While we are still waiting Sony to release a new Full Frame A-mount camera we got some news from the competition. Pentax will launch a new FF DSLR with Sony sensor in Spring 2016. They just published a special site about the camera here: www.pentax.com/en/pentaxff/.
It’s unclear yet which Sony FF sensor it will use (36 or 42 MP). But it’s pretty certain Pentax will have a High Resolution modes wich uses the on sensor stabilization shifting mode to create a high-resolution image out of multiple shots. Something Sony may could add on current A7rII, A7II and A7sII cameras via firmware upgrade?
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Link found via Digicameinfo
131 Responses
Since Sony abandoned the DSLR market (I’m sorry, but ‘A-mount is dead’) I can’t see Pentax as ‘competition’. Actually, no one sees them as a competition anymore…..
That fullframe camera, even if it’s THE BEST FULLFRAME CAMERA EVER, won’t get much of a market share. It seems a case of ‘too little, too late’.
I’ll read reviews carefully when this comes out. Surely Ricoh guys aren’t dumber than us and must have some kind of business plan in mind. There might be some unique features we don’t know about yet (although high resolution is definitely not one of them – 36Mp is plenty already).
Their business plan is survival as a niche player. But with the revival of FF they will have to spread their already limited R&D resources even thinner. One has to wonder if that money would have been better spent developing their medium format line, which actually is a competitive and unique product in it’s niche.
What niche? Sony is a niche player with FF mirrorless, Pentax is with MF 645, but this new body will be in direct competition with Canikon.
The niche market in this case would be existing Pentax customers. That is the market this product is aimed at. I doubt they plan to attract many new customers or switchers. In-body stabilization, sensor shift resolution increase and build quality will not be enough for anyone else to consider this over say D810 and much broader lens/flash system and third party accessory support.
As a long time Pentax user this fiasco of announcements and delays, not just the FF body but the 2.8/70-200 has me really considering the options and debating whether Pentax, specifically the K-mount, is worth the risk. That “teaser” site also doesn’t fill me with confidence.
Pentax make a lovely camera, but their market share is so abysmally small I have to consider the distinct possibility that the K-mount may not be around much longer. Also, their present full frame lenses are dated and generally suffer from purple fringing and LoCA.
I have the Samyang 14/2.8, FA31/43/77 Limited’s, K 50/1.2, 100/2.8 WR Macro for the full frame as well as some APS-C UWA’s (Pentax 15/2 and Sigma 8-16). Really I’m starting from scratch with the FF as I’d like zooms 14-24, 24-70 and 70-200mm all constant f/2.8 . .. like Nikon’s trinity.
If the FF gets delayed again in the Spring, it’ll be curtains.
I had mentioned the not-so-great AF module on the Pentax cameras as being the system’s weakness but I completely forgot that their flash system is also very criticised among professionals.
*EDIT* – I’m getting too old and forgetting what/where/when I do something! Hahahahah!
Where “I had mentioned the not-so-great AF module” wasn’t here at SAR. Instead, I made that comment on DPReview!
😛
As a former Pentax owner (technically still am, haven’t sold off my K-5 due to lack of long Sony lenses) – ohgod P-TTL was AWFUL.
The only place I can see this surviving is if they price it somewhere close to the A7II. Pentax has tended to be the “value for the money” brand – eventually it became impossible to keep doing this in APS-C, but they’re regarded as having a solid and excellent affordable MF camera.
The only place I can see is if they have a strategy for this similar to their 645Z strategy, but I can’t see any place they could position this competitively within the spectrum of the A7 family and the 5D/6D family.
Need to consider a D810 is only around £1500 now. Also, because people will be buying the new full frame zooms it makes the case for going Nikon F-mount, as it’s almost starting from scratch bar a few old film era primes.
£1500 if you are happy to buy it from China?!
It’s £2350 from every reputable shop…
I have no doubt that it’ll be a great camera, will get great reviews and even a Gold Award from DPReview.
But I also don’t see the camera as being able to get, let’s say, at least 10% of marketshare (which would be HUGE) for fullframe cameras. It’ll be as low as ever, because the camera will most likely appeal only to current Pentax users.
