[mrNewt]

If they want to stay in the game, Pentax will have to eventually make a FF camera. That's a fact as far as I can see it.
APS-C will last a while longer but the market will move towards FF slowly but surely.

Year by year technology to produce FF cameras becomes cheaper and again, as far as I can see it, APS-C sensors are "the small format cameras of the future".

[Kunzite]

The cost for many FF lenses would be shared with the APS-C subsystem.
This is exactly the reason why I (and many others) said in the past it's not easy for Pentax to make a FF camera; but I think they can do it now, and they're better off taking this risk. I will support them (think $$$, well, RON to be precise).

L.E. Added timeline information

[Ash]

On their admission, Pentax said the reason why they held off of FF was because of the cost of developing one not being a financially viable option for them at the time. Now they have reached that point where it can be a good venture and are going for it. The lenses for such a system will follow, and won't be hard to do for them, given their bank of existing FA lenses they can easily redevelop into DFA versions.

[redrockcoulee]

If they want to stay in the game, Pentax will have to eventually make a FF camera. That's a fact as far as I can see it.
APS-C will last a while longer but the market will move towards FF slowly but surely.

Year by year technology to produce FF cameras becomes cheaper and again, as far as I can see it, APS-C sensors are "the small format cameras of the future".

I would not write off APS-C too fast. Everyone I know that has a FF also has a cropped senor of the same brand and some of them bought their current cropped sensor camera after buying a FF. Abandoning APS-C will be great for m 4/3 and the better compact cameras as many will turn there instead of FF with its larger bodies and lenses.

I do not know if the market will move towards FF only, perhaps the professional market and the amatuers who need the best equipment but for most people including many serious photographers there are too many advantages for APS-C for this format to disappear.

[mrNewt]

I would not write off APS-C too fast. Everyone I know that has a FF also has a cropped senor of the same brand and some of them bought their current cropped sensor camera after buying a FF. Abandoning APS-C will be great for m 4/3 and the better compact cameras as many will turn there instead of FF with its larger bodies and lenses.

I do not know if the market will move towards FF only, perhaps the professional market and the amatuers who need the best equipment but for most people including many serious photographers there are too many advantages for APS-C for this format to disappear.

Nowhere in my comment I've written off the APS-C cameras. I am sort-of a sure they will be with us for a long time, but as with any other electronics, in time, the market will move towards "better" - and in this case is FF.
Untill now, costs and size was an issue ... but time always solves that and as it seems, those times are slowly coming...

That's why I have mentioned that I see the "APS-C" cameras to be "the future of small format" ... or P&S and advanced P&S.

[ElJamoquio]

Do you really think that Pentax will make a FF? I don't see how that could be as Pentax has so very few lenses even if we count both the APS-C and the FF-lenses.

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-slr-lens-discussion/183420-current...me-lenses.html
Copied from another thread:

Pentax:
9 current lenses.
4 more currently described APS-C lenses work well on FF.
3 lenses on roadmap might be FF.
Primary weaknesses: Primes below 31mm, mid-range zoom (assuming the 24-75-ish lens on roadmap is not FF), wide angle zoom (assuming the 14-28-ish lens on roadmap is not FF), telephoto zoom. No primes between 100 and 200. Nothing above 300.


Sigma: 17 current lenses
Primary weaknesses: No primes between 85 and 300. Nothing above 500.

[monochrome]

According to the attached .pdf there were more than 50 Pentax FF lenses in production or in stocks but out of production as of 08/2003 as listed on the last 6 pages. How quickly a decade passes.

FA Lenses

35 were in production as F or FA lenses, both Prime and ZOOM. There should be plenty of lens designs available for updating even if the glass blanks and/or glass formulas are no longer available.

The password is Pentax.

---

Last edited by monochrome; 02-19-2013 at 02:25 PM.

[gazonk]

There should be plenty of lens designs available for updating even if the glass blanks and/or glass formulas are no longer available.

Would there be a problem that some of these lenses may be based on glass types that are no longer allowed for environmental reasons?

[ak_kiwi]

How long to get new/old lenses into production I wonder? Personally I'm after FF and fast zooms - both by the same manufacturer.

[monochrome]

Would there be a problem that some of these lenses may be based on glass types that are no longer allowed for environmental reasons?

I'm certainly no lens designer. Digitalis or Falk might better answer such a question - but from reading, if the glass composition has changed (lead?), the lens blank is no longer produced, the glass factory was upset by an earthquake or just about anything else changed since 2003 - then sure, Pentax will need to tweak the lens formula. Glass composition and coating changes as applied to glass in one lens formula likely won't change light properties much if applied to another lens of the same class ( assuming we allow that WA, Normal, Tele and Extreme-tele lenses have class-specific issues to be addressed)..

But the point is, they're not starting from zero. They have a catalog of science and patents available to start with.

[redrockcoulee]

Nowhere in my comment I've written off the APS-C cameras. I am sort-of a sure they will be with us for a long time, but as with any other electronics, in time, the market will move towards "better" - and in this case is FF.
Untill now, costs and size was an issue ... but time always solves that and as it seems, those times are slowly coming...

That's why I have mentioned that I see the "APS-C" cameras to be "the future of small format" ... or P&S and advanced P&S.

Sorry but I read "a while longer" as not being a long term format. Why is FF "better" for most people? The electronics may improve and get smaller and smaller but the optics will not.

[Kunzite]

I think Pentax should and will launch new lenses, instead of reusing old designs. It's not the same as starting from scratch, but new lenses should be competitive with the newest Canikonwhatever products.

[mrNewt]

Why is FF "better" for most people? The electronics may improve and get smaller and smaller but the optics will not.

Why is 35mm film format better than 110mm!?

[jeztastic]

Look at what at other lens manufacturers are doing - there are new optical elements that weren't invented when the FA lenses were out. I can't see Pentax just reproducing old lenses, and if they do they will not match up with the competition.

[Ash]

I can't see Pentax just reproducing old lenses, and if they do they will not match up with the competition

But at the same time they don't need to reinvent the wheel as they have some excellent lenses already that could do with a digital coating and would become phenomenal FF lenses.

Why is FF "better" for most people?

It is not. It is simply an option to utilise the whole image circle provided by compatible lenses on the existing K-mount, and this means more flexibility for cropping (more resolution capability) and high ISO performance (better signal-to-noise ratio). Plus, the experience of shooting through a FF OVF is nicer than that of an APS-C dSLR.