560mm f5.6 Price up a MASSIVE 60%

Price at Main Dealers up from £2999 to £4799 !

Nothing to do with currency fluctuations, that order of magnitude.

Good luck with that Ricoh.

It's linked to the upcoming BOGOF Offer!

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Pentax France certainly seem to have diminishing credibility at looking out for us, don't they?

When Ricoh said they were adopting a policy to stop selling their photocopiers round the world at a loss it was said to have no impact on their Pentax brand. Ha!

Mind you if size matters will we now have discounts on the pancake lenses?

Lol...it's not even sad, That's actually just funny. Lets send out a survey to ask people what they think about our company, in the meantime, lets get rid of the one solid argument FOR acquiring Pentax gear at all; attractively priced high IQ bodies and rationally priced quality glass. Given the amount of aspects Pentaxians need to compromise on in comparison to the competition, this is the most curious decision.

It's easy to assume that any price hike is unfair, but we have had low prices for some time now and the 560mm has been going down in price quite dramatically. Even at £4799 it is not as expensive as when first introduced.

I would suspect that a second batch has now been made and the cost has risen considerably as well as perhaps the sales falling. Those who were waiting for a 560mm will have bought it, so the initial flurry of sales will be over.

In the past, in a different field, I have come across many customers who felt that a price rise was ripping them off, but in fact the rise was inevitable for reasons of cost to the company or whatever. Perhaps support for an offer may have ended. There are many reasons. Companies do want to sell kit, so they will keep as competitive as they can. Pentax prices in general don't look out of step with the other major marques. How much do other makers' 500mm-ish lenses cost?

Until very recently the lens was being sold by main dealers for £2799...it was at this price for quite a few months and even dipped occasionally to £2699 on the Pentax 'Blink and you've Missed it' Specials.

It has always been a bit of an oddball this lens...commercially I can't for the life of me think what their marketing department were doing. A 400mm f5.6 prime would have been a much more desirable lens for most people, even better a 100-400mm.

Ricoh are in major financial difficulty, apparently early August when the Q1 results are out is going to be absolutely crucial for the future direction of the company. In the UK they've made lots of copier engineers redundant...my uncle has taken one on at his copier business. Their profit margins are extremely thin so I can understand the need for generating some extra margin but expecting the camera business which is a very small part of the overall company to 'ride to the rescue' is being overly optimistic.

If Ricoh had Nikon's global market share in photo gear it would be a big risk putting up prices so much...Nikon were the first of the big names to do this about 2 years ago and seem to have had some success in dragging overall industry prices on a gradual upward trend but in the case of Ricoh I feel they are trying to ratchet up the trend another notch...their market share is too small and it will probably cost them Pentax. Autumn trade shows will take on extra significance this year for the company.

Whether Ricoh themselves survive will probably take another 18-24 months to ascertain.

Is this what you want?
http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/products/lens/k/telephoto/hdpentax-dfa-15...
Would seem to more or less cover both those wishes. Available now!

It's a great lens...no doubt about it but is too expensive for amateur/enthusiast use.

Also I think it's better suited to wildlife than aviation which would comprise my main subject matter. The 'wide' end at 150mm is too long...ideally should be 80-100 at this end.

A quality 70-300 f4 with T/C would be a nice alternative as I rarely shoot aircraft at anything wider than
f5.6.

Huge market for these lenses as virtually everybody but Pentax has realised and Tamron and Sigma have demonstrated that they don't have to be uber expensive.

Why would they bring out a 400mm f/5.6 when we already have a 420mm f/5.6 (300mm f/4 + 1.4TC) Never heard such nonsense.

If you want I can send you 400mm of used toilet roll tubes that you can slip over a 300mm f/4 + 1.4TC and a black marker to write 400mm on the side

Stop moaning and bringing down Pentax for no good reason.

