Originally posted by TaoMaas Really? How so? Do you know what you're talking about?
Once Pentax was considered THE innovator. Innovating so much that the other bigger brands copied them. WR/SR/compact build/durability/etc... They let that slip.
Once they were known as cheap. Another *cough* brilliant strategy which gave them a name they are still trying to shake off today.
They were also once known for the excellent optical qualities of their lenses, untill they started discontinueing the ones that were appreciated the most.
Other users remember Pentax for being THE standard in quality. Others again for being THE mainstream camera. It all depends on when they bought into the system.
More recently they are known for their fun colours and gimmicky gear.
And then the small Pentax lenses. They are one of those paradoxes that I find so intruiging about Pentax. They find miniaturisation in their lenses so ultimately important that they are even prepared to sacrifice several stops. (Sacrificing valueble low light performance, versatility and even sharpness.) But then again, they don't find miniaturisation important enough to sacrifice a mirrorbox and mechanism in their cameras. A much smaller sacrifice that doesn't even influence the quality of the images, but only the view through the viewfinder. So I think somewhere in the period between the development of the compact ltd lenses and the CMOS sensor they switched courses again.
It's like they're shooting in all kinds of directions but never really push through.