[Kunzite]

I'd say Sony sold tons of NEX cameras because they were cheap, and available everywhere. Not many people are adapting lenses.

[surfar]

Not many people are adapting lenses.

Thats why M42/k mount as well as plenty of the other brands older lenses are appreciating in value.

Three years ago M42 was half the price they are now....Look on any Mirrorless forum....theres countless threads about adapting lenses.

Takumars/K/M and A series are prized, and on those forums there are many links to the lens reviews on this forum.

[Kunzite]

The forums covers just a subset of their customers.

[surfar]

Same as this one, so explain to me the demand for the "old outdated" lenses....and the answer isnt due to the sales of the K-1

[geo444]

Thats why M42/k mount as well as plenty of the other brands older lenses are appreciating in value.

Three years ago M42 was half the price they are now....
Look on any Mirrorless forum... theres countless threads about Adapting Lenses.

Takumars/K/M and A series are prized, and on those forums there are many links to the lens reviews on this forum.

+10 !

site:chassimages.com/forum "bague adaptatrice Sony NEX"
Bagues adaptatrices pour Sony NEX
this thread started in Spring 2010 and counting 3859 Posts / 155 Pages is still Alive Today !

Now google search : "viseur FDA EVF Sony NEX"
Viseur optique FDA-SV1 pour nex -5 et 3
this one started in Summer 2010 only counts 20 Posts / 1 Page is dead since August 2010 !

Sony sold Millions of NEX Cameras without an EVF... because they could Mount almost ANY LENS !
The birth of Sony NEX Cameras was the Real Beginning of the Adapters' Market...
5N, 5R, 5T... bests for Discrete Street Photo (Rolleiflex held)

As I said : one doesn't need an EVF for Discrete Street Photography holding the NEX as a Rolleiflex
The NEX held just above your belt with the Rear LCD in Horizontal Position :
a non aggressive way, mandatory in many countries !

[Rondec]

There are plenty of folks who do adapt lenses to mirrorless cameras -- we've seen folks doing it with K mount lenses on NEX cameras for a long time. That said, it has to be admitted that for most photographers, the goal is not the accumulation of lenses, neither old, cheap lenses or Leica gems, but rather to have a camera body that allows for the direct mounting of a few lenses that work well with auto focus and metering.

My guess is that most folks who shoot ILCs have a 24/8-70 equivalent and a telephoto like a 70-300 or maybe a super zoom of some sort. The number that actually even move forward to purchase primes is relatively small.

Sony has sold a large number of NEX cameras. If even five or ten percent are being used for adapting lenses, that is still a large number, but it still is not the primary way that most folks use their ILCs.

[geo444]

.
Sony NEX : what made their Success from Start :
+ Small, Light + some models affordable...
+ the ability to Mount ANY LENS !
+ a Rear LCD that allows Rolleiflex Style Shooting
+ Easy to Manual Focus ANY LENS, Focus Peaking is Great, Fast !
+ at the opposite of cheaper EOS DSLR, they had Very Good Sensors : SNR, DR, ISO !

Despite :
- very few "E" Lenses : 1 pancake + 2 zoom rated from 1,5/5 to 2,5/5
- a Labyrinthic Menu System, made for Geeks only !
- "E" Zoom as Big as NEX was small

Analogy with the situation of Pentax :
+ the Inventive Power to push them to invent THE Full-Frame Mirrorless Camera :
a Full-Frame System MILC to boost Pentax market share
+ one of the very Best IQ !
+ this thread

Despite :
- very few modern "K" zoom lenses to mount on the Pentax K-1 flagship
- long time awaited modern primes, still unavailable
- a shrinking narrow Market Share

PS, 10 years ago :
Remember that before the NEX Success, in 2008, Sony-Camera was not bigger than Pentax now
Anyway Sony-Camera was far behind the Big Three : Canon, Nikon, PanaLympus
1 Full-Frame A900 + 4 APSc cameras : A700, A350, A300, A200 !
5 DSLR sharing a rare Minolta / Sony "A" Mount...

---

Last edited by geo444; 01-18-2018 at 09:19 AM.

[str8talk83]

I think it’s safe to say that the market in mirrorless is pretty saturated.

