As I search unsuccessfully for some used K-mount gear I find myself wondering if there's a market for "vintage re-issue" lenses, the way Fender Guitars put out "1957" and "1962" replica models when they discovered that everybody preferred older guitars to the current models.
Presumably Japan is being swept by nostalgia, with Cosina putting out cameras and lenses in leica screw, M42, and K-mount, and Nikon putting out the FM3a and a retro 45mm lens to go with it. Leica put out a re-issue of the original pre-M model recently. So, why does not Pentax put out some of the legendary and impossible-to-find K-series designs again? They could either update them with AF and A connections and make them to the standard of the FA limiteds so you could use them with the *istD and such, or simply re-issue them in original K-style. Pentax really hasn't made anything like the K18 since then, and the K15, K85/1.8, K105/2.8, and K135/2.5 are very hard to come by even though there were passable replacements put out in the M and later eras. You could argue that nobody uses primes any more, and that there is no market for Pentax premium lenses, but if this were true you'd think that you could find the originals cheap... DJE