(which COULD be my case, since I do own a couple of Pentax cameras. If that camera was released two-three years ago, I’d instantly jump to get it. Today… I’d rather go mirrorless specially for their smaller body)
Neo, I completely agree. This camera is to little and WAY to late. Pentax should have had something like this on the market 6 years ago. But in todays market with sooooo many good FF DSLR’s on the market AND with Sony showing how popular FF Mirrorless cameras are becoming it is ridiculous to bring out such an ‘also ran’ product like this. Unless it can somehow be priced waayyy lower then the competition (doubtful) AND outperform the solid FF DSLR lines from Canon and Nikon it will most likely be DOA. Granted, some Pentax diehards will be all over this, but the market has long since moved on.
What Pentax should have done is focus on a line of serious mirrorless cameras built along the lines of the old Pentax LX. Make a small, professional quality mirrorless with a strong line up of prime lenses (like Fuji has done) and sell the heck out of the old Pentax legacy. This would have been a smart investment in the future, not finally getting around to something that looks like a camera from 6 years ago and putting that camera in a market with soooooo many good competitors with established models and, more importantly, lenses.
Pentax had the time to scratch the K-01 fiasco and release a fullframe mirrorless while Sony was still undecided of what to do.
I think Sony abandoning the DSLR marketing did more harm than good do Pentax, actually. With one player less, Canikon only got stronger.
A fullframe DLSR now would make sense to:
1) Top professionals (photojournalists, sports photographers, etc). Which I don’t think this is where Pentax is aiming (they still have some flaws to address i.e. poor flash system and poor AF system);
2) Upgraders from APS-C. But, let’s face it, who besides Pentax users would buy a Pentax fullframe? If the person was already a Canikon user, that person will go to a Canikon ‘entry level’ fullframe.
Also there are those people who want a fullframe without the size and bulk from a DLSR and those only have Sony to choose from.
Again: I have no doubts it WILL BE a fantastic camera and get many praises (like the Samsung NX1 did). But having to face the ‘big boys’ will give Pentax a hard time….. again, just like Samsung (but unlike Samsung, I don’t see Pentax abandoning their users).
If everyone acted with logic in their buying decisions you would be mostly correct.
However that is not how all people act. Some do not want the mainstream products just because that are what everybode else have.
Look at fashion, cars or whatever. There is a market for products that are not necessesarily better just different. It is inside this alternative, niche market Pentax exist and are selling to. They can never compete with Canon and Nikon in the pro market and in the consumer DSLR market Pentax is the alternative offering. Sony no longer offering an optical view for their A-mount cameras hardly was bad for Pentax as now they are the only OVF alternative to Canon and Nikon.
Sure. Sometimes Pentax try too hard be different like with K-01 and K-S1 with blinking handgrip. But these models and the many colour combinations on offer for some cameras just goes to show which market most of their products are looking for.
There are a lot of Pentax users who are looking forward using their FF Pentax glass on a FF Pentax camera. So what difference is that compared to Canikon APS-C users upgrading to Canikon FF? Many stay within their system and a Pentax FF camera will surely have a very big market share within the Pentax community! I don’t think Ricoh expect a lot of converters from Canon and Nikon but are happy as long as they keep their own customers.
If the camera have good enough focusing aids for manual lenses that now for the first time can be used on a FF digital camera without stop down metering that will be very interesting for many as there are a lot old Pentax K lenses around.
For that reason alone I might even myself one day buy one. Just for fun of course as I have no intention changing system.
Thanks for your polite and reasonable answer!
I’d like to comment on three points:
1 – I would GUESS (and that’s it: a guess! If you have actual data to prove me wrong, do so, please! 🙂 ) that Sony’s share went back to Canikon, thus making Pentax seem even smaller;
2 – To be honest, I quite liked the visuals of the K-01 and the K-S1!! I understood their point and to where they were marketed at. When K-01 dropped to as low as 199~299 even I felt tempted to buy one (I was considering a mirrorless by that time — then I bought the Nex 6). What made me NOT buy the K-01 were the reviews, specially about handling…. you see, THIS (handling) is THE point where Pentax has always shone the most and then they failed on that. I would guess (I guess a lot hahaha) that IF the K-01 had the design of the K-S1 things would’ve gone better.
3 – Well, there’s nothing wrong with Pentax/Ricoh wanting to address mostly their current users. I mean, if Leica can play a part on a (very) small niche, why can’t PentaCoh? Only thing I’m afraid is that they may have the same fate as Kodak. That would be a sad thing.