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How much did your camera cost and Isn't that for amateur/enthusiast use? Any f4 100-400mm lens is going to be big and heavy and the Pentax 150-450 is pretty close to that wish. It's no good saying it is too big and heavy and costs too much, its going to be! Tell me a 400mm f/4 lens that isn't big and heavy, let alone a zoom. If the issue's cost perhaps a Sigma 150-500 or similar might fit the bill, but still big and heavy.


I'm not clear whether you're wanting a FF or APS-C lens but would one of the 55-300's suit better? Really compact and light. And of course, there have been other older superzoom lenses such as the Pentax/Tamron 28-200/300 variants, often available on eBay circa £50-£100, designed FF too.
A 300mm f4 lens is always going to be pretty big and heavy, a zoom even more so.
Look around for older glass, there's so much choice or make do with the current offerings (agreed not cheap, but second hand perhaps?) FF wise Pentax can get you from 15mm to 450mm then a jump to 560mm, for APS-C from 12mm upwards, 8mm if you go for a Sigma or Samyang,.

A top quality zoom lens for aircraft shooting I would suggests is the Pentax 60-250mm. It would seem to more or less cover your preferences. Designed for FF, built for APS-C (!) but quite usable for FF regardless.

Alternatively, there's always Algi's offer of that cardboard tube! Or get one of these lenses for under £10. Complete with cookie holder!

My understanding is that the 560mm was designed as a surveillance lens, hence the telescope type design. Maybe it evolved for a specific requirement and it was decided to make the lens generally available. It happens to be good for wildlife as well in magnification and sharpness but is too unwieldy for me. Whilst I cannot afford it nor justify buying the lens if I could, I am just glad that Pentax have this in their current line-up. A conventional 600mm f4 or 5.6 would be nice with a shorter barrel.

A 600mm f4 would likely cost circa £10K if Canikon pricing is anything to go by. Pre-orders anyone?
Weight? 4-5Kg. Just pop it in the rucsac when you go hiking!!
(Personally I'd pass on one of those even if I could afford one.)
At least the Pentax 560 f5.6 is only 3Kg !

Algernon,

Using your argument about having no need for 400mm because the 300 + 1.4TC can cover begs the question why any one would manufacture a 300 f4 when they could just sell a 200 f2.8 + 1.4 T/C.
Anyway...the big names in the industry beg to differ and they have more paying customers than Pentax.

I'll pass on the toilet rolls if you don't mind i don't know where they've been

Constructive criticism...not moaning for no good reason...you should give it a try.

The 560mm was designed in response to users moaning that they needed one Nothing to do with surveillance. A telescope design was used purely to keep costs down.

SRS have a SH Sigma 300mm f/2.8 on ebay for about £2K

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John,

It was a 400mm F5.6 not f4 I was meandering around...and the 100-400 f5.6 zoom...pretty much staple fare these days for all sorts of uses. Once you've experienced the buzz from having 300mm on APS-C many users (myself and my son included) want the extra reach that a 400mm can give. 500mm is too big a jump in so many ways but 400mm is an attainable compromise for many people.

My son has the K-S2 with 18-135 and also one of the cheap but surprisingly good plastic 80-200 from Pentax and he's used my Tamron 70-300 Di LD which is great for the money but he's looking at moving to Canon...probably a EOS 70 OR 80D so he has access to some reasonably priced lenses longer than 300 and also better AF.

I'm not in quite the same rush...i'll probably buy a bit of time by going down the manual film lens route to get those longer lengths but am hoping that in a couple of years when I decide to change my K-50 Pentax might have something suitable from their then current lens line up. If not then reluctantly i'll probably jump ship as I'm unlikely to be able to afford to run two systems.

I have considered the 60-250, IQ looks very good on it and because of that it would crop quite nicely as the long end is too short...it would have to. Just not sure about the pedestrian AF performance and what it is like on manual focus on fast moving objects. Looked very good value on the recent 'Blink and they've Gone' offers but not sure at its new price.

Anyway...lets see what unfolds over the next few months...we live in very interesting times.