[Wiltshireborn]

I always find concerns over Pentax lens availability an interesting topic.

I agree that it would be nice to have better third-party support, but - frankly - most photographer's needs are already more-than-covered by existing Pentax lenses alone.

These four well-regarded lenses give you uninterrupted access to every focal length from 15 to 450mm, with 15 to 200mm at an acceptably-fast f/2.8:

D FA 15-30 f/2.8
D FA 24-70 f/2.8
D FA 70-200 f/2.8
D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6

If you need a nice walk-around lens, there's the D FA 28-105mm f/3.5-5.6.

Add macro to your kit with the excellent D FA 100mm f/2.8 Macro.

The legendary FA 77mm f/1.8 Limited makes a fine portrait lens. Comparatively long in the tooth, and a little wider than the 85mm norm, but rightly coveted.

Want fast, wide and normal primes? Again, though older designs, the still-current FA 31 and 43 Limited primes have a huge fan-base, and for very good reason.

Plus, there are other choices in the line-up that are particularly suitable for specialist roles, with more coming.

Most of these lenses aren't cheap, but we're talking about excellent image quality - the kind you'd want to put on a high-end full-frame camera. And you can get away with a sub-set of the above for the majority of day-to-day photography...

Just how many lenses do you need? Pentax have a huge range of their own lenses which are more than adequate in my opinion

[normhead]

"Today there is no more third party support to talk about so you will not buy a "cheap" lens för birding,"

DA 55-300 PLM with the HD DA 1.4 TC. I don't think there's another lens out there that beats it. As far as I know, best in class.
When I tell other photographers it's 600mm equivalent they always assume I'm shooting 4/3.

From my photography teacher years ago. "Find the lens you love, buy the system it goes on." it's seems to me you're catering to what's popular, rather than technique and composition, and then passing your own biases on to your students. If your students only know about EVFs, you're the teacher, it's your job to educate isn't it?

But we've been through this before. And we'll never agree. Just providing a different way of looking things for those who find your explanation of things just doesn't sit right with them.



When I was teaching photography, we used K-1000s. Because you had to learn and understand everything. There were AF cameras available at the time.
It's odd in my mind to never ask you students to try out different things, so they understand both. When I was in school we had 4x5 and 8x10 view cameras, and 35mm cameras, some twin lens reflexes, and some medium format of different sizes cameras. We learned how to use everything, because every system has its advantages. Anyone can focus on the disadvantages. A good teacher has used them all and understands the advantages of each.

"I have endeed bought into a semi dead or dying system but I started many years ago when Pentax was known by the public."

That's the most depressing thing I've read all day. But it's purely personal. I acknowledge you feel that way, I don't share you opinion. My system does what I ask it to. It takes excellent pictures. That's the goal , no?

You've paid thousands of dollars for systems just to use in the rain? Sorry, I don't believe that. Your income bracket must be so far above mine as to be out of my range of comprehension.

[normhead]

"If a non Pentaxian asks me it would be really difficult to say that a Pentax 55-300 lens is equal to a Tamron 150-600 when it comes to reach and AF-speed."

AF speed, yes, absolutely. Carrying weight, the Pentax will kill it. It all depends on what you value. Other people say the K-3iii is right up there with D500s.
Stick to what you know, accept others may know more, an we'll aways be happy. Claiming you know what's best for everyone and only your opinion matters , not acceptable.

"Tell them to buy an expensive Pentax til next lesson?"

Let them handle one of yours to see what they think. I assume you're having to advertise for students and where ever you teach has no demonstration cameras for students to try out. I was in a different situation. We didn't ask students to use thier own cameras for classroom assignments.

I can not sell my Pentax gear at a resonable price so I am stuck with it.

And yet for some of us, we shoot Pentax because it best suits our needs. everyone is different.

Looking in the Camera Canada - cameras, what's available, cheapest first.
Canon M200 with 15-45mm Lens Black-24 MP ---currently on sale, but regular price $779
Sony A6 with 16-50 24 MP- $779
Pentax K-70 with 18-50 regular $899
The Cheapest Nikon they list Z30 Digital Camera Body- 20 MP- with 16-50 $999 on sale.

It's fine if you want to make price the issue, as long as you don't confuse Swedish prices, with the rest of the forums. You kinda limited you audience there.

[SrMi]

I am new to the Pentax ecosystem. I have used and still use many different MILCs and DSLRs. I dislike EVFs, dim OVFs, and heavy camera systems.
Pentax K3 III, K1 II, and the Limited lenses seem like very attractive solutions, and I enjoy the system much more than the others I own.
I think that Pentax has a bright future. I am looking forward to a monochrome version and the K1 III.

[normhead]

Have you actually read your post?
"I will refer from writing anything bad about Pentax in the future."

That'll be a first.