More options is always good isn’t it ?
It is, indeed. This is why sometimes I worry about Pentax future and feel sad that Samsung is abandoning the market and felt sad about Kodak.
“But it’s pretty certain Pentax will have a High Resolution modes wich uses the on sensor stabilization shifting mode to create a high-resolution image out of multiple shots. Something Sony may could add on current A7rII, A7II and A7sII cameras via firmware upgrade?”
Not a chance that Sony would add that in firmware. The a7R II image data pipeline is already a bit sluggish in its ability to handle the 42mp images that the camera produces.
Pentax must have a feature that the other DSLR’s don’t, otherwise it’s just a very late to market D800/D810 clone. Pentax loyalists will love this camera, others will just find it interesting but not something to consider buying. I wish them luck.
I’m a former Pentax loyalist – too little, too late.
It looks REALLY bulky compared to FF cameras from Canikon despite similar flange focal distance… It looks more like Pentax scaled down the 645Z to produce a “baby MF” than trying to provide an upgrade path from APS-C.
In camera stabilisation will be one.
If you can shoot about 10 frames in uncompressed raw before the buffer is full on the a7r2 there should be no problem to take 4 pictures for a super-resolution picture. Although I think the hardware is capable I do not think it will be a camera core feature soon. May be it wil be implemented via an app.
Given that Olympus had to implement an 8 shot hi-res mode due to Pentax patents, I think that it’s highly unlikely that Sony will be able to add anything similar. Best case scenario… burst mode and a Photoacute type processing.
Pentax Take my former A-mount camera money!
Let us know how the A-Mount glass works out for you.
It works fine on my Minolta Maxxum 9, 9xi, 7, 800si, 7000, 7000i, 7D , Sony A100,
A700, A550, A77 and A77m2 that I own! e-mount sucks though!
I meant the Pentax you’re going to spend the A-Mount camera money on.
You’re not making sense, all those lenses will be useless on this new Pentax. Just being sarcastic I presume.
Pacepalm
Still rockin the a100 huh. Nice.
Still use mine occasionally and lend it out to friends and relatives when they want something better than a phone or point and shoot. Functions like new and still captures a great image with that CCD color rendering. Perfect for fall color images.
The color on those old CCD sensors was quite nice.
Yep they still work pretty good I like my Maxxum 7D more though!
Hmph! Not as ugly as the original mockup.
That’s what people thought of the Leica SL before this… http://www.camera-rumors.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Leica-SL-images3.jpg
Aesthetics is a personal thing. I like the look of the SL myself.
It looks Huge !!!
True, but there is something like overall ugliness as well as beauty.
The Leica is…acceptable, at certain angles.
Why Sony did not enable A7SII to have shift sensor?
Because it’s a gimmick.
Word
In marketing language, a gimmick is a unique or quirky special feature that makes something “stand out” from its contemporaries. However, the special feature is typically thought to be of little relevance or use. Thus, a gimmick is a special feature for the sake of having a special feature.
Very concise. XD
Patents!
what lenses go on it?
Did they annouce yet if it’ll have an A mount?
Look at the ad, where Pentax explains all the formats they went through and in the end Pentax writes that they will come with a BRAND NEW FORMAT! Not sure what that means but a Sony FF sensor is certainly not a brand new format. Let’s wait and see.
FF sensor is a new format for Pentax.
But there are still lenses for Pentax FF out there. Don’t forget – in the good old film era everything was “FF”. In the digital era, this is the first FF body.
Better late than never! Hope there is no delays.
Don’t forget there is also 24 Mp. In my opinion 24 Mp is more likely than 42 Mp, if you consider the price point of the camera and the rest of the expensive features it also need to have on board.
Personally I think the 42 Mp speculation is delusion, but we’ll just wait and see.
I do not know much about the Pentax user base, I would have guessed that there are more portrait, still Life, landscape users than action, sports or event shooters. If it is the former group, than the 36 or 42 mp sensors would probably make more sense.
Agreed. The megapixel count of FF is only going to go up. Releasing a 24mp FF camera in the middle of 2016 doesn’t sound like a great idea to me. It will be seen (maybe incorrectly) as prehistoric the day it goes on sale. I’ve already seen people bad mouth Leica’s SL for that very reason.
