[stevebrot]

It's sort of scary for the future of the K mount, with Sigma and Tamron not renewing lens lines for the K mount

I have puzzled over those actions and have come to the conclusion that with Pentax expanding their offerings, Sigma and Tamron may have concluded that it there is would be inadequate penetration with their product to justify entry into what is essentially a boutique market. They have made similar decisions with Sony (both A and E), and mirrorless.


Steve

[pschlute]

I can't blame the camera, I only can blame myself for not find the right subjects.

You have bought cameras and lenses for what exactly ? I buy mine to take photographs.

And should Ricoh throw in the towel i think you will find that with many people heavily invested in lenses dating back decades, your camera at least will go up in value.

[LFLee]

To sum it up, I'm fully equipped with a Pentax K1, DFA zooms and DFA 100 macro. And, I'm not short of being satisfied with this camera system, including autofocus, I find the autofocus to be more than adequate for static shots and good enough for sports and wildlife tracking with some optimization of settings and shooting strategy. Image quality is amazing. I can't blame the camera, I only can blame myself for not find the right subjects.

Now, I am under the impression that there is less activity on PF compared to what it used to be back 5 to 10 years ago. I also see a lot of threads that now consist of criticism about Pentax cameras (most of the time using old lenses and cameras, but generalizing to all including newest Pentax products), always focus on what is not good. And I see Ricoh remaining passive, just release one more camera and never take frontal action to address lack of communication and not improvement in software, whatever could be done (if that could stop criticism, I'm not sure). It's sort of scary for the future of the K mount, with Sigma and Tamron not renewing lens lines for the K mount, adding to the pressure.

So, should I sell my Pentax gear and buy a Canon or Nikon system in case Ricoh image would announce that they stop doing DSLR all together?
I would really miss the Pentax system, but if there is no other choice, I'll have to sell and get back some money before the exchange value goes to zero.

I pick up my first DSLR (or even a serious camera) in late 08, and over the years (certainly shorter than your experience) manage to kind of figure out the gear I will use and those that I will never use (like shooting wildlife or sport).

I guess is important to know what your focus is, and see if the Ricoh offering fit your bill.

The whole DSLR market is shrinking, mirrorless is rising. So if you worry about Ricoh, you should also worry about CaNikon.
On the other spectrum, the dying film is making a come back....

I pick up a K1 late last year and have been happy with it (mostly the images with FA ltd lens)- albeit not happy with the new lens price and limited 3rd party offering (Sigma ART), and comparatively less 2nd hand DFA lens in the market.

That being said, finding and testing different gear is also part of the fun of photography - so go explore other brand if you have the desire.

Keep it fun and keep shooting!

[jatrax]

Now, I am under the impression that there is less activity on PF compared to what it used to be back 5 to 10 years ago. I also see a lot of threads that now consist of criticism about Pentax cameras (most of the time using old lenses and cameras, but generalizing to all including newest Pentax products), always focus on what is not good.

Obviously you were not a member back then. Your "impression" is false. Back then nothing was posted on this forum except doom. Perhaps you have seen the trademarked Doooomed(tm)? That was not as much a joke as you might think.

If you feel you need to move to another brand that is your business, but I would hate to see you do so when the future of Pentax is brighter right now than it has been since I joined.

And honestly if not for the number of posts and contributions you have made to this forum I would simply dismiss this as a troll post and ignore you. But obviously that is not the case. I do wonder who has been whispering in your ear to make you think you should leave now, after all the doom and gloom and nearly going out of business of years past? This forum is brighter and cheerier right now than at any time since I joined. And the future of Pentax is brighter now than at any time in decades.

Enjoy your wonderful Pentax gear! Or sell it, not a worry to me. But please list it on the forum, not that I need anything right now but you never know.

[Adam]

If you think Pentax is in trouble, then Nikon is in even more trouble- they've lost a tremendous amount of ground in the past year due to issues with their products.

Anyway, many people on the forum seem to have the expectation that Pentax must grow, or else they are doomed. The fact is that Ricoh wants the brand to stay a niche brand. It's not fighting for others' market share but rather filling in the gaps through products that are distinct from the mainstream. And that certainly holds true for the K-1.

If you look back at the history of Pentax, it's been a bumpy road for a while, and yet they've always managed to pull through. Also, think about how well the Theta is selling. Pentax isn't going anywhere

So, I hope that calms your fears. Enjoy your camera and always pick the gear that satisfies your needs/wants rather than worrying about the corporate drama.

As for PF, we still get roughly the same number of daily posts as we did many years ago. I think 2014 was our busiest year so far, and that's ironically when the community was the most whiny about the brand.

[BarryE]

... I'll have to sell and get back some money before the exchange value goes to zero.

Too late now you've let on and I can see the values sliding as I type ...

