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Dear RiceHigh, you are right: those prices are very expensive. But, where is we can find today a good lenses for the APS-C system which are compareable to the quality of Pentax lenses and cheaper then they are?
I follow Uncle Vova, only third party lenses are cheaper, like the one from Sigma and Tamron. The 20-40 is in competition with the Sigma 18-35/1.8 and Tamron 17-50/2.8. The HD 560 is in competition with the Sigma 500/4.5 EX and the consumer lenses have competition for a lot more lenses from both Sigma and Tamron, if they are available anyway in Pentax mount. :-( The 20-40 as expensive as the Pentax 17-50/2.8, so it should be a really special lens to justify the price.
When compare the price of the 55-300 and 18-270 to the price Nikon and Canon is asking for this kind of lens, the price seems fair to me. Note that this are list price, retail price mostly are 20% cheaper.
I follow Uncle Vova, only third party lenses are cheaper, like the one from Sigma and Tamron. The 20-40 is in competition with the Sigma 18-35/1.8 and Tamron 17-50/2.8. The HD 560 is in competition with the Sigma 500/4.5 EX and the consumer lenses have competition for a lot more lenses from both Sigma and Tamron, if they are available anyway in Pentax mount. :-(
The good news: fantastic compact, light-weight proposition! double-check! near-silent focusing system: check! unobtrusive, small, available in black: check! weather sealing, thereby facilitating to use this as a go-to "normal" / always-on-camera lens: check! supposedly hard-wearing, all-metal-and-glass construction: check! --- coherently-sized 49mm filter-ring: NOPE, does have 55mm-thread. That's unexpected -- I really hoped for 49mm size MSRP: too high to buy sight-unseen
The good news: Pentax finally released a "wr"-normal type of lens. I was hoping for this to happen. The bad news: this is priced seriously high. I'm not going to pre-order since my wallet would not take this hit if this turned out to be just a rushed fashion-item. Don't get me wrong: I want this to be good... ... I really want one, badly! I will just have to wait and see if it really delivers! I need to study all the relevant real-world reviews that are still to appear on the net, then try it with my own hands first and finally get to make an informed decision!
On another note: does NOT compete with any constant big-aperture zoom, really. This is designed to be unobstrusive - that's the whole point: a special-purpose lens, ideal as a leight-weight walkaround but mainly meant for street, reportage and candid type of photography. That is a good thing in my book. People who want to have a more creative tool will naturally skip this lens and go for either a 2.8-zoom or the other specialty-item: Sigma f/1.8 18-35mm. But all those lenses are like up to 3 times or more the weight and bulk of this tiny beauty. So no: there is no competition. There is CHOICE. And I say: Choice is always a good thing. The more the better!
PS.:I will keep my 17-50 f/2.8 regardless of wether I buy this new limited-zoom or not. It has its strengths, after all. I just fear I will not want to take the bloody thing off of my camera should I finally get it!
If they ask so much, maybe somebody is paying. Not me though. Insane prices. Think about it: Sigma 18-35 1.8 is unmatched optically and it has much more glass in it, much larger aperture, which means much higher manufacturing cost and it sells for much less than those Ricoh dwarfs.
I would like a silver lens for my silver camera, but I'm not willing to give up so much for a cropped one that's a little smaller and a little lighter. Evan if you think $150 for the new lens coating is well worth it and $1000 for a 20-40mm f/2.8-4.0 is a great price. The 35mm f/2.8 macro ain't water-resistant like my 100mm f/2.8 macro but I like my lenses better anyway and don't want to "trade-up" to any of these instead of getting a Sigma now instead of a Pentax if and when it exist.
I don't know why people are always complaining that Pentax lenses cost more than Third party lenses .... it's NORMAL ..... same thing for Canon, Nikon and Sony their lenses cost more than the Sigma and Tamron and it's NORMAL so why Pentax should sell their lenses cheaper , they are at least as good as the other lens manufacturer !!!
I understand that the 560 is selling well. I think Pentax sold three or four of these boat anchors over the past year. Pentax is not sure they will be able to meet demand going forward.
Yeah, compare these prices to m4/3, which uses smaller lenses and has less glass. Lets talk about expensive lens systems. You could easily spend 2-3x as much for comparable zeiss or leica lenses.
20-40mm and f/2.8-4.0 for $1000. You gotta be kidding me here. f/1.8 t0 f/2.8 perhaps, but any old Tamron will beat this thing for half the money.
DSLR will be dead long before Pentax even get round to making a FF. Mirrorless is the way it's all going and full frame mirrorless at that. Looking forward to what Olympus do here, imagine a full frame OMD EM-5?
Every other camera will come with a free mobile telephone attached to it.
Logging you in...
Uncle Vova · 592 weeks ago
But, where is we can find today a good lenses for the APS-C system which are compareable to the quality of Pentax lenses and cheaper then they are?
Barney · 592 weeks ago
Pascal · 592 weeks ago
The 20-40 as expensive as the Pentax 17-50/2.8, so it should be a really special lens to justify the price.
When compare the price of the 55-300 and 18-270 to the price Nikon and Canon is asking for this kind of lens, the price seems fair to me. Note that this are list price, retail price mostly are 20% cheaper.
Pascal · 592 weeks ago
Heiko · 592 weeks ago
fantastic compact, light-weight proposition! double-check!
near-silent focusing system: check!
unobtrusive, small, available in black: check!
weather sealing, thereby facilitating to use this as a go-to "normal" / always-on-camera lens: check!
supposedly hard-wearing, all-metal-and-glass construction: check!
---
coherently-sized 49mm filter-ring: NOPE, does have 55mm-thread. That's unexpected -- I really hoped for 49mm size
MSRP: too high to buy sight-unseen
The good news: Pentax finally released a "wr"-normal type of lens. I was hoping for this to happen. The bad news: this is priced seriously high. I'm not going to pre-order since my wallet would not take this hit if this turned out to be just a rushed fashion-item.
Don't get me wrong: I want this to be good... ... I really want one, badly!
I will just have to wait and see if it really delivers! I need to study all the relevant real-world reviews that are still to appear on the net, then try it with my own hands first and finally get to make an informed decision!
Heiko · 592 weeks ago
does NOT compete with any constant big-aperture zoom, really. This is designed to be unobstrusive - that's the whole point: a special-purpose lens, ideal as a leight-weight walkaround but mainly meant for street, reportage and candid type of photography.
That is a good thing in my book. People who want to have a more creative tool will naturally skip this lens and go for either a 2.8-zoom or the other specialty-item: Sigma f/1.8 18-35mm. But all those lenses are like up to 3 times or more the weight and bulk of this tiny beauty.
So no: there is no competition. There is CHOICE.
And I say: Choice is always a good thing. The more the better!
PS.:I will keep my 17-50 f/2.8 regardless of wether I buy this new limited-zoom or not. It has its strengths, after all. I just fear I will not want to take the bloody thing off of my camera should I finally get it!
foton · 592 weeks ago
Dan Johnson · 592 weeks ago
steevemarcoux2 29p · 592 weeks ago
Dean Koontz · 592 weeks ago
pentaxdecline · 592 weeks ago
pentaxdecline · 592 weeks ago
pentaxdecline · 592 weeks ago
Yoku · 592 weeks ago
zosX · 592 weeks ago
SpendsalotonPentax · 591 weeks ago
DSLR will be dead long before Pentax even get round to making a FF. Mirrorless is the way it's all going and full frame mirrorless at that. Looking forward to what Olympus do here, imagine a full frame OMD EM-5?
Every other camera will come with a free mobile telephone attached to it.
Chris · 591 weeks ago