Actually, I have to disagree. For press, action, sports and events I think 24mp is the sweep spot for camera and processing speed (and sensitivity). I’m hoping the a99 successor (whether it be a or r mount) maintains the resolution and puts speed and AF at the forefront.
I think you misunderstood me. I not saying 24mp or less isn’t good for certain things. However, I don’t think this camera is going to be bought for action or sports. Apart from anything else, Pentax has never had a focussing module that gets near the best of Nikon or Canon. This is going to be bought by enthusiasts, and a lot of that market wants, rightly or wrongly, high megapixels. At least that’s what Sony seems to think.
And you apparently don’t know anything about costs and pricing either.
When you try to make a cheap, yet feature rich spec. monster like the pentax full frame body, you have to compromise somewhere.
You can’t just choose from a free selection of any full frame sensor in the world. There is a cost associated to each of them, and if you want your camera body to remain 2000 dollars, it excludes the sensors you typically find in the other 3000 dollar cameras such as D810 and A7Rii.
Yes I am well aware that parts have a price. I do not know what the price point for this new camera will be…but then again neither do you. You pulled that 2k price out of your @ss.
You laid it pretty thick with nonsense talk about portraiture and landscape and other nonsense, as if pricing and costs could just be damned.
A Pentax representative at Photo Plus gave us an estimation of what to expect. Anywhere from 1900 to 2400.
Given this information, it would be ludicrous of you to still push the notion that they can afford any and every sensor in there.
I laid it on thick? It all depends upon what their target demographic of users consist of and their target price. I do not know what their demographic is but I suspect it is not the fast paced, action, sports or reportage photographers (which a mid red sensor benefits) or portrait, still life, landscape, enthusiasts, et al, (such users would prefer the higher res). Explain to me what is thick about that or do you simply fail to get that core concept?
The 20% pricing difference between 2k and 2400 could well pay for the 36 or 42 mp sensor. Sony sells the rx1r2 for $3295. This is a camera that must make a profit per sale since there will be no further lens sales to make up for selling the body at or near cost. The lens on it would sell for over $1k. Remove that from the equation and it would get the price to $2300.
Your whole point about the 24Mp sensor being for fast paced usage is a fallacy to begin with, because the A7 sensor isn’t any faster than the A7Rii sensor.
Target demographics isn’t just about the purpose of a camera/sensor, it’s also about what the target can afford. People who currently use Pentax APS-C cameras do so because they can’t afford the more expensive Nikon APS-C options etc. These same people can’t afford everything in the world. That should have been your primary consideration when you babbled about demographics.
So all your Sports usage, portraiture usage, reportage usage arguments are completely secondary, even tertiary.
Now to the pricing. First, go find out what the price of the A7Rii sensor is, then come back. Because your have absolutely no basis of determining how expensive that sensor is. To use your own words: You’re talking out of your rear if you believe Sony will give away their high-end premium sensor for cheap.
Secondly you forget costs such as the Pentaprism, the mirror, the separate PDAF sensor, the GPS, the screwdrive motor, all sort of things which you have to be able to fit into the budget as well which the A7Rii doesn’t have. This speaks volumes about how ignorant your comparison is.
I’ll tell you my basis of comparison. I use the D750 as my basis, I look at the camera type it is, comparable Solid DSLR type of camera, then I see its price, very close to what Pentax describes, then I see its sensor, it turns out it’s the 24Mp sensor. Surprise, surprice. See how easy that was?
You do not believe, all things being equal (buffer, processor, cache, memory, read/write) that 24mp of data will allow for faster / higher burst rate, processing, cache clearing, and then importing / post-processing / editing afterwards vs 42mp of data. Some of us working photographers get out a 1000+ a day every day. Middle resolution absolutely makes the camera and workflow faster from start to finish. It is with good reason that canon & Nikon select such resolutions for the flagship sports, action and press cameras and reserve the higher res sensors for their smaller bodies for portraits.
Your thinking is too simple for reality. In reality the engineers try to compensate for such challenges, whether it be upgrading the bus material to copper and increasing the frequency or increasing the buffers, etc.
Not to mention the AF of the 24Mp sensor is inferior to the AF on the A7Rii sensor.
You’re not going to ever be able to convince a sports photographer into using the current two A7 over the A7Rii just because the A7 has lower resolution.
