On Nov 1, 2012, at 12:40 AM, Boris Liberman <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 10/31/2012 4:39 PM, Alexandru-Cristian Sarbu wrote: >> Such conclusions are premature; the product we saw so far (from >> October 2011) are "Pentax-Hoya" projects. There simply wasn't enough >> time (less than a year, including analyzing the business and >> formulating a plan) to build a "true" Pentax Ricoh camera. What they >> could do was to finish products already in pipeline, including ones >> frozen by Hoya (the DA 560mm for example). >> Please be patient, next year we should see more interesting stuff. > > Well, you may be right. I mean - it is indeed possible that Ricoh will do way > better than Hoya in terms of investing money in the right areas so that next > round of products from Pentax will be good. > > However: > > 1. Like Larry said - cameras and lenses are just tools. I would add that in a > sense they are also toys. > > 2. Although great many of Pentax users that I happen to know are very loyal > (even to the point of being slightly fanatical about that) to their brand of > choice of photo gear, it couldn't be said that Pentax reciprocates. > > Just recently we had a thread about SDM failures. Previously I had an > impression that SDM failures were not an issue for this club. But then it > turned out that Paul's 60-250 developed this problem. Then Bob chimed in. And > then it turned out that we had significantly more cases. And presently my > impression is that SDM failures are not figment of imagination of > PentaxForums crowd which is deemed hysterical by this community. > > No matter - it is a technical issue that as rumor has it Pentax resolved. > However an official word would have been very helpful here, but none was > produced. > > 3. I cannot help but notice that Pentax lenses get very little mention here. > Granted the thread is about cameras, but IMO, Pentax hasn't been really > innovating in terms of optical design either. They did produce the new > coating - but so what... SMC is good enough. > > I have two contemporary developed lenses. DA 21/3.2 - and it looses out to my > copy of FA 20/2.8 in terms of sharpness at wide aperture. And DA* 16-50/2.8 > which is soft towards the corners in a way that just makes me hit my forehead > in disbelief - this is the flagship standard fast zoom lens from the > manufacturer that just 10 years prior to that was introducing absolutely > stellar optics. > > The DA* 16-50/2.8 is good enough for me, but me is just a very pedestrian > amateur. What about more serious photographers? Oh, we have Paul in our midst > and Benjamin Kanarek on the PentaxForums who are doing great job with their > Pentax gear. However, despite what Paul said I maintain that it is not > because of gear they get their fantastic pictures, but because of them being > masters of their art. > > 4. Comparing over last 3 years the products that were introduced to the > market by all Pentax competitors large and small alike personally I think > that Pentax R&D has been forced into complete halt. > > Just compare the cameras and lenses that Olympus introduced being under > extreme financial dire straits... > > 5. It is not to say that sky is falling and that my gear will stop working > because of that. However, the consequences are that it is not trivial as it > used to be to have to fix Pentax gear nowadays. Few people posted here some > rather unpleasant stories that happened to them with CRIS or whomever that > was. Eventually the issues were resolved, but it was people of USA - the > mightiest consumer country of them all. Where I am - I don't want to start > thinking about it... > > The sky is not falling but to say that it is business as usual would be, how > to put it, narrow-sighted… A couple of points in response: My DA* 60-250 failed after more than 30,000 frames and was repaired for $183.00. It's a fabulous lens, and , I believe, at least the equal of anything available in that range. My DA* 16-50 is sharp across the frame as far as I know. I've tested it for flat frame and don't recall seeing any significant deterioration in the corners. But I'll tray that again when I have time. I shoot all my auto interiors and engines with it and have never had a complaint. Quite the opposite, in fact. Paul > > Boris > > > > -- > 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. -- 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.
