Discontinued Pentax Items

Hi,

We have the following items in stock which Pentax have said are to be discontinued:

Pentax 77m f1.8 Limited Lens 27970 - £505
Pentax DA 14mm f2.8 ED Lens 21510 - £520
Pentax Photo Lupe 5.5X 60051 - £70
Pentax Strap O-ST53 39323 - £15
Pentax Tripod Adapter TP-3 69554 - £23
Pentax Leather Case LC-A1 (Free P&P) - £9 (£8 to members)

Thanks

Dan

Why, why, why, are Pentax discontinuing one of their best ever lenses, the 77mm Limited ? ? ?

I can (sort of) see the logic in stopping production of the 77 Limited as Pentax believes the 70 Limited is a direct replacement (many may disagree but I think that's Pentax's thinking), however, I'm suprised at the DA14 being put out to pasture - it's a relatively new lens and has no direct replacement, unless there's another new lens announcement in the wind..?

If they're discontinued they must therefore be worthless junk... I give you a tenner for the 77mm.

Dan

Good try, Dan, but I suspect the lens will increase in value once it's discontinued. Currently they are only famous; soon they will be legendary.

I'm certainly not selling mine.

G

If you look at the roadmap
http://www.digital.pentax.co.jp/en/lens/roadmap.pdf
you will see there is a 15mm DA Limited projected. I suspect that not many 14mm 2.8s have been sold since the 12-24 was launched...

The performance of the DA14mm is quite poor compared to the 12-24 and I'm hoping the 15 Ltd will be a big improvement.

I haven't looked at the roadmap recently but now I've noticed the '645' lens has been dropped.

If Pentax bring out a 'full-frame' camera there will be no need for the 645. It is far too specialised and needs its own lenses. 35mm digital seems to be the new medium format for quality and resolution. It would make more sense to have camera which is at least partially compatible with existing lenses.

Even then I wouldn't rush to get one. I'm very happy with a 1.5 crop.

Still a shame to see the 645 go though.

If Pentax bring out a camera with a 24x36 sensor, they'll also need a new range of lenses, as the DAs won't work.

Personally, I think it is more likely that they will resuscitate the 645 than that they will go 24x36. The difference between 35mm and APS just isn't worth the hassle.

G

Perhaps... Digital medium format cameras are in quite a different league even to the EOS1DMKIII.

There is some suggestion that some of the DA* lenses will cover a 35mm frame.

BTW was the 645D actually going to be 6x45 or a 1.5x crop of 645?

I hadn't noticed that before - now that I would be interested in!