The a99 sensor is quite old at this point. A BSI/copper wired 24mp sensor will have a faster readout than the a7r2 sensor and the camera processor/memory/buffer/card all will process the data faster leading to higher fps, more shots in buffer, etc.
If the engineers have to compensate for the data of a higher res sensor to get it to be faster this will increase costs. Buffer Memory is not free, higher speed processors are not free, bandwidth is not free. Overclocking leads to higher temps making it sometimes not possible.
Meanwhile, back in reality Pentax would have to engineer such a 24Mp BSI sensor themselves because such sensor doesn’t really exist.
As far as reality is concerned, the Sony engineers have managed to make their A7Rii sensor just as fast as their A7 sensor, they found a way, and they made it so. The 42Mp sensor is just fast as the 36Mp sensor as well. In your head, this would be unthinkable, but in reality, this is how it played out.
Your whole argument about increasing cost, is actually your problem. Because you’re the one who disregarded cost factor and believed the 42Mp sensor is more likely than 24Mp. Stating that a higher end, higher resolution sensor will increase cost is like stating the obvious, but stating that a budget brand like Pentax can just disregard the cost factor and take up all the most expensive sensors is on the ludicrous end.
As far as the A99 is concerned, I don’t know much about it, I don’t know how expensive it is compared to the A7 sensor. But I’ll be damned if the Pentax APS-C userbase wouldn’t be satisfied with 24Mp.
The a7 sensor is originally from the a99. It is about 4 years old. The a99 camera is capable of higher fps and higher burst than the a7r2…despite having the older bionz processor.
I never suggested that Pentax engineer a 24mp BSI sensor. Are you even reading my posts before criticizing? All things being equal other than resolution, a camera with lower resolution will have a higher burst, a larger buffer maximum and will read/write faster. To suggest otherwise, it incredibly ignorant.
Workflow on 24mp from import to export is also faster than files with double the MP, obviously. Or do you dispute this as well? My current 6 core / dual GPU computer doesn’t render 18mp files fast enough in LR.
I don’t think you’re right about A99 and A7, they could still be different sensors. Specifically difference in PDAF and the higher FPS.
Your suggestion about all things in sensors being equal is ignorant in itself. The A7 sensor will never be equal to the A7Rii sensor simply due to the fact that it’s an older model, and now delegated to a lower price point.
Price segmentation alone will ensure that a low end sensor was never going to have the same features nor the same costs as high end sensor.
And that’s exactly what the A7 sensor is compared to the A7Rii sensor.
It’s not a “sports” sensor or any nonsense you’re trying to proclaim, it’s just a lesser general purpose sensor. And your notion that it’s the better sport camera sensor is still hilarious.
PS. if your computer isn’t up to par, the low resolution still isn’t an advantage. All your raws can be downscaled in a single batch without issue. And you even gain better image quality from the downscale.
– The a99 sensor is the same sensor found in the rx1, the vg9000 (first full frame emount), Nikon d600, a7 and a7II. Look it up.
– “The A7 sensor will never be equal to the A7Rii sensor simply due to the fact that it’s an older model,”
That was your comparison, not mine. As for my saying, “All things being equal,” I’m referring to the camera parts outside of sensor resolution. If resolution is the only variable, the camera will perform faster and in higher shot quantities with lower res. This is very simple.
– My computer is a current gen Mac Pro. Lightroom 6 is still less than optimized to fully realize its potential. I get out 1000 to 2000 photos from full res 1dx files per business day and Lightroom can bog down on these 18mp files. 42mp files slow down the workflow. I only reserve higher res for portraits, head shots or interior photos.
That’s not how it works, it’s up to you to prove they are the same, I already cited that they have differences in PDAF and sensor read-out speed.
– “This is very simple.”
Not it’s not that simple, because the camera is a system that has to be balanced for against bottlenecks. If you have lower end sensor such as the A7 sensor, you’re not automatically going to have faster read-out speed. It was designed for a different performance segment, a different price segment.
The A7 sensor, the A7S sensor, the 2Mp Canon sensor, neither of them were meant to be sports camera sensors. You are simply being ridiculous by claiming they are, just because they are low resolution.
