[Volker76]

maybe you need to realize that the way forward is AWAY from mechanics and toward electronical solutions?

Mechanics are expensive. Electronics are cheap.

It is really that simple.

[Merts]

maybe you need to realize that the way forward is AWAY from mechanics and toward electronical solutions?

Mechanics are expensive. Electronics are cheap.

It is really that simple.

Pentax bodies already have the mechanics to stop the lens down to meter, and for when you take a shot. Having the necessary mechanics to detect the aperture set on an older (non electronic) lens is not particularly complex, nor would it be expensive. Many people have chosen the Pentax system to take advantage of older legacy lenses.

It's not like Ricoh would have to start from scratch, this 'technology' is existing. It was included in my 1980s K2.

So you are correct at least in your closing comment. It is really simple......

[Topsy]

I too fully support this!


And Volker, electronics are cheap but don't survive half as long as mechanics do. Plus, for many people working with mechanical things gives them more pleasure!

[Merts]

It's also worth noting that by definition, a DSLR camera is a combination of electronics and mechanics.
Mirror, aperture blades, shutter.......?

[bobpur]

Another idea if the mount is left as is, update our firmware to allow the option of the stopdown
By half press in lieu of the green button would also free up the greenbutton option for other
Things.
Press the shutter and meters then shoot

[drougge]

maybe you need to realize that the way forward is AWAY from mechanics and toward electronical solutions?

Mechanics are expensive. Electronics are cheap.

It is really that simple.

Many of the features I care about in a camera make it more expensive. Are you trying to argue that I should instead want only things that are cheap?

[Volker76]

Many of the features I care about in a camera make it more expensive. Are you trying to argue that I should instead want only things that are cheap?

no, you should want things that make sense.

Can you use old lenses with current mounts? Yes, you can. So why should Ricoh/Pentax invest money&time&resources into something only very few people want or need?

Money, time and resources they could also spend on releasing better firmwares, tuning autofocus or developing new lenses.

Mechanics are freaking expensive and don't do much good in this case. Another tiny IC in the camera that would make autofocus faster on the other hand would be a great boon. Or real, build in wireless. Now that would be a useful feature. Bluetooth. Another feature that would actually help. And would be pretty cheap.

[Nicolas06]

no, you should want things that make sense.

Can you use old lenses with current mounts? Yes, you can. So why should Ricoh/Pentax invest money&time&resources into something only very few people want or need?

Money, time and resources they could also spend on releasing better firmwares, tuning autofocus or developing new lenses.

Mechanics are freaking expensive and don't do much good in this case. Another tiny IC in the camera that would make autofocus faster on the other hand would be a great boon. Or real, build in wireless. Now that would be a useful feature. Bluetooth. Another feature that would actually help. And would be pretty cheap.

Because their clients are asking for it. No more, no less.

There no issue ot make anything as long as client is paying for it. It is perfectly legit for interrested customer to try to raise the point they want something. They don't have to reduce their expectations to please whatever theory.

After maybe the product would be more expensive and so on... But that another issue.

And to be honest, electronics is not always better/cheaper. Modern lenses with lot of electronic fail more and are more expensive than mechanical ones. This is the same for cars. Low cost car has less electronic and cost far less than modern full of electronic car... That is less reliable.

[Volker76]

honestly, most people looking for a camera do not care if the mount is 'crippled' or not. Does the lens work? Yes. Fine. Problem solved.

But they look for features like fast AF, good AF tracking, wireless, maybe bluetooth, GPS etc pp.

And if you don't listen to the market, because a tiny group of old time users want a mechanical feeler added that nobody really, truely needed, then that company is dead pretty soon.

Pentax has changed ownership three times?

Maybe it is time to listen to the market. Tilt screens, wireless, good, fast AF are the thing the market wants.

[Nicolas06]

honestly, most people looking for a camera do not care if the mount is 'crippled' or not. Does the lens work? Yes. Fine. Problem solved.

But they look for features like fast AF, good AF tracking, wireless, maybe bluetooth, GPS etc pp.

And if you don't listen to the market, because a tiny group of old time users want a mechanical feeler added that nobody really, truely needed, then that company is dead pretty soon.

Pentax has changed ownership three times?

Maybe it is time to listen to the market. Tilt screens, wireless, good, fast AF are the thing the market wants.

Basically you ask the voters on this thread to not ask for the feature they want because you think the feature is not a good enough selling argument.

May I say this is your point of view? While we can keep for the record that you are against the feature and that's legitimate position, I'm not sure it is relevant to discuss of possible alternate or more relevant features here. I'd advice to open the proper thread...

I mean if truely users of PF are more after the feature you speak of, this should show in the end.

[drougge]

no, you should want things that make sense.

So only what you want then? If I want it I want it. (And I really do. No matter what you think about it.)

Can you use old lenses with current mounts? Yes, you can. So why should Ricoh/Pentax invest money&time&resources into something only very few people want or need?

Because the people who want this are willing to pay for it.

Nikon obviously figured it was worth it, and have the corresponding feeler on all reasonably high end cameras (D7000 and up). It's not as you argue particularly expensive. I don't have numbers, obviously, but it's trivial mechanics, nothing advanced or particularly high precision.

I don't want to switch to Nikon, but I do consider it sometimes. For this reason and this reason only.

[Merts]

honestly, most people looking for a camera do not care if the mount is 'crippled' or not. Does the lens work? Yes. Fine. Problem solved.

Most people don't care if the mount can take old lenses either, or about a lot of features a particular camera has. As is obvious by the number of comments in this thread, there are a significant number of Pentax users who would like this particular feature. The fact that the majority of users don't want or need a particular feature isn't a valid argument for not having it. If you applied that argument universally all DSLRs would just have a progam setting with no other exposure modes.

And if you don't listen to the market, because a tiny group of old time users want a mechanical feeler added that nobody really, truely needed, then that company is dead pretty soon.

Adding this feature would not disadvantage any user in any way, and as has been pointed out previously, the mechanics required are neither complex or expensive. You cannot be seriously suggesting that adding this feature would would cause Pentax to fall over as a brand? Nikon seem to have survived just fine and they have included this feature on a number of their camera bodies.

Pentax has changed ownership three times?

Only two changes (Hoya, then Richoh), and totally irrelevant to the argument in any case.

[Stagnant]

I use my manual lenses with focus peaking and magnification in live view. I don't see any problem in focusing the lenses stopped down (aperture ring) in that mode.

[Merts]

I use my manual lenses with focus peaking and magnification in live view. I don't see any problem in focusing the lenses stopped down (aperture ring) in that mode.

That's interesting, but what does that have to do with wanting the aperture measuring lever built into the mount? Decripling the mount is about being able to use aperture priority exposure rather than manual. It has nothing to do with focusing a manual lens. If you are using live view with a lens with manual aperture adjustment, you still have to use the green button to meter and set the shutter speed.

[Stagnant]

Mind you, I have nothing against improving / decripling the lens mount. My camera meters just fine without pressing any extra buttons. I set the ISO manually and let the camera choose necessary exposure. If the ISO is set to Auto the camera the camera behaves in a similar fashion. It works the same way in both CDAF and PDAF modes. No additional steps required.