[jplbound]

Pentax Japan is currently conducting touch & try tour in Osaka (last week), Tokyo (6th/7th), and Nagoya (next week).
At Tokyo session on 7th, Mr. Mikio Tanaka, a professional photographer mentioned that Pentax is currently developing FF.
In addition, after the seminar with Mr. Tanaka, several pentaxian over there have confirmed with Pentax reps that what Mr. Tanaka talked about is nothing inappropriate and/or confidential.
Per those reps, they also have just been notified from top management about that right before the seminar in Tokyo (morning on 6th).
The other pentaxian at the seminar with his D800E was regretfully told by a rep that he could wait for a more while.

Additional note, those pentaxians were surprised at II's AF in dark.
Some with D800 is saying it is better than D800 while the other also with D800 is saying D800 is still better than that.

As no mention about ETA at this time, I will be getting K-5IIs anyway then would add the FF if it turned out true...
Hope to have financial struggles.

Pentax is always slow to bring out products

[normhead]

If the same functionality and UI of the K-5 II appeared on the FF body, then I'm sure it will be a highly successful FF debut for Pentax.

Maybe I'm just a little depressed at the moment, but Pentax has had one of the top rated sensors for the last two years, and from a marketing perspective, they have done squat with that advantage. It makes you wonder, if Pentax did come out with a ground breaking camera on the scale of the D800, would anybody buy it? We all dream that Pentax will release an FF body to use all those FA lenses, but what has Pentax marketing done with what they have? The endless stream of Canon commercials in every program I watch is making me ill and ruining my Christmas.

The scary thing is a few years ago I thought the same kinds of things about APple computer. Now I hate them. If I never saw another Apple computer commercial in my life it would be too soon. They don't have to go the Canon/Apple route, but they need to have a presence.

[Sol Invictus]

Maybe I'm just a little depressed at the moment, but Pentax has had one of the top rated sensors for the last two years, and from a marketing perspective, they have done squat with that advantage. It makes you wonder, if Pentax did come out with a ground breaking camera on the scale of the D800, would anybody buy it? We all dream that Pentax will release an FF body to use all those FA lenses, but what has Pentax marketing done with what they have? The endless stream of Canon commercials in every program I watch is making me ill and ruining my Christmas.

The scary thing is a few years ago I thought the same kinds of things about APple computer. Now I hate them. If I never saw another Apple computer commercial in my life it would be too soon. They don't have to go the Canon/Apple route, but they need to have a presence.

This worries me a lot too. The K5 is one of if not the best APSC body out there and it really doesn't make a dent in the Canikon juggernaut. It gets fantastic reviews everywhere yet it's the D7000s and T4is that are flying off the shelf. How much better does the Pentax FF have to be to get some attention? And the D800 is such a fantastic camera that I don't see how Pentax can beat it in the first place. Someone up thread mentioned that if Pentax created an K5 like FF, it would give Canikon fanboys nightmares. Frankly, I doubt they would even notice.

The good news is that Pentax appears to have seen the light in some respects. We are seeing more advertising here and there. It can only get better.

[IchabodCrane]

This worries me a lot too. The K5 is one of if not the best APSC body out there and it really doesn't make a dent in the Canikon juggernaut. It gets fantastic reviews everywhere yet it's the D7000s and T4is that are flying off the shelf. How much better does the Pentax FF have to be to get some attention? And the D800 is such a fantastic camera that I don't see how Pentax can beat it in the first place. Someone up thread mentioned that if Pentax created an K5 like FF, it would give Canikon fanboys nightmares. Frankly, I doubt they would even notice.

The good news is that Pentax appears to have seen the light in some respects. We are seeing more advertising here and there. It can only get better.

The T4i and D7000 (to a lesser extent) fly off the shelf because they are on a lot of shelves. That's Pentax's biggest problem and challenge, IMHO.

[Kunzite]

I agree that Pentax just making an excellent camera (+ lenses) is not a recipe for instant Canikon scale success (close to Canikon scale). But wouldn't be OK if it's a Pentax scale success?

[jatrax]

The T4i and D7000 (to a lesser extent) fly off the shelf because they are on a lot of shelves. That's Pentax's biggest problem and challenge, IMHO.

+1 You cannot buy what you do not know even exists. And for the majority of camera purchasers Pentax is nonexistent. There are lots of people who just buy a camera and never more than the kit lens. They are not brand loyal and just buy whatever is recommended by the sales person or by a review they read online. If they remember the model number and see it on sale that's all they need to decide.

Without shelf presence Pentax cannot grow the brand.

[MrPetkus]

Pentax advertising sucks. But even if Pentax came out with a FF matching the excellence of either the 800 or 5DM3 (at $2.8-3.5k), would that be enough for anyone but the diehard pentaxian? Because aside from consumer presence, they lack a compelling ecosystem of modern strobes, FF zooms, and professional services.
I'm extremely satisfied with my K5 and noisy but sharp Tamron zooms. But if I were to plunk down $3k on a body right now, I lack confidence in a large Pentax investment. IMHO they have a long way to go with a FF offering aside from simply offering a new body.

