[garyk]

I don't know much about cameras. Except taking wildlife photos.
I am wondering if Pentax comes out with a 4/3 system will the k-mount lenses fit it and work with af?
If so that will be great. I looked at olympus and think within 10 years this is where I might head for light weight systems.

[cats_five]

The 4/3 system defines the mount, so to use a K-mount lens requires an adapter. I was being told yesterday they exist and work well (the chap was wanting me to buy his Macro lens) but I have no personal experience.

[Jasvox]

Unless there are some very secretive things going on at Pentax, I haven't heard or read anything about Pentax plans to release a 4/3 system format, nor any hints of such. That is not saying they wont release a mirrorless, small body camera similar to the Panasonic and Olympus m4/3 bodies. This rumor has been gaining ground over the past 6+ months and many are expecting Pentax to announce this new body, albeit APS-C sized sensor, by this Spring. If that turns out to be reality, expect any K mount lenses to work as normal.

Jason

[clockwork247]

Unless there are some very secretive things going on at Pentax, I haven't heard or read anything about Pentax plans to release a 4/3 system format, nor any hints of such. That is not saying they wont release a mirrorless, small body camera similar to the Panasonic and Olympus m4/3 bodies. This rumor has been gaining ground over the past 6+ months and many are expecting Pentax to announce this new body, albeit APS-C sized sensor, by this Spring. If that turns out to be reality, expect any K mount lenses to work as normal.

Jason

if they're doing mirror less and stick with k-mount they're going in the wrong direction.

one of the perk of those new EVIL camera is the short flange distance on the mount. aka able to use all kindda lens manually, you take that away with the k-mount and it's game over. You can get a 55mm f/1.4 minolta MD or a canon 50mm f/1.4 FD for 50 bucks, a pentax-A 50mm f/1.4 is a wooping 150 to 200... huge difference in their prices.

Plus, sony already offer their NEX, samsung did the same thing with the NX100 (which i think is also an APS-C sensor?, not sure on the samsung).

Oly and panasonic is killing it with their micro 4/3 (there's a good 10 different models on these type of sensor size)... and they're already having a head start... so if pentax wanna play the game, they better come out with a NEX cousin lol.

[Jasvox]

Whichever adapter you need to use in order to use your K-mount lenses (such as those which enable Pentax lenses to be used on Panasonic GF1, GH2, etc, as well as on other m4/3 cameras and ASP-C ) could be used on a Pentax body as well, no?
I dont know about you, but if I cant use my quality small Pentax lenses on a small, mirrorless body, what's the point? I'd certainly not be thrilled about buying new lenses just for that body alone....not unlike the old Auto 110 (which I still have the body and 3 lenses from 25 years ago)

Jason

[Fogel70]

I dont know about you, but if I cant use my quality small Pentax lenses on a small, mirrorless body, what's the point? I'd certainly not be thrilled about buying new lenses just for that body alone....not unlike the old Auto 110 (which I still have the body and 3 lenses from 25 years ago)

Jason

The problem with using DSLR lenses on a mirrorless camera is that with the adapter the total size of camera + lens will not be much smaller than using a small DSLR with the same lens.
With optimized mirrorless lenses the whole package can be made much smaller (At least with wide angle and normal fixed focal length lenses).

So IMO there is not much point of getting a mirrorless camera for use with DSLR lenses if having a DSLR for those lenses already.

[Big Dave]

The 1/3rds sensor is half the size of a full frame, which makes all of the SLR lenses into telephotos. Wide angle is almost impossible, unless you use the lenses intended for the 4/3rds camera. A micro 4/3rds would be very nice as a pocket camera with a compact 4/3rds 28 or 35mm(14-18mm actual) equivalent lens.

Dave

[aleonx3]

The fact that 4/3 system gets the same aspect ratio as the regular P&S sensors does not seem to be adding anything to attract other people. I had my days when I tried to get 4x6 prints, I had to go through every file and cropped it before I send it for printing. That is just annoying; perhaps, that is just me.

[bobmaxja]

PLease read the interview with Pentax USA .
IT's clear that they are not sure if this is a trend or not . For sure outside Japan , it's not

Imaging Resource Interview: John Carlson, Pentax Imaging

[clockwork247]

The 1/3rds sensor is half the size of a full frame, which makes all of the SLR lenses into telephotos. Wide angle is almost impossible, unless you use the lenses intended for the 4/3rds camera. A micro 4/3rds would be very nice as a pocket camera with a compact 4/3rds 28 or 35mm(14-18mm actual) equivalent lens.

Dave

you buy wide angle from the manufacture (aka panasonic/olympus) and use your old manual as a semi tele (28 mm = 56mm, 35=70, 50=100), it's a bit annoying but workable, and in fact, you rarely use manual lens for landscape, mostly close up macro, portrait ect... which all work within those 56-150mm range of prime.

BUT because of that reason I had to sell my oly PL1, i like the camera, just not the 2X crop factor, it was just too much for me, this is why i think something like the sony NEX is way more convenient, or better yet, a full frame sensor in one of those tiny body (one can only hope haha).

[johnmflores]

Would you buy a mirrorless Pentax if they could make it as small as the beloved MX?

[bobmaxja]

Do you know the k-r is not bigger than the GH2?

GH2 142x90x76 mm
K-R 125x97x68

I do not see the point |||

[johnmflores]

Do you know the k-r is not bigger than the GH2?

GH2 142x90x76 mm
K-R 125x97x68

I do not see the point |||

The K-r is about the same size as the K-x. Here's the GH2 and K-x:




What you've got to remember in these photos is that you are comparing the largest M43 mirrorless camera against the smallest dSLR (or close to the smallest at least).

Can you make an even smaller dSLR? Yes, but at some point the mirror will get in the way.

Can you make an even smaller mirrorless camera? Yes, the Panasonic GF2 as well as the Sony NEX series show how small you can go.




My own camera roadmap will probably lead me to the Panasonic GF2 with a 14 F2.5. That plus a 20 1.7 in my pocket will blow the doors off a Canon G11/Nikon P7000/Panasonic LX-5 in terms of ISO and IQ while being significantly smaller than you can get with a K-x/K-r with pancake primes.

Instead of the GF2, I'd much rather have a Pentax EVIL that is WR. But I won't wait for it...

[nickthetasmaniac]

Do you know the k-r is not bigger than the GH2?

GH2 142x90x76 mm
K-R 125x97x68

I do not see the point |||

As John mentions above, you're comparing the largest m/43rds body made against one of the smallest dSLR's ever, but even putting that aside for a moment, you're not seeing the point because essentially, you're missing the point...

In terms of size, the great size benefit of Micro 4/3rds is found in the lenses. The APS format NEX is a great example of this - tiny body, massive lenses.

Find any APS of FF lens with equivalent FoV that's the same size and speed as the Panasonic 7-14/f4, 8/f3.5 FE, 14/f2.5, 20/f1.7 or 45/f2.8 Macro, all of which offer outstanding quality.

As a full system, the size benefit of m4/3rds is undeniable...

[elg]

I don't know much about cameras. Except taking wildlife photos.
I am wondering if Pentax comes out with a 4/3 system will the k-mount lenses fit it and work with af?

4/3 standard defines mount as well. If Pentax will ever come up with 4/3 camera its native mount will not be KAF, and mounting KAF lenses will require an adapter.