If Pentax were to do this they would be better off to break completely
with the K lenses. Start with a clean slate and design an entirely new
system. I doubt this will happen. The current frenzy in the digital
SLR market is already causing downward pressure on profits. It will
continue. Pentax makes money by not making big changes. Big changes
takes big money and while Pentax may become a big player in the DSLR
market, and may be respected player in the lens market, but that's still
a very small pond when your competitors make everything from ships to chips.
John Francis wrote:
>(I'm reposting this in a separate thread, because I'm sure
>most sensible people missed it in the "JCO survey" thread)
>
>On Sat, Oct 21, 2006 at 12:19:51PM -0400, Cory Papenfuss wrote:
>
>
>> Just to be a nice thorn in everyone's anti-aperture-coupler's
>>side, consider that proposal. How would everyone feel if these nice,
>>newish, fancy auto-focus (F, FA, DA, etc) lenses that you all own suddenly
>>became stop-down metering only. Pentax could state that they're new mount
>>is compatible with all K-mount lenses ever made... just like they do
>>now (some restrictions apply).
>>
>>
>
>It depends on when they did it. Next year? I'd be annoyed. In 2030,
>when every lens they'd sold for more than the last twenty years would
>work without *any* restrictions? I'd manage to live with it (always
>assuming I manage to live that long, of course ...).
>
>In fact I expect *exactly* this scenario to play out. I think we'll
>see smart lenses with in-lens control of the aperture (be it mechanical,
>or some photo-electronic wizardry), and the only communication between
>the lens and the camera body being over the digital signal pin (and
>the power contacts, of course). Eventually Pentax will release a
>camera that will rely on that for aperture control (and the in-lens
>focus motors that we will be seeing really soon on the DA* lenses).
>
>I also expect that, some time before then, we'll see a camera body
>that will drop full support of the "A" lenses, and only work with
>F-or-later lenses. I expect there will be some sort of fall-back
>mode to allow use of lenses without the digital signal path, much
>as we have the green button (and manual entry of focal length for
>SR) today, but I don't necessarily expect those lenses to work in
>all exposure modes. This camera (and successors) will drop all
>the extra mechanical contacts introduced with the KA mount. This
>will make manufacturing cheaper, remove a potential failure mode,
>and simplify the programming.
>
>My guess is that we'll see this evolution in the next five years;
>the KAF mount is already twenty years old. Initially it would
>only be for the cheaper models - Pentax were still selling A*
>lenses until quite recently, albeit not to the mass market -
>but eventually I'd look for it on all but the top-of-the-line
>
>
>
>
--
Things should be made as simple as possible -- but no simpler.
--Albert Einstein
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