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Third party lenses

pete
Posted 18/05/2020 - 15:08 Link
Sorry if this has already been covered. I have noticed that there is a lack of third party Pentax K fit lenses available. Sigma and Tamron seem to be thin on the ground. Is there any particular reason for this that I have missed?
prsjnb
Posted 18/05/2020 - 15:34 Link
Two possibilities come to mind:

1, Insufficient potential market size to justify tooling costs .

2, Licensing restrictions imposed by Ricoh-Pentax

Of course, a combination of the above is also a possibility.

Paradoxically, the first of these does seem not preclude Ricoh-Pentax using other lens manufacturers (including Tamron and Tokina, I believe) as OEMs for their own custom designs or KAF-mount derivatives.

On the positive side, we Pentaxians fortunate in that essentially all lenses ever manufactured in the M42 - or various K-mount iterations remain useable, albeit with varying degrees of limitation, on any Pentax DSLR.

Now retiring to the bunker to weather the storm of corrections likely to follow

Jon
Mike-P
Posted 18/05/2020 - 15:36 Link
Basically Tamron and Sigma can make a lot more profit producing their lenses in the other mounts due to a higher user base.
johnriley
Posted 18/05/2020 - 16:04 Link
I was under the impression that the K mount was more expensive to manufacture because of the mechanical linkages. I suppose as we move to KAF4 this might no longer be an issue.

Other independent manufacturers such as Irix and Laowa and others always seem to include a K mount option. Some of these lenses are superb. Some are also very innovative, so it's worth checking out.
Best regards, John
Nigelk
Posted 18/05/2020 - 17:13 Link
I'll add Samyang to John's list, as they also make some good lenses in K mount but, it is true to say there are not many Sigma or Tamron lenses made in K mount any more.
pete
Posted 18/05/2020 - 17:48 Link
I guess its second hand or new irix then. just looked at their 150mm macro and its impressive. It is a macro lens i'm looking for specifically.
Mike-P
Posted 18/05/2020 - 18:22 Link
johnriley wrote:
I was under the impression that the K mount was more expensive to manufacture because of the mechanical linkages. I suppose as we move to KAF4 this might no longer be an issue.

Other independent manufacturers such as Irix and Laowa and others always seem to include a K mount option. Some of these lenses are superb. Some are also very innovative, so it's worth checking out.

Quote:
Independent lens manufacturer Sigma has announced that it will no longer offer lenses for Pentax K-mount cameras. The announcement was made on the Facebook page of Sigma Czech Republic, stating that because of dwindling numbers of Pentax users and company has decided to stop producing Pentax mount lenses.

KAF4 lenses were first introduced around 2016, Sigma were still producing lenses for Pentax in a very limited range which were mainly KAF4 compatible until they announced they were withdrawing from the brand. Unless Pentax start selling significantly more bodies then third party lenses will always be very sparse. I would guess Irix, Laowa and Samsung are happy to do so as none of their lenses are autofocus so cost is minimal (which is great for us as they do make some fantastic products)

pete wrote:
I guess its second hand or new irix then. just looked at their 150mm macro and its impressive. It is a macro lens i'm looking for specifically.

I think even if the others still made lenses I would still go for the Irix ... it looks excellent and there is a thread all about it on Pentaxforums. Remember it's manual focus only though.
Nigelk
Posted 18/05/2020 - 19:27 Link
Don't forget the Pentax 100mm Macro. People say good things about it and I think it is cheaper than the Irix especially if you time your purchase
Edited by Nigelk: 18/05/2020 - 19:29
Lubbyman
Posted 18/05/2020 - 21:42 Link
Mike-P wrote:
pete wrote:
I guess its second hand or new irix then. just looked at their 150mm macro and its impressive. It is a macro lens i'm looking for specifically.

I think even if the others still made lenses I would still go for the Irix ... it looks excellent and there is a thread all about it on Pentaxforums. Remember it's manual focus only though.

There's a thread all about the Irix 150mm macro on this forum, too - see here. When I got the lens, I wasn't sure how much use it would get compared with my old Sigma 105 macro. Suffice to say that it's now my defaut macro, the Sigma is now used only if there's a good reason (e.g. size or weight). I can't speak for the Pentax 100mm as I don't have it.

Steve
davidwozhere
Posted 19/05/2020 - 00:57 Link
I have always had excellent results from the Pentax M and A series 100mm macro The FA and F versions are equally good if you are desperate for AF. There is simply no need to buy expensive new ones. If you drop back slightly to 90mm you can have the universally acclaimed Tamron offering for £100 - 150.
Both the *istDS and the K5 are incurably addicted to old glass

My page on Photocrowd
Lubbyman
Posted 19/05/2020 - 09:47 Link
davidwozhere wrote:
There is simply no need to buy expensive new ones.

Altruism - people who buy new lenses today are ensuring that there's stock for the used market of tomorrow . And some people just like shiny new things .

But for a macro I'd tend to agree with you, a well cared for used lens shouldn't be a problem and will save £££.

Steve
Jonathan-Mac
Posted 19/05/2020 - 10:27 Link
Tamron and Sigma (and Tokina) have all but abandoned the less common older SLR mounts as they adopt the more common, and therefore more profitable, mirrorless mounts. The major third party lens makers only really support EF and F mounts for SLRs, and even then produce very few new models, the rest being the various mirrorless mounts. The companies go where the money is.

Pentax make most lenses that most people would want to use on their cameras, though they're not cheap and new releases are few and far between.

For me, the draw to Pentax remains their design philosophy regarding both cameras and lenses - keep things small, high quality and designed for real photographers who know what they're doing and what's really important, instead of adding gimmicks and specification numbers that no-one really needs.
Pentax hybrid user - Digital K3, film 645 and 35mm SLR and Pentax (&other) lenses adapted to Fuji X and Panasonic L digital
Fan of DA limited and old manual lenses

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