Pentax FF DSLR - confirmed

I think are a lot of us are quite excited about this judging by the thread so far. I for one would be eager to see what improvements in IQ would be on offer, especially for landscapes and also I would jump at the chance to use my older manual focus lenses on a FF body. Most of my lenses are FF, so lack of compatibility wouldn't worry me in the slightest.

Regards
David

Yeah I thought I had better predict doom and gloom just to balance things out. Too much positivity and I might even become a likeable human being. That would never do.

I don't think legacy glass will o crease in value for ff if they get the lens lineup right at launch 24-70 2.8 70-200 2.8 for a start. There hasn't been that much of an increase in 645 glass has there

I'm very new to Pentax, just started out with the brand in March, but I understand that there are some older autofocus lenses known as 'FA', made for the more recent Film SLRs, and I believe some are very good optically.

It would seem realistic to expect Pentax to release new versions of a few of these 'FA's, optimised for digital with the new coatings and updated high speed focussing motors etc etc.

And surely any maker needs to have a new SLR available ready to shoot in kit form, with a lens already on it! (even so called Pro FF models?)

Also, it looks like weather sealing and general outdoors toughness is becoming a bit of a Pentax marketing 'thing', so the WR is likely to feature also. It will be this feature plus a general value for money advantage that will make a new FF Pentax stand out from the competition.

Not everyone is going to be able to spend £2k on glass. I'm not suggesting that every lens will increase, but some of the better glass may be worth more.

Well lets not get too excited. The proposed launch date is more than a year away. By 2014 Sony will have an interchangeable lens version of the RX1 with a decent EVF. That's a digital MX if ever I saw one.
Pentax will need to come up with something special and at a special price to make any impact in what will be a very crowded sector by then. Un crippling the lens mount would be a huge step in their favour. All that legacy glass with rapid manual focus and aperature selection.....

There's never a need to jump ship. Just buy a FF body and glass to complement existing Pentax kit. People who threaten to jump very rarely do. It's more frustration. There's a good range of FF bodies available with good glass, fast AF etc. already out there.

If the reason not to buy an alternative FF body is brand or cost then it’s a waiting game. Sort of cutting your nose off to spite your face approach? That may indicate that the name on the kit has priority over the photography itself.

I only bought a FF body, lenses; TC’s and flashes because I like carrying heavier kit all day. I couldn’t really think of any other reasons.

As Alan says, the price of Ltd's may be going up. I genuinely think that most Pentax prices should be class priced. K5 II should be 2K plus for the body only. It's Pentax's top DSLR so should be up alongside the top Nikons and Canon's. Just because it’s performance differs in some area’s is irrelevant. If performance did matter, there would be more of us using FF Canon and Nikon bodies.

Let’s not be cheapskates here. We say that Pentax IQ is second to none so let’s back that up with total support for the company and welcome hierarchy pricing. If the 645D was priced at Hasselblad levels would it sell and if not why not? Why shouldn’t a K5 II be 2K plus?

Best regards

Well I think it's great Pentax are finally going to release a FF DSLR. Cabstar, is just the sort of person I would predict would buy one too

I admit I'd like one to stick my A50/1.2 on it as the feild of view would be great ( I've always wished it was an A30/1.2

But I won't be buying one for while. Too many lenses with a smaller image circle for starters. I also like to have two identical DSLRs for shoots, so I'd have to buy two and I won't be able to afford it.

If it sells as it sells now, why do you think increasing in price would make people more likely to buy it.
Doesn't matter if it is Pentax top model, it has to comparable with competitors and still competitive on the market- on technical level and price level. Could ask a question, why Nikon/Canon doesn't price their top APS-C at 2k level.
Currently Pentax doesn't offer anything (in comparison to other brands) that would back pricing K5II at such high price tag.

If they re-release these lens designs they are really going to have to update the build as well as coatings/motors etc. Many of the FA series lenses have a cheap plasticky build which doesn't inspire confidence and really just won't cut it in today's market.

Because then I wouldn't be able to aford one. Simple, really.

I'm in the fortunate position of not knowing or caring what all the fuss is about. If you needed FF and whatever etc etc there must be a camera out there that suits. So buy it and stop whinging, or wetting yourself because Pentax is talking about making one

I hope they put up the maximum FLASH synch speed to at least 1/250th second ! They did it once -- why not again ?

Really? Half a stop makes that much of a difference for studio and dumb flash??

I can already sync up to 1/4000s with HSS flash of the AF360 & AF540

Maybe they will though as it's a function of the two shutter curtains and their speed of travel... but then maybe it's harder as the shutter curtains have further to travel for FF.

Matt