"I would defer people from buying a Pentax since it will become expensive. In the K-5, up till K-3 era I would say buy Pentax since it was the best tech for the money.
Today there is no more third party support to talk about so you will not buy a "cheap" lens för birding, you will have to buy a DFA150-450 that costs an arm and a leg.

Also the optical viewfinder, OVF, that I personally love over the lesser EVF experience is not for the new to DSLR photography. All my pupils have the camera at arm length looking at the live view when they come to me, only after some time they will use the viewfinder. Then they will not understand the OVF since an EVF adjusts to the light, they are used to that.

I tell people to buy Fuji, Nikon or Canon and that makes me sad but I can not let them enter into the unknown landscape of crowdfunded photography. I will however tell them about the perks with Pentax. The limited lenses, astro, AW, ruggedness, etc and I tell them to buy Pentax when they know what they want in photography.

I have endeed bought into a semi dead or dying system but I started many years ago when Pentax was known by the public. Still I got the K-3 III when it came out. Have the K-1 and 645z with a bunch of lenses. New and old. My money is lost but who cares, I have a blast when my friends Nikon stops working in the rain...

[Rondec]

Maybe Adam could bring out a section of the Forum or a sub-section of Pentax Rumors devoted to rumors of Pentax's demise. I have been shooting with Pentax since I bought a *ist film camera in 2004 and I have heard the same things all the way along.

As Eliot said,

"In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo
And on the PF, thread resurrections
Speak of Ricoh's imperfections."

No camera brand is safe -- some are selling well and some not so well, but the market is declining. People shoot less and less with ILCs and companies that have large overhead in place intended to manufacture and market millions of camera bodies and lenses per year may need to cut pretty deeply to continue making a go of it. Nikon has already done that. Olympus is no more and continues as OM-D -- I guess they are fine, but who can say in the future. Panasonic telegraphs that they are shifting a focus to video. Canon is the only "safe" brand to me. Even Sony could spin off their camera business if it seemed to drag on the company as a whole.

Ricoh has telegraphed that they are going to continue making K mount gear, but that the rate of release of new products will be slow. That may be frustrating, but it is better than them shutting things down.

You seem to totally miss the point. You have all this gear already? As do I. If a non Pentaxian asks me it would be really difficult to say that a Pentax 55-300 lens is equal to a Tamron 150-600 when it comes to reach and AF-speed. Canon and Nikon and Sony are the faster brands...

When your teacher all those years ago told you about finding the lens and then the body, the body was, more or less, just an empty box. That was before the AF. How do you suppose I teach about OVF when all the cameras they bring has EVFs? Tell them to buy an expensive Pentax til next lesson?
Today if you buy a Canon or Nikon you will have no dissadvantages, just a different user experience. Pentax lacks speed and no matter how much the K-3 III evolves the AF will never be as pin point accurate and fast as the others. It is not why I shoot Pentax, I shoot Pentax because I have bought a lot of lenses and cameras and it will cost to much to buy into a new system. I can not sell my Pentax gear at a resonable price so I am stuck with it. I have all lenses and gear I want so there is no need to upgrade so I am good. Love my K-1, best ever. But recommending it to a noob? No. You also state that your gear does what you ask it to do, yes mine to but it would be nice to swap the old lenses to a new one without breaking the bank.

As I said, I think you are defending when there is nothing to defend. I am and will stay loyal to Pentax all the way into the tiles as we say in Sweden. Just beeing realistic when it comes to get new users.

The intro prices in Sweden compared:

Pentax Kf with kit lens 13000 sek
Canon EOS2000d with kit lens 5600 sek
Nikon Z30 with kit lens 8000 sek

Different cameras indeed but the price difference is huge. Pentax should be the 5600 sek with all the bells and wissels. But now we pay for the ruggedness and so on. We used to get this as part of the package...



I have spent all the dollars because I started with Pentax and have built on that. When K-1 came it went from good value to expensive but I had a vision that I should own the lenses I have felt I needed to do own to be able to do whatever I want in my photography.

Yes, the AW is a huge factor that I use Pentax. It rains all time and I get my gear wet or dirty from time to time so no place for camera faults due to moist or dirt. But no, I use them in sunny weather also and preferably =)

---------- Post added 12-02-22 at 10:56 AM ----------

Please understand that I do not say that Pentax is crap. It is the opposite. It is in my opinion the brand with most weight. Not selling out.
What I say is that no new photographer knows that Pentax is a thing in 2022. No ads, no nothing about Pentax. Not even a Swedish homepage anymore...
Most of the stores selling cameras has stopped selling Pentax. So, no ads, no sales, no brand... I thing all the nordic countries has lost its Pentax prensence.

Pentax's presence in Sweden is obviously sub-optimal. I will say that the Canon you mention is about to be orphaned. The EOS mount is pretty much done and any gear with that mount has low value because photographers know that they won't have support going forward. It's pretty clear that the EOS-R is what they want people to buy and will be supporting which means (I guess) that the R7 and R10 are their cheap models. Neither of those is cheap, with the R7 selling for 1500 dollars on B and H and the R10 for nearly 900 (both are body only pricing).

