[Gerard_Dirks]

Hello

What is the reason that Sigma & Tamron stop building lenses for Pentax.

About 4 years ago I bought a Sigma 17-70 HSM Art C lens and was very happy with it on my K-3. But this was probably one of the last lenses with the Pentax K-Mount.

Because of the Lack of new lenses from Pentax itself I am really pissed off, to get new "high tech" glass. I have a lot fullframe "old glass" for my Pentax bodies and this works for me, but they are mostly all screw-driven and not SMD and no HD-Coatings

The last lens I bought, last october, was an Samyang 1.4/85mm! I am not intend to pay US$ 1000 or more for an 20 year secondhand Pentax 1.4/85 only why Pentax is not able to supply us with new stuff. Every new Pentax Lens Road-Map has delays for new glas on it. I had hoped that the third-party lens manufactures will jump in this market but it not the case :-(

So the most dislike part of my K-1 is not the body from Pentax, but the lack of new glass on the market :-(

Gérard

[Adam]

Sigma cites insufficient demand as the main reason. Costs to reverse-engineer the mount may be part of the problem.

In the case of Tamron, since Pentax receives some of their designs directly, perhaps they have alternate arrangements in place.

[clackers]

Not enough customers, Gerard.

There are not even enough customers for Pentax to build lots of lenses.

Similar situation to Fuji, Leica, Hasselblad, Olympus, Panasonic, even Sony in many situations - your Sigma 17-70 is not available for any of them.

Third party support isn't there for niche makers, and you bought a niche brand, not from the herd like Canon and Nikon.

[disconnekt]

With Sigma, it's mainly due to not enough people buying them (partly due to most users seem to be complaisant with using 20+ year old designs*). With Tamron, they've been co-designing lenses (the 15-30, 24-70, & "apparently" the upcoming 50 1.4).

*and not just with Sigma

[robjmitchell]

The demand for sigma art series outstrips supply, so it makes no sense for them to make a pentax version that sits on shelves. Once their demand slows down then it makes sense for them to make lenses for less common mounts. The fact we are seeing low volume lenses like the 70macro and 105/1.4 and a full set of lenses for E mount, means Sigma has nearly saturated their market in Nikon and canon mounts. When they think its the best way to make more profit they will make lenses in K-Mount.

[gylfimag]

The problem for Pentax (Ricoh) is that while 3rd party lenses compete with Pentax lenses they complement the Pentax camera bodies. Since Pentax has such a small marketshare at the moment and really needs to grow it for the brand to be sustainable in the long-term it seems obvious that their only viable strategy is to aggressively try to attract 3rd party lens producers to the Pentax K camp. Sigma, Tamron, Tokina etc. should not have to reverse engineer or license anything, it might even make sense for Ricoh to subsidise their K mount offerings. This might cost a bit in the short run, with fewer sales of lenses (that undoubtedly have a much higher markup than the camera bodies) but might make the bodies more attractive to buyers, giving the K mount a chance to reach a marketshare that allows for sufficient scale economics in the future. Otherwise it will be almost impossible to compete, with little hope of matching the big boys in R&D and without their economies of scale in production, distribution and marketing. That could at best leave Pentax as a niche brand.

[clackers]

& "apparently" the upcoming 50 1.4).

What is your source for this?

Kenspo says it is a Pentax design.

[alpheios]

What is your source for this?

Kenspo says it is a Pentax design.

He‘s probably talking about the new Tokina (not Tamron) Opera 50mm F1.4 which seems very similar in specs and time of market release so that people speculated it might be the same design. Even if it is it’s probably a cooperation in development between Pentax and Tokina and not a rebadge as some Pentax haters have already stated elsewhere.

[Rondec]

Sigma has made different comments over time about the reason, but I think it basically comes down to sales. Pentax has a small enough share of the market that the number of third party lenses sold in K mount is pretty small. Tokina in the past has said that if Pentax got over 5 percent of the global market that they would consider releasing lenses in k mount.

[CarlJF]

Someone from Sigma explained, a few years ago, that they need to sell a given amount of lenses in a given amount of time to make it profitable to build a specific lens. Outside of best sellers, K-mount didn't met these targets at the time and still isn't today. Thus, Sigma doesn't make the lenses. Because they would have to sell them at a much higher price to compensate for the smaller production volume, leading to even poorer sale, or they would have to sit on a large inventory and loose money on the products... I guess the situation is about the same for other manufacturers.