Ps. I don’t really care what your computer is. Setting it to batch convert your images to lower resolution shouldn’t ever be a problem.
http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2013/11/07/sony-a7-image-quality-analysis-is-the-a7-the-king-of-the-24-megapixel-camerIt's up to you to educate yourself when you want to spout off. Two seconds of research later:
And further down in the comments, they suddenly admit it’s not really the same sensor, but have subtle tweaks between them. So what’s your point?
The point is you are wrong and you are too trollish to admit it. Most of your statements have been ignorant, incorrect or absurd (such as your idiotic advice to shoot 42mp and batch convert to 18mp…yeah that makes sense for people who shoot hundreds of thousands of photos a year…what a moronic workflow – you must love inefficiency – some of do this for a living and do not have time to waste d1cking with clients waiting…but you have to have clients to know how that feels).
The sensor is the same. Eat it. Go educate yourself if you wish you have worthwhile dialogues on here otherwise you’re simply a troll. I’m sure your reply will reflect your nature.
The sensors are not the same. They use the same process, the same technology, but they have different feature sets and they are designed for different price segments.
But you’re also likewise wrong when you claim low resolution sensors necessarily are for fast sports cameras, and the fact that you can’t admit the A7Rii sensor is superior at sports in every way compared to the A7 sensor was just hilarious.
Haha. Even Pentax have the ability to develop and produce large Full frame professional Camera bodies. What do you have to say about all your long overdue A-mount cameras Sony?
I see only 2 possibilities, Sony says (to Pentax):
“Pentax,
Don’t do it. It won’t work. But if you think you can compete better with Canon and Nikon as we did, then go and try. But don’t complain in two years when there is no success. Because we told you, it does not work!”
“Pentax,
if you use our sensors and give us money for that – then we expect you will have success. So go on and do it! You have our best wishes and good luck!”
Sony only sees Pentax as a potential customer for its sensor division, nothing else.
Or course – nothing else.
And they will read this page and laugh about our speculations what we think, Sony thinks what we are thinking about their thinking.
Or they gave no advice. When Pentax called to ask about a sensor order they said how many and when do you want them – here is the price for x, y or z sensor in that quantity.
And that quantity will likely be 500 or less.
Something Sony did in 2008, new to the hobby?
Curious about how Pentax will do in the FF cometition, allways liked the Pentax camera in the film days. I remember the LX in the early eighties, I was shooting Pentax, and I had a MX for years and a MEsuper for a short wile. Loved the compact size of the Pentax camere. Wanted to get a LX body, but didn’t have the money. Jumped ship to Minolta in the early 90ties… Never regret it.
I have a brand-loyal friend shooting digital Pentax since around 2005. He started with the *ist DS, and bought the K5SII two years ago. He is a Scandinavia fan and he is very happy that the camera is such well built and sealed – which is important for his “all-weather”-shooting style.
He said, if Pentax manages to make it as good as his K5, he will consider it.
I guess that are the users Pentax is mainly targeting.
Pentax has alot of expertise in DSLR, their advanced bodies are extremely well built.
Sony sensors are best in market, and if they manage to put some features into the FF camera which differentiates from Canikon, they could grab some APS-C advancers from other brands as well.
Sony should not wait too long with their A mount FF.
“Sony should not wait too long with their A mount FF.”
If there is one…
pentax body with A.mount … 😀 Wont happen, I know, but what an brillian idea.
I had an ME Super. Great camera. Only topped by my FM2.
I miss the slow turnover of kit I had back in the film days.
slow turnover… oh yea, I miss it to… the MX was my main camera for more than 10 years, camera was manual only and totally mecanical. Wishes for my A7m2 to last this long … I can dream …
My doubts are cemented when their announcement site spells SLR as SRL several times! For sure not confidence-inspiring!!
Pentax’s new slogan:
The full frame no one asked for….except for A mount users.
Maybe they don´t have the capacity to build up a new collection of lenses for FF mirrorless? Or the spread sheets said that using the old k-mount was cheaper for Pentax in the short run and who knows if they´ll even be there in the long run.
No one asked for? You surely have never been to the Pentax forums on DPR…. heheheh!
(but interestingly enough, I’ve bought the K5 because I felt that Sony never offered a true substitute for the A700… so the slogan could be “The fullframe Pentaxians asked for…. and former A-mount users”)
Coming up in spring 2016!
PENTAX is launching a digital SRL with a brand-new format.
Ha! This typo was in the press release that admin links to!
