[Laurentiu Cristofor]

The recent comments from Pentax execs would seem to point to continued support of the K-mount and longer lenses on the way.

I forgot that this can also be technically done by introducing a GXR K-mount module. Maybe even a FF one!

[Geoff H]

I didn't comment or vote originally because the options did not address my hopes for Pentax. But with this many diverse posts I guess I can whine.
in order of importance:

1st- AA battery use without a grip. please always have at least one body available with AA. It is the ONLY way I can travel as I can not charge if i have no electricity for 2 months at a time (thanks in advance but please don't link me to the solar panels, they have limited usefulness). AAs are the ONLY way i can do my job because I work in wilderness setting and have to shoot a lot of photos and even when doing experiments in a lab if i run out of juice i loose data and i can not weight to charge batteries. Grips are not usable when climbing, skiing or sailing and adds mass. AAs are sold everywhere and can be recharged and are just as efficent as the proprietary batteries at a fraction of the cost.

2nd- keeping K-mount. Many normal people have invested too much money and time in lenses (and microscopes). If people are itching to switch mounts i am inspired to vote for more progressive income tax brackets and a repeal of deductions. (my apologies to non-USA forum users for this americentric comment)

3rd- weather proofing on entry level models.

4th- maintaining a sturdy build (metal frame) on the entry level models. but keeping the cost affordable

5th- micro prisms standard so their is none of these metering problems.

And they should really get a better marketing team.

Yup! AA batteries is a biggie. The battery grip of the K5 weighs bugger-all without them, so is at least an option to carry just in case, but for any go-anywhere camera the ability to use supermarket batteries is a massive selling point. Just as Fuji carved a niche (now abandoned) in wedding photography, Pentax could do a lot worse than target a market of people who actually carry cameras further than 50m from their car. The K5 is already a street ahead of anything else on the market, but AA batteries would close the deal for many.

[Geoff H]

I forgot that this can also be technically done by introducing a GXR K-mount module. Maybe even a FF one!

As I posted before, the GXR is a solution looking for a problem. Probably sounded good in a presentation, but it's trying to occupy the smallest niche on the planet.

They need something like a Nex under the Ricoh label that is cross compatible with Pentax.

[aruk5]

I have always been curious why none of the dslr manufacturers including pentax ever considered making a sensor which is similar to 65 mm of the film days. Under it the images will look more wide and show more image information. As of now we can mimic something like that by adding an anamorphic with an adaptor. By the way I am not talking about a 'full frame' 65mm sensor [as it will be too expensive to manufacture] but something scaled down in lines of the aps sensors for 35mm cameras.

[stanislav]

I would actually like non crippled K mount. However that functionality can be achieved even with a fairly simple firmware upgrade. The idea would be that when a non-A lens is mounted the camera could ask for f-numbers, so that the numbers could be entered for wide-open and closed lens (lets say 2 and 22). The lens could then be turned to a closed position (22 in this example) which permits the aperture to be open when looking through the viewfinder and closed completely when taking photos. The desired apperture can then be either obtained in the Av mode or calculated by the camera (in other modes). As far I understand there should be no signifficant difference between A and pre-A lenses in function of apperture blades and apperture lever appart from passing the information to the camera regarding min and max stops.

[RonHendriks1966]

Well I'm this week attending the EC Waterfly. For this I could need something longer then 300mm at times, or at least have a longer lens then my current DA*300mm/f4 when we have a Full Frame camera.

So for this 400mm would be great. I have no money to buy 400mm/f2.8 and I have no use for 400mm/f5.6. So leaving DA*400mm/f4.0 (or f4.5) as a very nice lens.

Or my earlier mentioned DA*135-270mm/f2.8 with a 1.4x TC making it a very nice 189-378mm/f4 lens.

[Clinton]

As this poll has rolled on, one of the most interesting things I've seen is how many people have voted one, two, or even three times for "Continuation of the K mount," when there are so many other tantalizing items on the list. It seems that a lot of people are deeply concerned about the K mount continuing, even when it seems there's no chance of the k mount being discontinued.

