Originally posted by UserAccessDenied I don't understand the purpose of a new lens mount...
Could someone explain?
Is there a benefit from changing the mount that the current K-mount isn't capable of producing?
Originally posted by urssu To exist, as a company, you can' t count on the same customers to keep buying your stuff. For that, you need to come with something new, to attract new customers (Pentax' s case, getting to current age is a challenge) .
Let people request what they want, and see what there will actually be implemented (if, ever) .
Maybe there is a limitation on the K- mount as far as new lenses design goes. Maybe, the limitation is purely finance income for the company (which can be put into more RnD) . Business...
If you're building a mirrorless camera, there's no need for a mirror box, so the camera body can be considerably slimmer, with a correspondingly smaller distance from the sensor to the mount. New native lenses would have to be developed for that smaller flange focal distance, and it makes sense to put those on a different mount to avoid confusion with K-mount lenses designed for a much larger registration distance. That confusion existed (and still exists) for people using M39-mount lenses, some of which are designed for rangefinder cameras and others for early Zenit SLRs.
If Ricoh produced a mirrorless camera with a short registration distance and new mount, it would make sense that they also produce an AF-capable K-mount adapter, so that K-mount glass can be used on the new camera. That has two benefits - it allows owners to make use of their existing lenses, and fills in the gaps in the new lens line-up until a full range is developed. Sony did this with their LA-EA3 and LA-EA4 adapters, allowing Minolta AF / Sony A-mount glass to be used on E-mount cameras. Nikon also has such an adapter planned for its forthcoming mirrorless model.
It makes little sense in the current market to produce a mirrorless model with the same registration distance as existing K-mount cameras. In doing so, you lose some of the size and weight advantage of the more compact body (if native lenses are used), and prevent people from adapting a whole range of legacy glass - which is quite a popular use-case for mirrorless cameras, and responsible for a certain number of sales (it's why I bought my A7 MkII
).