-There is an excellent array of options for micro 4/3 systems
-There is an excellent APS-C Fuji system available
-Sony has a robust full frame mirror less system that expands everyday.
-Sony has excellent APS-c mirrorless cameras that are somewhat
limited by lack of lenses, but pair nicely as a backup sharing
lenses with their full frame cameras.
-there are strong hints that Nikon is going to jump into the mirror less game.

I think it’s safe to say that Ricoh would struggle coming up with a robust enough system to compete. They would have had to take this route instead of introducing the K1 in my opinion for them to even have a chance.

[geo444]

I think it’s safe to say that the market in mirrorless is pretty saturated...
...
-Sony has a robust Full-Frame mirrorless system that expands everyday...
...

.
Full-Frame Mirrorless Market is Not saturated : now it's only... Sony !

and Sony is Not for everyone, you have to deal with :

- Sony's menus madness : for Geeks... Not for Photographers !
- Sony's 11+7 bit lossy Raw file compression algorithm...
- Sony's " Star Eater " Raw file Smoothing...
- 16:9 aspect ratio LCD Screens
- Very Low battery life...
- Sony's IQ can't compete with Pentax PSR's IQ !
- Sony's Full-Frame Mirrorless cameras at the price of High End FF DSLRs...
- etc...

Not for me !

[geo444]

... I think everyone considering a FF cam (and even a lot more people) knows that the K-1 is top notch IQ wise.
Like I said : Pentax is for the first time since long drawing crowds from other brands....

I would be very, very happy if that was the truth ?

Let's consider the Domain of Excellence of the Pentax K-1, K-3 II, KP :

- Photographing Art or Objects for Reproduction, Catalogs, etc... -

a domain where Pentax is the Best among the Bests because it has
decisive Advantages using Pixel-Shift Resolution mode :
- the best results on Static Subjects
- No Demosaicing => almost No Aliasing !
- very low noise thus the highest Dynamic Range
- Better Colors + Resolution

Lack of Aliasing and Art Reproduction :



Dynamic Range and Object Reproduction :



Plus Pentax Full-Frame K-1 & 2 APSc models, K-3 II and KP
all have the best feature for Reproduction work
- Pentax's Composition Adjustment
which allows fine tune of the framing - through the Sensor-Shift Function
+ that allows 40 MPix 4:3 when stitching 2 frames up + down
or 39 MPix 16:10 by stitching 2 frames left + right

And you know what ?...
only 3 Posters among 67 Posts thought about Pentax for this Reproduction Job !!
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/60627700

So I think it's still a long, long way for...
" everyone considering a FF camera knows that Pentax is top notch IQ wise "
as you said...

a Full-Frame System MILC, so everyone could mount his own lenses...
and find by itself how much Pentax is top notch IQ wise ?

[Rico]

Ricoh/Pentax should make an LXD camera body system that has interchangeable OVF and EVF viewfinders like the LX film body. Then Ricoh/Pentax would have both a traditional SLR OVF body and an EVF mirrorless body in one.

Ricoh Pentax should develop not only an LXD for Professionals but also a smaller more compact MXD body for serious non professionals that share the same viewfinders. The MXD will become the high APS-C body except it will be full frame instead.

Look at all those beautiful LX viewfinders. Who wouldn't want to use the sport optic viewfinder for so many applications.

[geo444]

.
The Pentax LX... Last Pentax Classic I bought in 1983...
a showcase model with a big discount... but in mint condition !
IDM (OTF) Light Measurement... Titanium Electro Mechanical Shutter...
and... Interchangeable Screens & View Finders :
Pentax LX interchangeable viewfinders - Buscar con Google
... after a MX, a ME-Super & the 6x7...


