and only come out when I made a conscious decision to take it.

[nanok]

Another thought ...

With only 4 German (Zeiss, Leica, Voigtländer, Schneider; all expensive) and 7 Japanese (Hoya Pentax, Hoya Tokina, Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Sigma, Tamron) vendors, they can in a sort of Japan-Corporation collectively decide that lens prices are too low and increase them altogether. If this has happened, then there is little what we can do about

I once read that it is common practice in Tokyo for the leaders of various big corporations to meet regularly. Which coined the term Japan Corporation.

interesting point. this calls for an update to my quick and dirty survey:

tamron (kmount)

90 macro 12 190
10-24/some-crap 12 590
17-50/2.8 11 390
70-200/2.8 20 690

canon mount

12 190
12 590
11 390
20 690

(identical)

so: prices have gone up here too, according to my vague recollections, but nowhere nearly to 2x, and no, tamron does not seem to care about the difference between lens prices (at least not yet), they act fairly in this respect.

if however they do decide to do some nasty thing like that (i doubt it though), there will always be somebody waiting around the corner to take advantage (remember vivitar?).

in short, i agree: lenses are only worth as much as potential buyers will pay for them, imho pentax have already gone way beyond the idea of "selling less for bigger margin", they are way past the point where they lose money overall, and they are not in a position to lose market share overall, i can understand they might want to slow down a bit (because production capacity is too low, they don't want to compromise on quality to meet demand, so why not sell less for higher prices?), but i am afraid it doesn't look like this at all, it looks like "bye bye pentax, meet leicax, what do you think about our logo, nifty, eh?". i think they were in a position to afford investing a bit in their mass production infrastructure (maybe with a bit of help from hoya) and start making real money, just a few months ago, together with the current scarecrow "the economic crisis", they were placed for the kill, the coming of the k-7 was just what was missing to convince beyond doubt that "some things are going to change...", but somehow they managed to screw it all up with this sad joke. i hope they fix the computer (or code) which made this blunder, and we will soon see what they really mean to do, but meanwhile, i feel screwed over, and am "looking around"..

oh well, we'll have to wait and see.

[falconeye]

I'd want the WA lens to be rather small, so that doesn't leave much more

+1

I often didn't have any true WA because of bulk and so I decided to purchase a 15mm (from old affordable stock) now. Esp. in weight, it's only half a DA12-24 or DA14 and even less than this of a 16-50 and surely much better and wider than 18-55. Now, there is a WA whereever I go

[axl]

I agree. The thing is, a lot of people bought into Pentax because it was talked about in forums as the value-for-money brand. I held off on a Canon or Nikon largely because of that - decent-priced lenses (the 50/1.4 was still widely available then) plus in-body IS swayed me to go Pentax. I reckon I'm not alone.

Of course, Hoya is free to do whatever with the brand, but I certainly won't be buying new Pentax products anytime soon.



Collusion eh? Well that's certainly not a good thing for us if it's true. Unfortunately, there's no one else making mass-market SLR lenses that's not based in Japan to keep them honest.

totaly agree on this one. I coun't myself lucky to get the lenses for what I did

Does anyone have inside information if there's going to be still more UK or Europe price hikes? A certain UK retailer (SRS) is selling the 15mm ltd lens on Ebay for about 600 punds and this is what they say:



Geez if that's true!

I'm seriously considering three options now: 1) I'll keep my current Pentax system and wont buy new lenses no matter if I need some or not, 2) I'll buy just one badly needed wide lens - such as the DA 15mm - and that's it (like option 1 after that), 3) I'll sell all my Pentax stuff and change brand.

If they really are SRS people I'd trust them.
I was in their store on Thursday. DA40 retailed for £239 and they told me I'd be able to turn profit on my year old, bruised and battered copy. Today (Saturday) they are selling the same DA40ltd for £379!!! Just to clear things up, I bought it in April 08 for £200.
DA*16-55 went up to £835 from £475
on the other hand FA ltds are still holding their "low" prices and DA*60-250 went DOWN to £899 from around £1150.
BR

[axl]

PS: looking at other pages, it looks like flashes are going up too.
Jacobsdigital.co.uk is selling them already on high prices (befre their prices were comparable with srs save couple £).
Now 360FGZ is more than 540 used to be if I remember correctly...
They are showing new prices for FA ltds too. Seriously, if anybody wants to buy lenses in UK...

BUY NOW

[Pentaxor]

if only the 12-24 were only a 2.8. I would had bought it in a hurry.

[rparmar]

if only the 12-24 were only a 2.8. I would had bought it in a hurry.

You should buy it anyway. Who ever heard of an exemplary zoom in this range being f/2.8?

[Pentaxor]

You should buy it anyway. Who ever heard of an exemplary zoom in this range being f/2.8?

not yet. but hoping in the near future there'll be.

[nanok]

i use my zenitar for a ultrawide, lightweight, compact lens. it's relatively cheap, sharp, it has it's disadvantages, but so far i love it (it is considerably wider than a 15mm rectilinear, btw, probably closer to 13mm or so). for whomever it may concern

[ixian]

Btw, prices of Sigma glass seem to go down... They aren't at the level from before their hike a few months ago yet, but hey, they look so nice now!

[nanok]

maybe that's the plan. somebody at pentax said "i think we should bring the lens prices down a notch, they start to look pricey, what with the "crisis" and all" "right you are, go ahead and do that. oh, before you do that, double them, though. you are excused..."

[GLXLR]

Holy cr*p!!! I was about to buy the 40mm pancake just now (it was at $200 a few weeks ago) and then I JUST checked the website with a price increase of $300!!! I am NOT paying $500 for a 40mm f/2.8.

Amazon.com: Pentax DA 40mm f/2.8 Ultra Compact Lens for Pentax and Samsung Digital SLR Cameras: Electronics

Cured my LBA.

[frank]

But you can get the other kit deal for much less (still a bit more than some weeks ago though):

Amazon.com: Pentax SMCP-DA 40mm f/2.8 ED Digital Auto Focus Limited Edition Lens Kit, with Tiffen 49mm UV Filter, Lens Cap Leash, Professional Lens Cleaning Kit: Electronics