Pentax FF Dead, Maybe

It definitely would be worth it for DSLRs - at least for folks not wanting to carry unnecessarilly large cameras around. And if Pentax want to keep alive the posibility of a FF camera there would be no need to stop K lens production nor even to produce a whole new lens line - just complimenting the K range with a compact mid-zoom and a couple of optimised wide angles taking advantage of the smaller registration distance for smaller/cheaper/simpler/hopefully-better construction would do very nicely.

Pentax have been pretty committed to APSC for many years now - it really is time they produced a camera actually optimised for that format.

How much thinner could the camera be though? Still needs a mirror box. By far the thickest part of my K30 is the grip. And I like that deep grip. The thickness of the body/lens mount seems pretty inconsequential.

Technically, it is a mount that has been able to develop into the electronic era without major issues. It retains backwards compatibility that is impressive and has a nice wide throat which aids lens design options. By comparison, the Nikon F mount is quite primitive.

Absolutely, and the backwards compatibility was an important factor for me. However, it reduces an important revenue stream for Pentax and, for average punters in shops without a lot of legacy lenses, there is a wider and more accessible selection of modern lenses in other mounts, even though K may have technical advantages.

I agree that keeping the K mount if they make a FF SLR makes a lot of sense, but I don't think entering that market makes a lot of sense.....

Cheers,

Jon

I just wish we knew whether a FF camera will come out or not....I've been putting off buying a K5iis for ages in the perhaps vain hope that there's something with a bigger sensor in the pipeline.

Eventually I'll probably just give up and migrate to another system, with all the hassle (22 lenses and 2 cameras to sell) that switching brands entails.

I'll watch the classified for some bargain then

but junking the K mount doesn't suddenly magic into existance a huge lineup of modern lenses. Quite the opposite in fact as Pentax will have to re-engineer an entire lens lineup which is no small undertaking.

You also, at least temporarily, lose access to the Sigma and Tamron lens lineups while those companies make up their minds whether or not the new Pentax mount is popular enough to be worth their time and effort

Access to a massive catalogue of older lenses is one of the major selling points of the Pentax system and always has been. I would be very surprised if Pentax don't make more money from additional body sales and people trading up to modern versions of older lenses than they loose by, for example, the odd person buying an FA 80-320 second hand rather than a DA 55-300 new.

All this when the K mount is already an electronic capable mount supporting both screw and lens motor driven auto focus and power zoom if you want it?

A new mount for mirrorless makes some sense, particularly if it was adaptor compatible to the K, but a new mount for APS-C DSLRs would kill Pentax off once and for all.

We're saying the same thing. I'm arguing for a mirrorless FF camera with a new mount (and adapter for K lenses) but there is no sense in changing the mount for dSLR bodies, APSC or FF.

What would you like this new mount to offer that the K mount doesn't have? Should they force the angle of light to be too close to the sensor and I could foresee all sorts of aberrations being introduced.

John K

my appologies, I thought it was you arguing for a new mount in APS-c earlier in the thread, that'll teach me for not checking back before responding!

I do agree that in a mirrorless that makes a lot of sense, there's certainly a minimum registration distance possible in a FF camera due to angles of incidence, but the registration distance on the Leica M mount is 24mm compared to the K mounts 45.46, so you could certainly make it thinner.

No point in having a new mount, even for a compact FF mirrorless.

There's plenty of new lenses Pentax could release if they want to sell more lenses. People are always moaning at the lack of lenses compared to Canon and Nikon. Just keep them all K mount and those new lenses can be used on a wide range of cameras.

Introducing some new mount would not only introduce a messy product range it wouldn't be good financially for the company. If you're going to make new lenses make them so that they fit on as many different cameras as possible. Sell more that way.

Entering the FF market makes a whole lot of sense. Not only for actually selling FF cameras ( pentax/Sigma/etc already have a range of K mount FF lenses in existence ) which makes such a beast attractive, but if hyou can makes more inroads into the professional market, then this has a spin off of encouraging people to buy into the lower range models.

How many people buy Nikon or Canon compacts becuase they see pros using big canon/Nikon Cameras.

synergy effect

Makes absolutely no sense at all just to make the lens mount protusion 20mm thinner, when you consider the accompanying design, tool up, marketing expenses just to produce a line of lenses which can't be used on anything else.

If they're going to produce a FF compact that thin then they'll do it like the MX-1 or the Sony RX1 and have no mount and a fixed Zoom on it.

Otherwise make an FF version of the K-01 with a k-Mount

I can see me buying a Pentax FF compact or FF mirrorless camera more so then a Dslr, my K5 produces the goods for my needs and more for my Dslr side of my hobby.

But I have always liked the idea of the Sony RX1 but without that cost, now if Pentax could produce something along those lines but for half the cost, they may just get my money.

But I cannot see current Nikon/Canon users migrating to a Pentax FF Dslr, so the market they need to target is something like a fixed lens FF compact that they can use as a spare or second body without all the extra hassle of changing systems. And then it opens it up to a lot larger market., just like sony did.

It seems, suddenly it is possible to make even Compact FF cameras.
Quite a few posts ago, the majority of you assumed a FF K5 equivalent would need to be just about as big as to need a wheelbarrow to drag it around. So much for consistency.

There is no reason not to build a FF exactly the size of a K5. All it requires is a larger mirror and a larger focusing screen in front of a FF sensor. The Lens mount to sensor stays as before. Keep the K mount. Its great. Also Pentax could make a lot of new lenses to cover the FF after the lot of APS only lenses it has now..

You could still use any existing lenses, but of course the lure of the new FF lenses would be hard to resist.

Regards, Horst