Originally posted by Dean Bradshaw Interesting point of view. Ricoh/Pentax should research, test and modify their design to ensure backward compatibility with a third party product that pays no licence fee to them?
If they want to make sure that their customers have access to as many lenses as possible, which is vital for any system, then yes, they should check that certain very popular third party lenses fit their cameras. They have no legal obligation, but they are risking upsetting people and losing customers.
Originally posted by PeteL For Pentax to check every 3rd party K mount lens that is out there would be incredibly expensive and time consuming! But then why on earth should they even contemplate doing so? Pentax make some very fine lenses of their own.
It would hardly take a lot of time or resources to take a couple dozen of the more popular third party lenses out there and take five minutes per lens to make sure they work as they should. That's a job an intern can do in a day, or maybe a week if they want to be really thorough.
Originally posted by Na Horuk Anyone think this might be a hit job to take the steam out of the K-1's powerful entry onto the market?
Basically, Pentax needs third party lens support. And saying that you can't use the most popular Sigma lenses on Pentax camera can be very damaging to Pentax. Is it possible that someone paid out Sigma to make this statement?
Yes, yes, absolutely. I bet Sigma is eager to hurt their own sales in order to arbitrarily damage a manufacturer. Makes a lot of sense
Seriously though, did you put in an order for tinfoil hats recently?
Originally posted by awaldram So because Sigma refuse to pay Pentax for the right to use their mount, Rioch should 'test' these 'non' K mount offering and change there specified design and clearances to match Sigmas Made up design !??
Ignoring Pentax lost licencing fees and Pentax's lost sales to competitors what reason have Ricoh to change their design to fit someone else's made up spec ?
I do see a flaw in your expectation
None of the third party manufacturers pay any of the camera manufacturers licensing fees for their mounts. This is a mutually beneficial relationship - camera makers benefit from there being a large selection of lenses available for their mounts because it draws customers to their system.
If you read general camera forums you see a lot of people being amazed by the K-1 and voicing their intention to switch to Pentax (or use it along their other systems), but you also have a fair amount of people stating that Pentax is missing certain lenses they want or need and thus rule out a switch. It doesn't matter whether they're right or wrong, if they don't buy into Pentax because they are missing lenses that other manufacturers can offer (like all FF Sigma 'Art' lenses except for the 35 mm), then Pentax is losing money.
So yes, it doesn't matter whether Sigma pays Pentax to use their mount or not - lack of lenses has been a prime argument against Pentax for a long time, and Pentax needs to work to eliminate that barrier. Making a minor change to a design point that results in the highest quality 35 mm lens on the market potentially damaging the camera is a pretty stupid move.