The only thing we can say for certain is that all brands are "trying" to move upscale. Inflation and drops in over all sales have made it difficult to make entry level models (that have very low margins) work.

I really have no trouble recommending Pentax. We vastly overestimate the importance of lens line up for the average user. My brother (who shoots Sony) bought a A7r III and shoots it entirely with a Sony 24-240 variable aperture zoom. He would never buy a prime lens, never takes that lens off his camera and doesn't care if there are a million other FE mount lenses out there. I have another brother who shoots Pentax and uses a K-3 with an 18-135 that once again, he never takes off the camera. All of the old lenses and prime lenses and tilt shift lenses in the world don't make a difference to either of them.

Frankly, we are the outliers, here on the Forum, not them. Most folks buy a cheap APS-C camera for specific purposes (taking images at their kids games or some such thing). The rest of the time they use their phones and they are happy. They get a kit lens plus a 70-300 telephoto or a super zoom and they are happy.

Birding or true sports photography are specialized fields and require special (relatively expensive) equipment. I wouldn't recommend Pentax for those fields, but I don't know many photographers where that is the main thrust of their images.

[biz-engineer]

Maybe Adam could bring out a section of the Forum or a sub-section of Pentax Rumors devoted to rumors of Pentax's demise.

That wouldn't work because there would always be people seeing life with pink glasses come to comment to counter the negativity. Moderators would have to sanction those members who didn't respect the section's rules by posting overly positive comments in a negativity reserved section of the forum.
Positivity and negativity are two sides of the same coin. Positivity can't exist in a vacuum without the negativity, that's why both are necessary ingredients of the long lasting forum threads.

---

Last edited by biz-engineer; 12-08-2022 at 11:41 PM.

[StiffLegged]

That wouldn't work because there would always be people seeing life with pink glasses come to comment… .

Well, not everyone here sees life through welders’ goggles, eh biz?

[kypfer]

There are two classes of photographer. Image makers, and gear collectors. The guys who can take the image and talk about the image, and the guys who take the image and brag about what lens they used.

Haha
I enjoy bragging about my s/h Sigma 17-35mm f/2.8-4 on my *istD … just to annoy people

I bought into this "dead eco" system within the last year and could not be happier.

[biz-engineer]

Well, not everyone here sees life through welders’ goggles, eh biz?

Negativity is positive as it is the starting point of any process of improvement.
You are a physicians or surgeon. Someone comes to you with broken leg, it hurts, you don't tell the patient "c'mon, you are being negative, let's be positive about it".
What you do is to first acknowledge there is broken leg , yes Mr. patient, you have a broken leg, it's negative, but fortunately I will do the surgery and you'll be fine.

How does that carry over to Pentax?:
1) notice the negativity: we have 7 years old Pentax K1, we don't sell many because most of our customers already have one or two.
2) ask yourself: how can we solve that problem of 7 year old Pentax K1?
3) develop a solution: we invest a few million $ in design and fabrication of a Pentax K1III and we tell our customer how we are progressing on that new camera model.
It's a 3 steps process. Now we are moving forward.

[StiffLegged]

Negativity is positive as it is the starting point of any process of improvement..

I’ll be sure to remember that, and hope Pentax duly produces a K-1iii that truly meets all your hopes and dreams. It’ll be moaned about here, nevertheless, for not meeting someone else’s ambitions and I might manage to buy one myself.

Meanwhile, I hope the OP is reassured he hasn’t bought into a dead ecosystem.

I’ll be sure to remember that, and hope Pentax duly produces a K-1iii that truly meets all your hopes and dreams. It’ll be moaned about here, nevertheless, for not meeting someone else’s ambitions and I might manage to buy one myself.

Meanwhile, I hope the OP is reassured he hasn’t bought into a dead ecosystem.

Here's someone who can't get enough of this dead ecosystem

Please rate and comment upon my Pentax Collection - Page 7 - PentaxForums.com

[robgski]

Meanwhile, I hope the OP is reassured he hasn’t bought into a dead ecosystem.

Almost 5 years on the OP uses Pentax gear and regularly posts some great landscape BTS on his YouTube channel.

[Sunburn]

Almost 5 years on the OP uses Pentax gear and regularly posts some great landscape BTS on his YouTube channel.

Yeah its a funny old world isnt it, my OP was not long after acquiring my Pentax K1 and I suppose it was due to my relative lack of experience with the technology/brand and unfortunately discovering the Pentax is Doomed online brigade, plus at that time my reliance upon 3rd party lenses within the canon marquee made me some what unsure if I had made the right decision or not moving over to Pentax. A lot has changed since then, I have developed an unhealthy obsession of buying old and vintage Pentax lenses whilst also acquiring the vast majority of the modern line up and subsequent releases. So yeah quite an adventure since my first year.