The good news is that KAF4 could make it easier to get lenses in K-mount. On paper, KAF4 doesn't need a dedicated production line (outside of the mount, the lens is identical to a Canon or Nikon lens). So, it might become interesting for thid-parties to produce lenses in KAF4 mount that wouldn't make sense in KAF3 or KAF2. But I would not hold my breath for this.

[disconnekt]

He‘s probably talking about the new Tokina (not Tamron) Opera 50mm F1.4 which seems very similar in specs and time of market release so that people speculated it might be the same design. Even if it is it’s probably a cooperation in development between Pentax and Tokina and not a rebadge as some Pentax haters have already stated elsewhere.

Yeah, meant Tokina not Tamron (always get confused between the two haha). Read about it on pentaxrumors site (HD Pentax D FA ? 50mm f/1.4 SDM AW lens = Tokina Opera 50mm f/1.4 FF lens? | Pentax Rumors).

[mikesbike]

Tokina used to make lenses for Pentax AF. But that was during the screw-driven only days, and before parent company THK bought Pentax to strip them of their medical optics, then selling off their camera/lens business, breaking up the company. Before this happened, Pentax was very much in the running, and not so niche. But they were never as big as Canikon. Pentax, however, was always innovative, and still is. They have always offered a lot of camera for the money.

I recently bought a Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC and I am delighted with it! Fast, accurate, quiet AF, fairly compact, well-built, and a very sharp, fast lens at a very reasonable price!

[clackers]

Yeah, meant Tokina not Tamron (always get confused between the two haha). Read about it on pentaxrumors site (HD Pentax D FA ? 50mm f/1.4 SDM AW lens = Tokina Opera 50mm f/1.4 FF lens? | Pentax Rumors).

Thank you, Disconnekt, like an air crash investigator, I'm interested forensically where false Internet rumours begin (and you'll agree they didn't even mention Tamron).

[guinnessman]

The problem I see with Pentax in regards to 3rd party lenses, is that they have nothing to compete with some of them, like the 150-600 or 100-400, if they do, they're expensive, albeit nice, like the 70-200, or they rebadge a Tamron or two, possibly the new Tokina 50/1.4, and potentially charge more.

I personally don't care about the Limiteds, as I prefer zooms/don't have FF, but the Pentax market does feel like it's shifting/drying up since I bought my K100D. During that time, Sigma and Tamron had made lenses, like the 10-20, 17-50, 70-200, 50-500, and most are no longer being produced/updates. That leaves nice, but more expensive Pentax choices, but they don't offer as many focal lengths. However, if Sigma/Tamron did sell the 150-600 in K mount, I would likely never consider the 150-450, so I can see why Pentax wouldn't want the competition either.

I get where Sigma and Tamron are coming from, it wouldn't make sense to sell lenses in a mount, and lose money, but at the same time, Pentax needs to do things that will attract new customers, as they're primarily just selling to the same people already invested in the K mount.

[clackers]

The problem I see with Pentax in regards to 3rd party lenses, is that they have nothing to compete with some of them, like the 150-600 or 100-400, if they do, they're expensive, albeit nice, like the 70-200, or they rebadge a Tamron or two, possibly the new Tokina 50/1.4, and potentially charge more.

I personally don't care about the Limiteds, as I prefer zooms/don't have FF, but the Pentax market does feel like it's shifting/drying up since I bought my K100D. During that time, Sigma and Tamron had made lenses, like the 10-20, 17-50, 70-200, 50-500, and most are no longer being produced/updates. That leaves nice, but more expensive Pentax choices, but they don't offer as many focal lengths. However, if Sigma/Tamron did sell the 150-600 in K mount, I would likely never consider the 150-450, so I can see why Pentax wouldn't want the competition either.

I get where Sigma and Tamron are coming from, it wouldn't make sense to sell lenses in a mount, and lose money, but at the same time, Pentax needs to do things that will attract new customers, as they're primarily just selling to the same people already invested in the K mount.

Camera companies see third party lens offerings as rivals, not partners in an ecosystem.

They are useful to us consumers, not to the OEM.

Sony and Pentax want Tamron to make lenses for them, not bring their own to market.

I am not aware of Canon or Nikon ever licensing their protocols to Sigma, Cosina or whatever. Those lenses are reverse engineered, AFAIK.