It's odd this camera buying lark. We have some excellent cameras and a range of lenses that range from excellent to pretty poor. There are some obvious holes in the range that other manufacturers have filled and, yes, third party manufacturers are continuing to add to their range that we don't have access too. But do users of other brands take better shots because of their equipment ? I doubt it. Do I wish there were some f4 FF quality, light zooms, with interesting zoom ranges ? Yes. Do I regularly look at the lenses that other users have attached to their non-Pentaxes ? Yes. Is this helpful ? Probably not. Sometimes with a light prime I curse the fact that I've the wrong lens attached, but then after a bit of time I see compositions that I'm sure I would have missed with a zoom. So I win some and lose some.

Like you, having made a substantial investment in Pentax gear it's down to me/us to use it for what we want to do. In the UK selling camera gear does seem to be a fairly poor idea as the second hand value does not hold up too well - bit like a car - the moment it's out of the camera shop, there's a big drop in value. (Not helped by flash sales, which have destroyed the used prices as the canny buyer knows to wait for the big events throughout the year). So why not now use what you have and over time build up alternative equipment that is *substantially* better and different to what you currently have ? Guess this is my background plan, though I can't see that happening for many years to come.

I visited the biggest camera show in the UK last weekend and the Pentax stand was rather substandard, I felt. The centre piece was a train set that was one of the rep's father's. It felt rather old fashioned and parochial. To me it didn't work too well. It will have summed up, I fear too many, what a lowly state Pentax is in, without properly highlighting the excellent equipment it can produce, albeit will irritating holes in it's range. Why did they do it like that ...? It would not have been down to cost as it was a big (ish) stand, but rather a little more sophistication rather than village hall would have probably been better.

Better gear will not make me a better photographer, I know, but some quality f4 zooms would save my neck. Fill this gap and I have all I need. I guess you probably feel the same with whatever is missing for you ...

[BigMackCam]

Around 2008 or 2009, my best friend bought a new Saab coupe. I can't remember the exact model, but it was fairly high up in the range. Fast, sporty, comfortable, practical and pretty darned reliable too. He used it for travel to work, long distance journeys for business meetings, weekend shopping, vacation road trips, helping a couple of friends to move house, and moving his own stuff to a new apartment when he split from his long term partner. Sometimes, it wasn't the ideal car for the job at hand, but he made it work.

Saab went bankrupt in 2011, but he still has that car... drives it pretty much every day of the week. He has no intention of selling it because it does more or less everything he needs, does most of it quite well, and he really likes it. And, there are enough old-stock and reconditioned parts available to keep it on the road for a long time. If and when he does sell, it'll be because it's become uneconomical to maintain, or because he really just wants to drive something else for a change. But he doesn't need to sell it.

[awscreo]

I've just recently switched to Pentax, and I still remember the pain in the butt of trying to sell all the previous gear, saving up and calculating which gear to get first etc. So far I'm fairly happy with the switch.

One thing I think Pentax is lacking is in customer support - I had a simple question regarding one of the lenses (for a possible warranty repair/tune up) - my questions via contact form on the website was ignored (sent a week ago), facebook group mod took 2 days to reply that basically just provided me with the number I have to call (they themselves couldn't answer the question). I had such great experiences with Tamron and Olympus before, it's kind of a shock to have such slow and not-great support now.

[clackers]

.

And honestly if not for the number of posts and contributions you have made to this forum I would simply dismiss this as a troll post and ignore you..

I think people should hold their fire, Jatrax.

Biz-engineer's most entertaining/informative posts are his provocative ones.

I'm sure he wants to hear lots of responses to his OP, which I'm guessing was fuelled by his dry sense of humour rather than a crisis of confidence.

[BrianR]

Sell sell sell, it's the only way to be safe. Don't buy a Canon or Nikon though, they're both doomed.

Personally I'm making the transition back to the traditional crayon & paper method of image capture. This worked well for me 35 years ago, and I think will work just as well today. Autofocus is as fast as my eyes (way better than any Canikon). Frame rate and resolution are still pretty low at this point, but with 16-bit colour (where 'bit'= that bit on the end of one crayon). Battery life is also not a concern, but I'm currently testing out my cold weather options (crayons can get brittle). As an added plus, this system allows you to 'photograph' celebrities who aren't even there, or who are even completely imaginary, and instantly be transferred onto custom objects, like wrapping paper.

An example is below, it's unfortunate that computers have not caught up with crayon & paper and it had to be converted into a digital image to share on the web (I used an iphone for this). The original had stunning clarity, until it was ripped apart by a 5 year old girl that is.

[stevebrot]

it's kind of a shock to have such slow and not-great support now.

To be honest, I don't see how the management at Ricoh/Pentax Americas can justify drawing paychecks. In all fairness, I get the part about strange actions by Ricoh Global, but even in the dark times of "Lord Hoya", post-sale support was pretty good. The same was true of the Pentax USA Web site, a resource I quit using about two years ago.