Now back to Pentax Domain of Excellence :
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/169-pentax-full-frame/350433-full-frame-...ml#post4195236
.
Let's consider the Domain of Excellence of the Pentax K-1, K-3 II, KP :

- Photographing Art or Objects for Reproduction, Catalogs, etc... -

a domain where Pentax is the Best among the Bests because it has
decisive Advantages using Pixel-Shift Resolution mode :
- the best results on Static Subjects
- No Demosaicing => almost No Aliasing !
- very low noise thus the highest Dynamic Range
- Better Colors + Resolution

Lack of Aliasing and Art Reproduction

Dynamic Range and Objects Reproduction

Plus Pentax Full-Frame K-1 & 2 APSc models, K-3 II and KP
all have the best feature for Reproduction Work
- Pentax's Composition Adjustment
which allows fine tune of the framing - through the Sensor-Shift Function
+ that allows 40 MPix 4:3 when stitching 2 frames up + down
or 39 MPix 16:10 by stitching 2 frames left + right

And you know what ?...
3 Posters among 67 Posts thought about Pentax for a Reproduction Job !
Photographing Art for Reproduction: Open Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

a Full-Frame System MILC, so everyone could mount his own lenses...
and find by itself how much Pentax is top notch IQ wise ?

.../...

I think all these " Decisive Advantages " would deserve an " Extra Page " in the Review :

https://www.pentaxforums.com/reviews/pentax-k-1-review/pixel-shift-resolution.html

... an Extra Page as : " Pentax K-1 Special Reproduction Features "

with butterfly wings details, fabrics, textures, etc...

or at least... its successor ?

https://www.google.fr/search?q=Pentax+K-1+for+Reproduction

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/190-pentax-k-1/314584-k-1-pixel-shift-art-reproduction.html

http://wkoopmans.ca/notebook/?p=17514

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/57310041

[Bophoto]

But the reality is that Pentax needs:
Probably the new K1II, K3III is long-awaited and will probably come this year (why else an 11-18 star zoom). To K1 some wide lenses are required and 1 or 2 f4 zoom.
A new 645 with SR and maybe a lens.
A new 201 flash that works as a master.
Probably a more advanced Theta and one more advanced WG-M2 (2 models of each) are needed, so Ricoh can compete better.
One or two new GRs should come soon and finally an updated WG.5.

There is a lot to do for Ricoh and it's important to update than make a new system.

In order to stand up with Sony / Fuji with Milc it takes a lot, and awaiting how it works and what Canon / Nikon comes with seems wise.

To me, Q is a system that complements DSLR, but also a competitor of the Sony RX100. Q5 needs external viewfinder, fast AF and a bright tiltable display, a pair of fast lenses and an AF K-converter.

A GR Milc sounds interesting with modified DA limiteds and a K-02 with k mount, but not before existing systems are OK.

[Pål Jensen]

Pentax will boost its marked share by releasing DSLR's

Cameras that sell well in big consumer electronic stores, along with hoovers and washing machines, isn't Pentax market. It is Sony's, as they are present in all such stores on the planet.

[str8talk83]

.
Full-Frame Mirrorless Market is Not saturated : now it's only... Sony !

and Sony is Not for everyone, you have to deal with :

- Sony's menus madness : for Geeks... Not for Photographers !
- Sony's 11+7 bit lossy Raw file compression algorithm...
- Sony's " Star Eater " Raw file Smoothing...
- 16:9 aspect ratio LCD Screens
- Very Low battery life...
- Sony's IQ can't compete with Pentax PSR's IQ !
- Sony's Full-Frame Mirrorless cameras at the price of High End FF DSLRs...
- etc...

Not for me !

I get the criticisms of the system. There are plenty of quirks with each system including Pentax. I do think the Pixel Shift technology is amazing and when it works, it produces some fantastic shots. How useful is it in real world outdoor shooting for something like landscapes with wind, moving clouds etc.? Long exposures tend to go hand in hand in landscape photography and wind and water movement are an issue, even with standard long exposures. I agree that in studio it's an amazing piece of tech. I also believe that Sony pricing has been in line with the competition throughout it's lifespan. The a7 and a7r were very competitively priced at the time of release. The a9 and a7rIII are equal to DLSR's in my opinion (but some may disagree). I also feel that the main issue with the camera line with the a7II, a7rII and a7sII was Autofocus. I would argue that Pentax is pretty similar to the older models and beat by the a9 and a7rIII. The sony cameras also have a lot of used cameras and lenses available on another forum that I frequent for reasonable prices.

I will agree with the argument that the Pentax cameras usually offer the most technology for the least money. Sony is always overpriced and I buy virtually all of my gear used for a lot of savings. If Pentax AF was better I would love to get a K1 and 150-450 to use for wildlife shooting.