[PentaxPoke]

Pentax wants to sell NEW lenses.

It's a profit thing.

I agree with this. I have always been curious: other than us enthusiasts, how appealing really, is the fact that Pentax DSLR's can use "every lens ever made by Pentax?" Seems like an awfully small segment of the population cares that they can use MF glass. More of a marketing slogan IMO.

Sort of like the people in the States that use Linux. Very small population of primarily enthusiasts. Difficult to build a business model around.

Personally, I think it would have been better for Pentax to ditch the legacy support and do things right. Then they wouldn't be dealing with SDM problems due to an attempt to please everyone.

[Lowell Goudge]

Only on the D300S/D700/D3S. The consumer cameras hardly support vintage lenses at all.

they do, if you consider "support" as being able to A) mount the lens on the body, and B) trip the shutter

TTL metering is a pipe dream at best

[matam]

the quickest solution (guessing 1 line of code to add) would be having an extra custom menu fucnction, like the one that permit the use of lens without the "A" setting, that permit the user to chose an "X" f-stop on body (same as lens of course).
In this way the camera will work as we're used to, always meter wide open and stop down only when taking actual picture, but because you tell the body wich aperture you're shooting at matrix metering and P-TTL could be enabled.
This is not guessing, i've already tested it with a modified PK to PKA mount lens and i know that the only variable the camera need for matrix metering and P-TTl is the f-stop you're shooting at.
I should add another thing before people come answering that "starting from "A" type lens the movment of the lever is different than K/M lens", when you enable this fuction the camera will not move the lever according to the f-stop on body as it do with "A" and newer lens, it have to completley stop down as if you're shotting with aperture totally closed.

[Lowell Goudge]

I agree with this. I have always been curious: other than us enthusiasts, how appealing really, is the fact that Pentax DSLR's can use "every lens ever made by Pentax?" Seems like an awfully small segment of the population cares that they can use MF glass. More of a marketing slogan IMO.

Sort of like the people in the States that use Linux. Very small population of primarily enthusiasts. Difficult to build a business model around.

Personally, I think it would have been better for Pentax to ditch the legacy support and do things right. Then they wouldn't be dealing with SDM problems due to an attempt to please everyone.

when pentax changed the lens mount in 1975 there was an outcry because many felt pentax abandoned them, backwards compatibility has always, since that time been an issue.

I know personally, when canon abandoned the FD mount and then abandoned the EOS mount when they went to AF, they lost a lot of supporters. Many switched to nikon at that time. While canon did make adaptors they were only offered in limited numbers to pro's and only offered manual aperture stopped down mode, and in some cases loss of infinity focus.

[GeneV]

They need to fix the metering with the green button by allowing entry of the open aperture of the lens, just like you enter for focal length, and they should provide and continue to offer TTL flash as well as P-TTL.

This has been beaten to death, and those are the two things most in need of fixing. The suggestion of using the half press of the shutter to meter is something I don't remember hearing before. I like it, because it is exactly the way my first screw mount body worked. You pressed the shutter; the lens stopped down and the meter would read.

[PentaxPoke]

I know personally, when canon abandoned the FD mount and then abandoned the EOS mount when they went to AF, they lost a lot of supporters. Many switched to nikon at that time.

No doubt. I remember when that happened. I was with Pentax back then, so it didn't affect me, but I know some pros that weren't happy. But that was in 1987. Now, one can argue that by making the transition then, Canon has been in an excellent position to maintain market leadership since they are not tied to outdated technology. By eliminating all mechanical connections between lens and body, their designs are simplified, and less costly than maintaining compromise designs to allow backward compatibility. That adds cost, and reduces reliability.

This is why I wish Pentax would have done SDM the right way. For all new lenses, drop the screw drive, and implement true ring ultrasonic focus control. They hobbled the DA* lenses by trying to maintain backward compatibility with older bodies by combining SD and SDM on the same lens. Then when new bodies came out, they eliminated the capability for the body to access the DA* screw drive, even though the lenses are built to support it!!