Steve

[Miguel]

To sum it up, I'm fully equipped with a Pentax K1, DFA zooms and DFA 100 macro. And, I'm not short of being satisfied with this camera system, including autofocus, I find the autofocus to be more than adequate for static shots and good enough for sports and wildlife tracking with some optimization of settings and shooting strategy. Image quality is amazing. I can't blame the camera, I only can blame myself for not find the right subjects.

Now, I am under the impression that there is less activity on PF compared to what it used to be back 5 to 10 years ago. I also see a lot of threads that now consist of criticism about Pentax cameras (most of the time using old lenses and cameras, but generalizing to all including newest Pentax products), always focus on what is not good. And I see Ricoh remaining passive, just release one more camera and never take frontal action to address lack of communication and not improvement in software, whatever could be done (if that could stop criticism, I'm not sure). It's sort of scary for the future of the K mount, with Sigma and Tamron not renewing lens lines for the K mount, adding to the pressure.

So, should I sell my Pentax gear and buy a Canon or Nikon system in case Ricoh image would announce that they stop doing DSLR all together?
I would really miss the Pentax system, but if there is no other choice, I'll have to sell and get back some money before the exchange value goes to zero.

I left the Pentax world about 8 years ago for Canon as the system simply didn't meet the requirements for my work as a corporate photographer. Alas, those days are past and my needs have changed. I returned simply because the K-1 is such an excellent camera on so many levels. I also retained a lot of the better lenses and with the K-1 I can more fully appreciate their output. That said, I have also retained my FF Canon camera and the better lenses (which are many), having sold off any crop-body-related gear. I just don't think the 5DMK4, while the quality of images I believe are about the same as the K-1, would be as satisfying to use, especially for the cost.

Interestingly, I've felt that the Pentax community angst was much higher in the period prior to the K-1 announcement. It seems to me that the K-1 has drawn in a noticeable number of Nikon and Canon FF shooters who lack the defensiveness I feel that pervades the Pentax faithful. These folks may, like myself to an extent, have expectations imprinted by using systems made by companies that pump out a stream of visible product and support materials and advertising which contributes to a perception of viability. Ricoh don't do that. They follow a different business model. Pentax is a hobby biz and that can be maddening. I'm curious, however, about any restlessness that former Nikon and Canon shooters may communicate.

I strongly share your concern about the lack of third party lenses. This is a lot more significant now than a few years ago when OEM lenses were so much better across the board (with a few exceptions). Now as a Pentax user I grumble with each new Zeiss, Sigma Art or even Tamron prime lens announcement because it further marginalizes the Pentax brand and adds to the crazy inflated prices of higher end K-mount lenses new and used.

To me photography is way more about the shots and not about the tools, so what system is used only matters if it makes it harder (or easier) to get the shot. If your Pentax stuff gets in your way, selling stuff is a very easy fix. But if the issue is one of subjects that fail to satisfy, then the fix is somewhere else.

M

[stevebrot]

Sell sell sell, it's the only way to be safe. Don't buy a Canon or Nikon though, they're both doomed.

Personally I'm making the transition back to the traditional crayon & paper method of image capture. This worked well for me 35 years ago, and I think will work just as well today. Autofocus is as fast as my eyes (way better than any Canikon). Frame rate and resolution are still pretty low at this point, but with 16-bit colour (where 'bit'= that bit on the end of one crayon). Battery life is also not a concern, but I'm currently testing out my cold weather options (crayons can get brittle). As an added plus, this system allows you to 'photograph' celebrities who aren't even there, or who are even completely imaginary, and instantly be transferred onto custom objects, like wrapping paper.

An example is below, it's unfortunate that computers have not caught up with crayon & paper and it had to be converted into a digital image to share on the web (I used an iphone for this). The original had stunning clarity, until it was ripped apart by a 5 year old girl that is.

May I ask the brand of crayon and and how you sharpen your points? Might you also provide a link for the paper? I simply must get some...exquisite!


Steve

[MJKoski]

Wide angle on the K-1 or on the 4x5? If the 4x5, things get strange fast as one approaches 60mm focal length. My Chamonix 045N2 has pretty decent minimum extension as well as design features to favor wide angle work, but it is still a pain. Your Intrepid may not be as friendly.


Steve

I am good with 75mm lens on recessed lens board. Not gonna go wider yet with it. If things work out I might get that Chamonix as well, it looked so very nicely thought out. Gotta learn with intrepid first

I am looking for proper prime UWA kit for K-1 now. With Nikon it is very easy, but not gonna go there yet.

[awscreo]

May I ask the brand of crayon and and how you sharpen your points? Might you also provide a link for the paper? I simply must get some...exquisite!


Steve

I assure you his brand of crayons isn't as good as my one, especially the red and the yellow one. The tracking sensation of my brand of paper is also superior. Also my brand has a much larger variety of paper available, sometimes with multiple choices for one type!