[Lowell Goudge]

A poll, on another site, asks people their favorite feature on the full frame K1. 'The ability to use old K mount lenses' is coming in 3rd place at 10.8%! It is getting beat by:

'shake reduction on full frame' 19.8%
'pixel shift' 16.7%.

The 'astrotracer' at 9.1% is threatening to take 3rd place. This is surprising. Understand shake reduction doing so well. It is a very important feature. As nice as pixel shift is it is no where near as important. Then we have astrotracer. No way that is as important as being able to use old K mount lenses.

This poll is worrisome. Hope our favorite camera company doesn't interpret this the wrong way. Perhaps Adam needs to set up the same poll here for true Pentaxians? Would be interesting to compare results.

Thanks
barondla

The fact is, in body stabilization is a category that embodies not just manual focus legacy lenses but even AF lenses

It is much more important to any continuing Pentax user than the other aspects of backwards compatibility, although my 19 K mount and 15 M42 lenses will work just fine, thank you, it is equally important to my AF lenses, like my 70-200/2.8 and 28-75/2.8

[pinholecam]

"Ability to use old K mount lenses " is not a feature.
Its a Given


So given choices in a poll, I'd also choose something else, since using old K-mounts won't be viewed as the "feature".

[fg-one]

the old k lenses just simply don't match the new glass coming out

Really?

First one with DA-40, second one with M35 f2, both at f5.6 on a K5, LR default sharpening, 100% crops:

[manntax]

Some surprisingly bold statements from some of the guys.. I wonder how many of those claiming this 'evident' inferiority of older vintage lenses have actually *used* them (as oppose to 'testing') ??
Lenses as anything else in life takes time to master - and having used mine vintage Pentax K/ Takumar glass for the last 8 years on digital pentaxes and now for a nearly year using them on my Sony A7R - I am anything but concerned about their performance on a 'modern digital sensor'.. in fact I am astounded by the quality of our lovely lenses, and no wonder why people from from all over the 'digital photography map' come and get them!
I assure anybody bold enough to claim that the vintage lenses are so bad, that I can take a better shot with any vintage lens that they would with their shiny new ones.
Fortunately I don't have to be concerned as all really good photographers would never said that - they know how great older lenses can be and what they are capable of in able hands...

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Last edited by manntax; 03-02-2016 at 02:14 AM.

[Wild Mark]

Wow - vintage glass is apparently rubbish. Bummer - time to go to the tip with a trailer then. First to go is the A*200/4 macro - always bothered me that lens. Then there is my Auto Tak 35/2.3 - what a dog that is!

Sorry for the sarcasm. I am equally astounded by the lack of legacy glass appreciation. Yes, there are some old dogs that have had their day. But dogs also exist in the recent digital age too. I have used many of my legacy lenses on a Sony FF and all I can say is bring on Pentax FF. I think many will be easting their words in the months to come.

There is exceptional, perhaps timeless, legacy lenses out there. I have most and swear by them. And yes I have the FA20, FA31, FA43, FA50/1.7, FA*85, F100, FA100, F135 and F*300 to compare most with. SO, unless you actually know what you are talking about, I strongly suggest you go and try the legacy stuff for yourself before you rubbish them.

[TheOneAndOnlyJH]

Really?

First one with DA-40, second one with M35 f2, both at f5.6 on a K5, LR default sharpening, 100% crops:

DA 40 LTD, or DA 40 XS?
I'd imaging the LTD would be pretty good, but I hear the XS is only slightly behind in terms of IQ. (I don't have either so I wouldn't know.)

[Kerrowdown]

Ability to use old K mount lenses on K1 is losing poll!

All I know is... my "Ladies" are all getting quite excited at the prospect of this new K1.

[monochrome]

All you fellas who want to replace your vintage lenses . . . Marketplace!!

[Alizarine]

The fact that Ricoh took the trouble to make a Pentax FF with the aim to "satisfy its current userbase" of course presumes they have existing lenses and most probably old ones says that they take the words "history" and "legacy" with weight. No need to worry with at least the current generation of cameras.

[fg-one]

DA 40 LTD, or DA 40 XS?
I'd imaging the LTD would be pretty good, but I hear the XS is only slightly behind in terms of IQ. (I don't have either so I wouldn't know.)

It's a LTD. Here is a comparison with another old 35mm: the Ricoh Rikenon XR f2.8, both at f2.8 but taken with a Kx. 100% crops.

[jlstrawman]

DPR is top heavy with armchair experts and people with more opinions than photographs to back them up...who really cares what they think of pentax?

Well-said. My exact opinion of DPR.

[Adam]

I think IBIS is a huge advantage of the K-1. Old lenses are great, but even today there are lots of affordable modern lenses that outperform legacy glass without a huge price premium.

[Na Horuk]

Isn't the question just how that poll will be interpreted? Possibilities:
- Oh no, people aren't excited about legacy lenses - we should add more support for them, like aperture lever coupling
- Oh, people don't care about old lenses? We can give them even less support, it won't affect camera sales

But I think most of this will be followed up by "how much money can we make from this?" and fact is that new lenses bring money to Ricoh, while the used market of legacy glass doesn't (at least not directly)

[zapp]

The fact is, in body stabilization is a category that embodies not just manual focus legacy lenses but even AF lenses

It is much more important to any continuing Pentax user than the other aspects of backwards compatibility, although my 19 K mount and 15 M42 lenses will work just fine, thank you, it is equally important to my AF lenses, like my 70-200/2.8 and 28-75/2.8

Did anyone notice that 5 axis stabilization requires distance information - check Sony 5 axis stabilization. Without communication of distance (AF) you are stuck with 3 axis stabilsation and thus not the full 5 stops.

Vintage glass does not autofocus, ... and any new lens design should be better than the old one - otherwise something is seriously wrong. Keep making photos please.

[normhead]

Technically I think the camera mount currently is KA2 or something like that, labelled as a K derivative. I'd consider people bonkers to vote for ol K mount lenses. Old K-mount lenses work perfectly as designed, on my old K-mout cameras. That's as it should be.

KA2-mount[edit]
The KA2 is identical to KAF, but lacks the autofocus drive shaft. Another way of looking at it is that it adds the seventh contact for digital information to the KA-mount.

There is already a K mount variation that won't use the 3 amigos. Now that is something to protest.