Mirrorless...

Sigma don't make any Canon, Nikon, Sony or Pentax bodies. I guess they shouldn't bother making lenses for them by that logic.

because pentax already has lenses that could be modified to work...
Take Pentax designed lenses, add hoya glass, let Kenko make the mounts and adaptors and flood the 4/3 and vex mount systems with affordable lenses.... = make money. Take away lens profits from the competition.

Keep the Pentax brand for premium serious tools.

In the short term perhaps, but 'flooding the market' with 4/3 lenses would strengthen the position of the brands with 4/3 bodies.

Are C-mount too small for APSC? Saw a c-mount Pentax television camera lens advertised on ebay for use on a Sony NEX...

I don't think so...
Pentax made a push once to make the k mount an industry standard. Ricoh and others flooding the market with cheap k mount lenses did not push Pentax past Nikon and Canon...... in market share.

I think c mount would vinette on aps don't know for sure. Would certianly come up short on resolving power and look soft... that much for sure.

Ah, but Pentax had their own bodies for K-mount lenses.

I think you probably know that Sigma are an independent lens manufacturer and not a major camera manufacturing marque....

What is Kenko known for?
I'm just envisioning what the outcome might be if Mamma Hoya sits the kids, Pentax and Kenko down and tells them to play nicely together.....

I've always associated Kenko with filters?

and cheap conversion lenses, and teleconverters and macro tubes... which if you add pentax's c mount lens system to you get....pretty much what I said earlier...


oh yeah, Kenko can also make a cheap 500 mm mirror lens availble to Pentax, which if you add some quality hoya glass and pentax multi coatings and wr, might turn out to be a decent budget tele...

Who also make their own cameras, which sell in smaller volumes to the big two.

Also, just because a company starts off doing things a certain way, doesn't mean they will always do things that way. Closing your mind to certain possibilities because that's not how things have been done in the past is a hugely limiting mindset.

The Sigma cameras probably sell in very low numbers indeed, but that's hardly the point.

The rest I totally agree with. Open the mind to all possibilities, but there comes a point where a decision is made and that closes off the situation for that moment. It can always be revisited periodically.

Hmmm - mirrorless K mount is pointless because the distance the lens has to be mounted from the sensor is too great. Look at the adapters you have to use to make a K fit lens work on m43 and it becomes clear that you end up with little or no size advantage compared to a dSLR when you are using legacy SLR lenses. Legacy rangefinder lenses are a completely different matter, and the adapters for them are much smaller.

If Pentax go mirrorless, I wouldn't bank on them doing it with their existing series of lenses - you'd need an adapter the best part of an inch long to make them work.

I think you are looking at it from the wrong perspective.
The reason to go mirrorless is not about size, but cost. look at a "Super Program" with "Pancake 40mm" and compare that to the Samsung or Sony mirrorless... which is smaller?

Cost of the mechanical bits and optical bits that make up an slr is high compared to an evf.

our slrs, like many other types of cameras before them are dinosaurs. They are going to go extinct, relegated to a few enthusiasts.

The future is going to be about getting excellent photos and videos from imaging devices that are all electronic with as few moving parts as possible...

Just like digital overtook film, mirrorless will overtake slrs with mechanical shutters, mirrors and optical penta prisms. it isn't an "If" question... it is a "When"...

Pentax could release the first really pro mirrorless class camera if it wanted to.
I would rather that camera accepted my existing lens collection.
I want Pentax to make it a k-mount system.
They can make it small and ergonomic if they choose to.

there is no reason to confine ones thinking to attaching a lens to a box, look at sony's nex vg10..... Pentax has made video cams in the past..
put the k-5's guts in a k-mount with wr into something like this:


and go mirrorless...

Eek - too ugly to buy!! You don't need to convince me about mirrorless though.... I love my m43 kit and really wish Pentax would join the club with a higher spec and WR offering... I don't think I'm the only one either.

Cheers,

Jon

ugly or no, there is no law that says it has to look like a rectangular box with a lens sticking out from the widest flat area. If you need a longer flange distance you can look at more ergonomic shapes, video cameras have been doing it for years....

My sony hdr hc1 is much easier to hold still and shoot with than my k10's, or my sr12....


as an evil this is the one to beat :



yank that mic off, add a detachable evf and put pentax k mount on it.
photos and videos with my system lenses.
Pentax make, I buy.

remember slrs are designed to make looking through the optical finder easier...while holding the camera still for a fraction of a second....for both horizontal and vertical shots video cameras were designed to be held still longer than a minute.... try one you will see...