New 50mm & 85mm lenses

It is now six months since these were announced on the new lens roadmap but has anyone heard anything since?

No...a deafening silence.

Doesn't bode well in my opinion.

How complicated or expensive can it be to bring a new 50mm to market? Given there must be a sizeable K-1 ownership by now, many of whom would be likely customers...not exactly high risk.

Just about every other OEM is bringing out product on a regular basis. If there's nothing announced at the trade fairs in september for pre Christmas retail then I suspect a lot of Pentax devotees will be getting more than a bit twitchy.

I share your concerns....but.... to bring a new lens to market for Pentax , when changes are clearly afoot in Ricoh in general, could be extremely complicated even if expense is not an issue. Consolidation of research/revelopment/production departments can all delay things.

High risk?....... I think bringing a new 50mm prime to market is extremely high risk Lets say they get it wrong either from a design or a production standpoint? If the new prime turns out to be a lemon it could be terminal for Pentax. they have to get this right.

September is the usual time for new releases so maybe something is just around the corner, and lets hope it is a success.

I have given up on Pentax bringing out new primes anytime soon, I guess they just don't have the resources nowadays.

Instead of waiting I am happily working with the DA lenses that are full frame compatible or close to it (DA35, DA35Ltd Macro, DA40 Ltd, DA50, DA*55, DA70Ltd, DA*200 and DA*300) as well as the existing FA Ltds and D-FA100macro. Recently added four second hand FA prime lenses and two A series manual focus wide angle primes to the other manual lenses which I acquired since buying an MX back in the 1970s. I know these are not made for a digital FF camera, but they are fine for my purposes.

Its a different story with zoom lenses, Pentax have the range covered from 15 to 450 with quality glass.

For sure. Will I buy the new 50mm lens...probably....do I need it ...certainly not

mad world this photography lark.... reminds of the fabled misspelt sign at a French hotel reception desk...."Values must be deposited here for safekeeping". We often do the same thing when entering a (real or virtual) photography store.

Talking of lenses you probably don't need Lomography is launching an oddity called the Neptune convertible lens system in K-mount, consisting of a mount with the mechanics in a single block and three prime glass fronts which they claim is all you need in your bag. With a common diameter you only need one set of filters so very compact, it will be interesting to see how it performs but all manual, no electric connections. Anyhow, back to the subject I live in hope that as with other recent launches the long wait will be justified.