[Laurentiu Cristofor]

As this poll has rolled on, one of the most interesting things I've seen is how many people have voted one, two, or even three times for "Continuation of the K mount," when there are so many other tantalizing items on the list. It seems that a lot of people are deeply concerned about the K mount continuing, even when it seems there's no chance of the k mount being discontinued.

I am pretty sure that they equated the discontinuation of K-mount with the inability to use K-mount lenses on future Pentax cameras. The poll should have included an option that said "discontinuation of K mount while preserving full backward compatibility". Why do you think there are companies that specialize in making polls - if you don't ask the right questions, you won't get the right answers.

[drugal]

Speaking for myself, I wasn't worried about the K-mount going away.

I guess I voted for K-mount continuation because this implied that there were going to be more lenses released to fit my current camera. This is what I really want from Pentax, lenses. Hopefully primes to fill 'holes' in the range and not just in the telephoto range.

[markku55]

Why ask from us, most of the future Pentax users are just growing and realising that they could be interested on photographing. They don't care what was the Pentax mount back in history, they care about easy photographing, light weight equipment, understandable price level, good picture quality with nearly no effort etc.
We are now talking about how we could get as good new body as possible for our lens range we have - actually we are quite selfish - do we really think what would be the best for Pentax brand to keep it alive?

[Clavius]

Why ask from us, most of the future Pentax users are just growing and realising that they could be interested on photographing. They don't care what was the Pentax mount back in history, they care about easy photographing, light weight equipment, understandable price level, good picture quality with nearly no effort etc.

How do you know people are like that? The sorts of folks you described here would probably stick to their smartphone. Or point-and-shoot. They won't care about bigger sensors or interchangeable lenses. It'll all be extra weight, size and ballast to them. Seriously, they probably won't even see the difference in IQ between the output of an Iphone and that of an FF camera. (Yes, I've encountered those.)

[markku55]

It is very seldom (my opinnion) that a young person would start with serious camera in first place, the hunger will grow when eating, and for sure when the youngster become older and get work and more money to spend on more exciting cameras, then there should be decent steps to grow with this hobby

[Clinton]

I am pretty sure that they equated the discontinuation of K-mount with the inability to use K-mount lenses on future Pentax cameras. The poll should have included an option that said "discontinuation of K mount while preserving full backward compatibility". Why do you think there are companies that specialize in making polls - if you don't ask the right questions, you won't get the right answers.

It's probably because I'm skeptical such an adapter could be made, would be fully compatible, would have AF for non-sdm lenses, would be weather sealed, wouldn't cost $800, etc...

I'm also loath to carry yet another hunk of gear around in my bag.

This could easily be misconstrued to indicate that my poll is entirely biased not in favor of discontinuing, or making an adapter, which is why early on, I said to vote for both to clarify. Some people did. There's 17 votes on the side of discontinue. I haven't looked to see whom voted for both, but even if it's everyone, It's a drop in the bucket.


I think the overwhelming statement of continuing support for the K mount is glaringly obvious, and shows how much fear, uncertainty, and doubt has been perpetuated, both by Ricoh/Pentax not making a clear statement, but also by a few very vocal voices saying the next Pentax wont have a K mount, or that if it does, Pentax is dead.

[bigdavephoto]

If Pentax would stop using the K-mount, then why would people with older K-mount lenses stay with Pentax?

I'll be honest here. When I bought my K7, one of the top three reasons I bought it was because of all of my K-mount lenses. I was actually looking at the possiblty of going to Nikon so I could share lenses with my dad but dicided to stay with Pentax because of the cost of replacing all my glass.

My youngest son now is wanting to buy a Dslr and I pointed it out that if he would go with Pentax, he could use my lenses or he could go with Nikon and use his grandfathers lenses.

[Clavius]

Lets be honest, reality is even worse. If the Pentax userbase was not prevented from switching because of their K-mount glass collection, Pentax would have been dead years ago. Pentax needs the K-mount, because it's depending on it's userbase.

But that's fine by me, they could just as well be content in that niche and be the best in class right there.

In other words, if they didn't waste resources on crap like the Q and APS-C mirrorless, then the FF DSLR including lens line-up would have been here two years ago. Let the others shoot themselves in the foot. Pentax is to small and to good at it's niche.