----- Original Message ----- From: "Caveman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Anthony Farr wrote: > > > Pentax knows more about making and selling > > cameras than you or I ever will. > > I find it interesting that you accept that for Pentax, but not for > Minolta: "It works because it works, and because we tell you so. Trust > us, we're Minolta's advertising agency and we wouldn't lead you astray". > REPLY: I was referring to actual accomplishments, not advertising claims. > > Can you name a single major manufacturer of 35mm SLR cameras who hasn't in > > recent years made changes to their mount that either alters, limits, or even > > prevents the functionality of their older, out of production lenses? > > Recent years ? Canon ? All EF mount lenses work with all EF mount > cameras ? Yes, they did a major change 20 years ago, from FD to EF, > Pentax did one from screw to K too, but after that they didn't play > sh*tty compatibility games. Like those with current FAJ lenses that > don't work with current cameras such as MZ-5n. > REPLY: Is it really twenty years? I can't be bothered confirming it so it take your word. To me that's still recent (I've been married 15 years and remember my wedding day like it was yesterday). Canon was an early adopter of totally electronic interface, mainly because electronic communication through the lens mount had matured as a concept when the FD mount was found to be unsuited to AF. But when K-mount was in development the photo world was a mechanical one, and that mount was an expression of the contemporary state-of-affairs. When the first evolution of K-mount , to KA, came up the photo world was becoming an electronic realm. But Pentax was in no position to abandon it's mechanical concept after only eight(?) years. Imagine the bitching and moaning of today and multiply that by any factor you care to mention, then add your grandmother's age, and the grief would have been twice as bad. Instead they piggybacked an electronic aperture onto a mechanical one, creating a 'Frankenstein' arrangement where the aperture value is communicated mechanically when the lens is off "A", and electronically when set to "A", but in both cases activated mechanically so that compatability with their all-mechanical predecessors was maintained. Now, twentysome years and and a couple more evolutions later, now is as good a time as any to strip some of the redundancies out of some lenses and some cameras, because the photo world is again transitioning to electronics, this time it's the imaging media. So why make Pentax users face two changes, first to digital imaging and later to a more complete electronic lens interface, when the two changeovers can be integrated. Sooner or later all camera mounts and lens operations will become fully electronic, so we can expect more evolutions of K-mount > > GET THIS. Pentax's new *ist and *ist D are fully compatible with their > > current and planned lenses. > > Get this: the *ists were designed with FAJ type lenses in mind. > REPLY: That's absolutely true, and an *ist will work equally well with any past, present or upcoming A, F, FA, or FAJ lens (with a questionmark over the F/FA28 Soft & F/FA85 Soft). So what was the question? > cheers, > caveman > > regards, Anthony Farr