[Zygonyx]

MrPetkus, your points are good, however time is there, and will show what's up in Ricoh's mind.
You can't forget the more than 200 FF compatible lens references in Pentax K's XXth century's optical laboratories... can you ?

[RonHendriks1966]

Pentax advertising sucks. But even if Pentax came out with a FF matching the excellence of either the 800 or 5DM3 (at $2.8-3.5k), would that be enough for anyone but the diehard pentaxian? Because aside from consumer presence, they lack a compelling ecosystem of modern strobes, FF zooms, and professional services.
I'm extremely satisfied with my K5 and noisy but sharp Tamron zooms. But if I were to plunk down $3k on a body right now, I lack confidence in a large Pentax investment. IMHO they have a long way to go with a FF offering aside from simply offering a new body.

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using Tapatalk 2

Well I still expect a competitor to D600/6D in a K-5 like body. So well under $2k to get lift-off for this project. In time there is room for growt of the brand.

[cali92rs]

MrPetkus, your points are good, however time is there, and will show what's up in Ricoh's mind.
You can't forget the more than 200 FF compatible lens references in Pentax K's XXth century's optical laboratories... can you ?

Almost all of those lenses are not produced anymore and are manual focus...therefore MrPetkus' points remain valid becuae only hardcore Pentaxians are interested in old Pentax glass....used, manual focus lenses are not going to draw non-Pentaxians to the brand.

[mecrox]

Almost all of those lenses are not produced anymore and are manual focus...therefore MrPetkus' points remain valid becuae only hardcore Pentaxians are interested in old Pentax glass....used, manual focus lenses are not going to draw non-Pentaxians to the brand.

Pentax could get round this by issuing a mirrorless FF, perhaps Fuji style with a hydrid VF. For this they could repackage their primes of 24mm, 31mm, 43mm, 50mm f1.4, 50mm f2.8 macro, 77mm and 100mm f2.8 macro, adding ring motors, new HD coatings, WR or whatever. With the possible exception of the 24mm, all those primes are still considered current, FF-capable and for sale. That's a quite impressive suite of lenses with which to start a new system and as good for a launch as any other company looking to establish an upmarket mirrorless FF is likely to manage. Not that Pentax are likely to do this, alas, but it is possible at least given the company's size and likely production capacity.

[Blue]

Pentax could get round this by issuing a mirrorless FF, perhaps Fuji style with a hydrid VF. For this they could repackage their primes of 24mm, 31mm, 43mm, 50mm f1.4, 50mm f2.8 macro, 77mm and 100mm f2.8 macro, adding ring motors, new HD coatings, WR or whatever. With the possible exception of the 24mm, all those primes are still considered current, FF-capable and for sale. That's a quite impressive suite of lenses with which to start a new system and as good for a launch as any other company looking to establish an upmarket mirrorless FF is likely to manage. Not that Pentax are likely to do this, alas, but it is possible at least given the company's size and likely production capacity.

They just repackaged the D FA 100/2.8 into the D FA 100/2.8 WR.

[normhead]

Canon Eos 5d mkII and Sigma 12-24, Tamron 28.75 f2,8 and Canon 100-400 is not far from that with big improvment in IQ and DOF. I bought Eos5dmkII last year over Pentax just because that. I use 28mm, 35mm, 50mm and 100mm with Canon and they are dirty cheap.

I'm looking for something to suggest you owuld get better IQ than a K-5 than with a 5d... haven't found it yet.

[Laurentiu Cristofor]

The K5 is one of if not the best APSC body out there and it really doesn't make a dent in the Canikon juggernaut.

Because to be successful you need more than a slightly better dxomark-rated sensor. Metering, autofocus, AWB, lenses, and accessories matter more to users. Beginners won't look at Pentax because they don't know about it and those more knowledgeable that want to build a solid system won't look at it because it's an incomplete system with an uncertain future. To top it off, Pentax continues to offer products that are equivalent to Canon/Nikon offerings (645 and Q are exceptions, but they are too niche as well) - you cannot take a juggernaut heads on - you need to look for a different market where the juggernaut cannot act quickly, like mirrorless manufacturers are doing, but Pentax has missed that train too. It's a tough job for Ricoh now.

[bossa]

Because to be successful you need more than a slightly better dxomark-rated sensor. Metering, autofocus, AWB, lenses, and accessories matter more to users. Beginners won't look at Pentax because they don't know about it and those more knowledgeable that want to build a solid system won't look at it because it's an incomplete system with an uncertain future. To top it off, Pentax continues to offer products that are equivalent to Canon/Nikon offerings (645 and Q are exceptions, but they are too niche as well) - you cannot take a juggernaut heads on - you need to look for a different market where the juggernaut cannot act quickly, like mirrorless manufacturers are doing, but Pentax has missed that train too. It's a tough job for Ricoh now.

I'm no expert but I agree with you.

I jumped ship because I needed a few things that I thought would never materialize under the Pentax brand. Looking back on threads from 2008, I could see people were predicting, with the same obsession that they did this year, that 2008 was the year of the Pentax FF. So, after sending my DA*50-135 away for repairs twice this year (4 months away out of a one year warranty) and my new DA*55 needing 'new gears' I'd just had enough of the BS.

I decided to get on with what I wanted, even if it cost me in the short term.