This is a mystery to me, as well. The most aggregious example that I am aware of is the Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 AT-X Pro 116. This lens was co-designed with Pentax and so Tokina doesn't make it in a Pentax mount (presumably so a Pentax branded edition could be produced) yet none is ever produced by Pentax. One might assume that this would be because it would hurt sales of the DA 12-24mm f4. But then why co-design it in the first place? To keep Tokina from offering it in a Pentax mount, to the detriment of Pentax owners - is the only answer I can come up with.
I would imagine that any agreements with Hoya would have transferred to Ricoh, since they would have been made with the Pentax division itself, not the parent corp. There has been some talk of Ricoh and Tokina being competitors in more business arenas than Tokina and Pentax were. If true, that might "put a damper" on any such cooperation going forward. Darren Addy Kearney, Nebraska -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
