Bill,
John pointed out to certain types of lenses not being available from
Pentax, and that is an important aspect for some Pentax-shooters,
especially for some particular applications.
(Good examples are some wide-angle fast lenses, under "ART" label, Bigma
and variations.)
However, even if you are totally satisfied with the lenses from Pentax,
you are still affected by what Sigma and other 3rd-party manufacturers
discontinuing their lens production for Pentax bodies:
Lack of the "entry-level" budget lenses is a turn-away factor for the
potential Pentax shooters. I can tell you that while most of my most used
lenses are by Pentax, I have a few lenses for "niche" applications, where
I am not willing to spend big bucks for very little use, and where
3rd-party lenses are just good enough.
Moreover, when I started with my very first Pentax camera (Zx-5n), I could
not afford fast Pentax lenses, and my first two lenses were Tokina ATX Pro
28-70/2.6-2.8 (which John also loved), which was a great lens for a
reasonable price, and a Tamron 70-300/ 4-5.6, which was not the greatest,
but sufficient for the first few years. Soon after, I bought my
first Pentax lens, F 50/1.7 (from Boz).
The reason I bought a Pentax camera (even though I had Kiev-19, with a
Nikon mount and a prime lens by that time) was the ergonomics of it, and
availability of the reasonably-priced quality lenses.
(I was comparing it to Nikon N-70 and maybe N-50, as I couldn't afford
N-90. And Rebel was out of consideration for being, imho, inferior to
all aforementioned cameras.)
Then, as my needs and abilities (both photographic and monetary) were
growing, I started purchasing more serious lenses - mostly from Pentax.
But even then, - when I needed a wide-angle, relatively fast lens, I
bought a Sigma one, 28/1.8 (from Miserere). And that served well for its
purpose for 1-2 years that I needed it.
My point is that 3rd-party, less expensive lenses provide a pathway for
many photographers with limited budget, both at the entry to the "system",
and at later stages of using the "system".
I also wanted to point out that Sigma pulling out its resources from
Pentax eco-system is not the culprit in itself, but rather an indicator of
the market position of Pentax/Ricoh.
According to the information I found on PetaPixel,
https://petapixel.com/2019/01/15/canon-1-in-both-dslr-and-mirrorless-sales-in-japan-in-2018/
Ricoh had 3.1% of the DSLRs market share in 2018, which was down from
4.2% in 2017, and 4.8% in 2016 (6.7% in 2015, 4.5% in 2014, 5.2% in
2013, and 7.5% in 2011; no info in 2012, as it fell behind Sony that had
7.1%).
All these numbers are just for Japan, but I suspect the world-wide numbers
are not much better, if at all.
Source:
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bcnaward.jp%2Faward%2Fgallery%2Fdetail%2Fcontents_type%3D251%26date%3D2018
https://preview.tinyurl.com/y3fjmm9b
It's a sad trend.
What's even worth that it is a shrinking part of an overall shrinking
market: Overall DSLR market is also shrinking, compared to the rest of
digital cameras, and so is the digital camera market in general (22% down
for 2018, compared to 2017).
https://nikonrumors.com/2019/07/08/digital-camera-market-down-22-for-2018-the-latest-global-market-share-canon-40-5-nikon-19-1-sony-17-7.aspx/
I leave the estimate of the decline of Pentax DSLR sales in
absolute numbers as an exercise to the inquiring minds, but I wouldn't
be surprised if it is to a quarter of those in 2017.
With all the desire to find a bright light somewhere in this picture, I am
unable to do that.
In this combination of the unfortunate global market trends and the
dynamics within Pentax (seemingly little to no progress, as witnessed by
the lack of an APS-C flagship for several years, slow appearance of FF
lenses for K-1, etc.), I have hard time imagining what type
of miracle Ricoh can pull out of its proverbial sleeves.
For the past year or so, I've been considering buying a K-1.
Thinking about all these trends got me more unsettled:
On one hand, I am thinking if it is worth buying it, as I don't have
all the lenses needed for a FF, and that could've been a future purchase,
but in this situation, will that ever happen?
On the other hand, maybe I should buy it ASAP, before it would become
unavailable...
Igor
PS.
Yet another fun-fact: "Of Japan’s eight digital camera makers, a group
which includes Nikon, Canon and Fujifilm, only one posted sales and profit
growth in the most recent annual period: Sony."
Source:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/26/japanese-camera-companies-fight-for-survival-in-the-smartphone-era.html
John Tue, 10 Sep 2019 09:53:38 -0700 wrote:
Except that I am a PENTAX shooter. I don't need a "reason". I made that
choice years ago and see no reason to change now.
But there are notable absences of some more desirable focal lengths &
maximum apertures from the current Pentax lens roadmap.
Where you going to find a FULL FRAME auto-focus 85mm f/1.4 for your K-1?
Hell, where you going to find a manual focus Pentax-A 85mm f/1.4 that
Cotty hasn't already butchered to put it on a Canon? 8^)
For a while there, Sigma, Tamron & Tokina made some fairly desirable, high
quality after-market lenses in Pentax mount, even some lenses Pentax never
offered.
Lack of third party support is going to doom Pentax in the long run. I'm
all right, because I managed to get everything I want (I know the
difference between want & need) "while the gettin' was good", but how is
Pentax going to attract a fair share of the few younger people who will
want a REAL CAMERA instead of just an iPhone?
Who will want to buy Pentax when there's no "Pentax glass" left, and no
third party support?
On 9/10/2019 12:10:20, William Robb wrote:
Considering that about the only reason in existence to use a Pentax body is
to shoot Pentax glass, I'm not seeing an issue. If you really want to use a
non Pentax lens, there are plenty of non Pentax bodies to choose from.
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