It would be interesting if the format was 36mm square, now that would be fun….
Looks pretty much like the a850/a900… I like that :-)…. but Pentax? hmmmm… not that much 3rd party support and up to now no real FF lens program…
There’re all kinds of Tamron and Sigma K-Mount lenses out there, along with several Pentax FF primes. On FE, there’s still no 24-70 f/2.8 which will come along with this camera…
The 24-70 2.8 is going to be $$$$$ which is why I think Sony hasn’t rushed it. Once that gets dropped…it gets serrrrrrious.
The Pentax equivalent will be cheaper and most certainly better 😉
I get the impression everyone makes better lenses than Sony. The Zeiss primes are the only saving grace and even then. Tamron and Sigma keep pumping out amazing optics with a great build at affordable prices. It has to be tough in this market for any of the big three to make money off of lenses. I imagine in 10 years the lens market won’t look anything like it does today. Not even close.
Tamron 24-70 f/2.8 is $680, complete with USD and weather-sealing.
Sony 24-70 f/2.8 II is $2404.
I don’t see why they think such pricing is appropriate…
I mean, I’d get a 50-60% premium for the brand, but this…
Hope this doesn’t translate to the FE lens.
That Tamron gets great reviews. Suprisingly outperforms in it’s class- might even out perform the Zeiss 24-70mm 2.8 A mount. For 680 it’s a steal. I wouldn’t mind switching over to just Tamron lenses at some point. The 35mm 1.8 has gotten great reviews, the 15-30mm is a to-die-for lens. There isn’t much to fault them with. You get it all and at a price that leaves money in your pocket.
The only FE lenses that do it for me is the 55mm 1.8 and 85mm 1.8. The others are a miss either because 1) Price to performance ratio sucks 2) Too slow 3) No AF.
The 35 f/2.8 is a good lens as well for the price and weight. Where did you get the Batis from? 🙂 I quit waiting and ordered a Canon lens instead.
Don’t have the Batis yet. From what I’ve read though it stands to be a good performer. I’ve been considering it but will have to rent it first.
The 70-200 f/2.8 G II is $3k and it’s no better than the Canon 70-200 f/2.8L II. This could be because of the volume – I doubt many people are buying those lenses, and Sony still wants to make a decent profit.
Had a look at the Tamron and Sigma homepage.
-Just 5 Tamron lenses are FF compatible; all are quite old (like the 28-70/2.8)
-Same is with Sigma only 8 FF lenses with “spectacular” ones like a 70-300/4-5.6 already included…
The only lenses worth considering (at least to some degree) are the Tamron
*SP 90mm Macro
*SP 70-200mm F/2.8 (it’s the non-USD version with lower optical quality)
*SP AF 28-75mm F/2.8 XR
and from Sigma the
* 35mm Art and maybe the
* 15mm diag. Fisheye
in APS-C is more good glass available… but that’s not useful here
Also all kinds of the omnipresent Samyang… although those are not FE users who’d be happy with manual focus
with Samyang you have 7 more with only the 14mm (and 50mm) lens being in a focal range that is not already covered by one of the Tamron or Sigma listed above.
I do not try to bash Pentax… it was just a thought that it will be very hard for them to establish a FF DSLR system nowadays with no benefit in the body over NIko/Canon and not having a lot of lenses…
Personally I would be happy to see one more competitor to Canikon since Sony decided to quit the DLSR (and maybe soon the DSLT too)
Yes. Add Pentax’s own FA:
31mm
43mm
50mm
50mm macro
77mm
and:
24-70 f/2.8
70-200 f/2.8
100mm
150-450mm
and you get a decent system.
The latest rumors in the Pentax community are that by the end of next year (or maybe even at launch of the camera), there will be at least 8 new digital FF Pentax lenses that aren’t on the market today (they currently have 4 digital FF lenses on the market). One has already been announced (70-200 2.8), two more are on the roadmap (wide zoom and kit zoom), the three still-popular film era FF limited primes will get a digital update (the 31, 43, and 77), with a new 85 and a very fast 50.
I don’t know what this camera is all about, but the Pentax logo on front of the camera isn’t level, and that concerns me.
It’s because it’s been painted on in Tipex.
It will increase the choice of DSLR available for pro photography :D….to not make users only buy Canikon gears….. Sony sensor in a gear with more than 20 FF lenses available ;)…. good news !!!!
