Originally posted by biz-engineer Waiting is not really an issue, if the gear was working and reliable. Look at that:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/10-pentax-slr-lens-discussion/311174-da-3...s-problem.html
You spend thousands of dollars and then it has a poor track record of reliability. How do you defend the Pentax brand in that case? How is it possible that Ricoh executives stay completely silent about that and continue to sell this kind on products ? Waiting is not a good reason to switch, there's always new products being released and there's always something that a brand has that other brands don't have.
But IMO, poor reliability and long term lack of some types of lenses / third party lenses , are good reasons to drop Pentax.
Originally posted by biz-engineer You are likely close to reality, if you'd be an engineer at Canon or Nikon, why would you consider resigning from your job and getting hired by Pentax for a lower salary? Bare in mind what Pentax is a small company with less than 1000 employees, with budgets a lot smaller than what Nikon and Canon have. I like Pentax because I started many years ago with Pentax, and this has nothing to do with comparative perf. and product reliability. One year ago, I stopped buying any K mount product, and I'm currently saving money to invest in another system. The fact of being invested into a type of mount (brand) has nothing to do with product performance. So, basically, what people invested in Pentax are saying is to defend their brand, not because it is what they claim, but because they claim arguments to protect their investments. And of course, I understand this, I am in the same situation, it's hard to take the turn. The way I decided to do it is to continue to use my existing Pentax APSC gear until it breaks or obsolete, and take the opportunity of a FF upgrade to turn to another brand (I don't have much FF glass, so, for me, it cost about the same regardless of the brand, however, there are a lot more lens options with other brands).
biz-engineer, you're in danger of getting laughed out of dodge here.
According to lens rentals, Pentax has the highest reliability in the industry.
Nikon got caught instructing customer reps in China to tell their service reps to blame customers for the known sensor oil issue to avoid having to honour their warranties, and got
banned from Russia and China.
Lens rentals has found $15,000 Canon lenses that were shipped direct to them from the factory, to be defective and in need of adjustment or repair, on arrival, straight out of the box.
SO good luck to you dude, keep drinking the cool aid.
No one cares if you stay with Pentax or not.... but do some research before you go off on them. You look like a fool. All the little stories about Nikon hiring Pentax engineers etc. are just that, the fabrications of an unsettled mind.
But I have to say, you'd fit right in with the corporate Nikon and Canon trolls who post on the forum from time to time, did they offer you a job? Or are you spreading this nonsense as an amateur?
The simple fact is all camera companies depend on large sales and as efficient as possible mass production to be able to make money. No one sits down and spends time with their lenses to make sure everything is perfect.
What's the difference between ltd. lenses and others? The Limiteds are still hand assembled. DO Nikon and Canon still hand assemble any of their lenses? Pentax is fighting a rear guard action to maintain higher than industry standard gear at affordable prices, without producing the "fall apart at the first excuse" cheap gear Nikon and Canon produce. SO, haul your ass over there, you'll find out real quick who has even the remotest semblance of quality left in their consumer gear.
If you go back to my FA 35-80 you can see Pentax tried to keep up in the "cheap" department at some point. I think they saw the error of their ways, and just thought, "we're going back to producing quality stuff at reasonable prices". I've seen nothing in the rest of the camera industry that shows any commitment to ruggedness, or initial quality or anything but the desire to produce what used to be good lenses at the lowest possible price, and that means the cheapest possible construction. Under-engineered to the point where it is starting to cost more to honour the warranties than it would to produce a quality product in the first place.
SO that's what I see. You see a migration of all the good engineers to Nikon and Canon. Put your money where you mouth is dude. I'm happy where I am, you're not. Quit whining and man up.
If I thought what you do about Pentax, I'd be ashamed to carry their gear around. Try and have some integrity.