I sold my Canon 5D mk III 7 months ago and bought Sony A7II. Another FF DSLR? Not interested at all! Should be mirrorless with medium format sensor for price under 5000$, then it would be a bomb. The remaining segments of the market has long been firmly occupied. Pentax have to really try to grab own piece of cake.
Considering the camera size and huge lenses, I really can’t see the point of a mirrorless medium format, unless it’s just for the EVF.
I just hope it does well enough to keep Pentax alive and healthy in the camera market. Of course I enjoyed reading the historical stuff on that new web site but found it really weird that they made only passing mention of the 645D and no mention of the 645Z. Given that this release is about incorporating a bigger sensor you would think they would appeal to their previous accomplishments with large sensor camera and the Z is clearly their pinnacle accomplishment!
They’d do better if they shut down the small format department and stick to the 645 stuff.
Most boring camera ever. It’s only interesting to people who own k mount lenses. As a pentax 645D user i hope this camera won’t steal too much resource from the medium format development.
It would make sense for Pentax to make an adaptor for their MF lenses.
That’s like getting an old 3-wheeled European peasants’ car and saying it makes sense to fit aftermarket airbags… on the outside.
I will swallow it if they have a speed booster type of adapter. But anyways, at the end of the day I don’t really care what Pentax does as long as their MF system is healthy and long lived.
A BRAND NEW FORMAT I wonder if they will introduce a 36mm SQUARE format, now this would be something, if it was it might make the next full frame Sony camera interesting assuming Sony created the Sensor…
Yes!!! Give us an 36x36mm2 sensor, and we don’t even need new lenses.
How about some Sony rumors? Please
Can’t wait to see the red faces of Pentax users when they mount all those limited quality primes on a FF digital. Their answer to everything is “we have the best lenses in their classes”… of course, who else makes 31mm, 43mm, 77mm lenses to compare against!
They would have had a slight chance had they released this before the A7/r/s II series bodies. Just like they would have had a chance against Sony if they made that rubbish dslr-mounted mirrorless with a short flange instead. Pentax wants to fail.
I have those primes. 31 was awful until it got fixed, 43 is pure purple fringing wide open to the point of only being good for B&W and the 77 is perfect. Yes, perfect. They work well on the A7r via Novoflex and Rayqual adapters, but they need updating with new coatings and ELD elements to deal with PF. They certainly do have character I haven’t found in any other lens including Sony Zeiss (1.8/55 and 1.4/35).
Pentax need to have really good 2.8/14-24, 2.8/24-70 and 2.8/70-200 to release with this new body which will need to match the D810 for AF. So far it looks like the 24-70 is a re-badged Tamron and the 70-200 is delayed due to focusing speed issues, which doesn’t bode well. Sigma 1.4/35 Art is available in K-mount so that’s the fast 35 prime sorted at least.
It would be just as easy and probably less expensive just to go the Nikon D810 + Holy Trinity route unless a person really wants to hold on to those FA Limited’s. Big risk to take if the K-mount disappears.
I’ll hold off until the middle of 2016 and re-evaluate then.
You must have low standards or isn’t aware of what makes a good lens good. I’ve uses the 77 limited myself and it’s a pathetic performer for a f/1.8 lens. Take a Canon 85/1.8 or Nikon 85/1.8 or any generation and they are excellent because it’s very difficult to make a 85/1.8 but somehow Pentax has managed to do just that.
No, I’ve found the 77 to be superb, at least my copy. Why is it difficult to make an 85/1.8?
Low standards is this Sony cack mate. It really is awful. I have Sony Zeiss (1.8/55, 1.4/35), Sony 70-200/4 G, FE 28/2 and a couple of E-mount bodies (a6000/a7r) and I can’t get rid of it all fast enough.
Meant to say an 80-ish/1.8 is easy to make.
It’s shocking how Pentax made such a poor attempt at their 77. Someone at pentax must have said “let’s make another fringe lens” and the engineers took it in a different way.
I hope the rumors are wrong and Pentax had the courage to use a SIgma Foveon Sensor instead of Sonys latest technology.
And Nikon will buy Samsun Nx to seriously compete with Sony? If this is true, we will not get some serious players in the game. Its always easier to just purchase the companies right?