Voigtländer SLII lenses discontinued for Pentax PKA

[Spotmatic]

And a few more lenses. Pretty sad IMHO:

COLOR-HELIAR 75mm F2.5 Black
COLOR-SKOPAR 20mm F3.5 SLII KA
ULTRON 40mm F2 SLII KA
NOKTON 58mm F1.4 SLII KA
APO-LANTHAR 90mm F3.5 SLII KA
ULTRA WIDE HELIAR 12mm F5.6 Aspherical

http://www.cosina.co.jp/seihin/voigt/english/dispo.html

I have heard the Zeiss ZK's will be discontinued too. So, if you have a Pentax and want one or more of those primes THEN ACT NOW! There will be NO more primes from Voigtländer/Zeiss for the PKA mount.

[BRunner]

That's pretty sad news for us Pentaxians... The prices of PK/A versions Cosina/Zeiss lenses will only rise up

With Tamron not releasing their new better lenses for PK mount, remains only Pentax, Sigma and Samyang....

What's wrong with Hoya/Pentax? Are they stopping licenses for PK/A mount lenses to third-parties? Or is Pentax perceived just like a cheap brand? So no top lenses for PK mount...

Maybe time to start selling my Pentax AF lenses and go for Canon or Nikon full-frame. But I do really like in-body stabilization...and dislike Sony's way of image quality....

[Esox lucius]

Cosina manufactures the Zeiss Z* line, and also holds the commercial ownership of the Voigtländer brand (and manufactures the Voigtländer SL series). While they have been known for introducing small-volume anti-mainstream lenses for many mounts, I think it was only a question of time before they discontinued some mounts. I read an interview last year where they stated that Canon/Nikon/Sony mount lenses sell in volumes whereas the other mounts sell "in hundreds".

Re-allocating the use of their production line makes sense, as they have to make room to manufacture the new Distagon 35/1.4 Z* and continue making SL II lenses. It is also possible that capacity previously used for PK/A lenses will be allocated to new SL II lenses, though this is pure speculation on my behalf.

[woodrim]

When I bought my first DSLR I was choosing between Pentax and SONY. I went with the SONY primarily because of the price I got, but had since considered Pentax Kx because of its low noise and good support of manual lenses. However, Pentax it seems has been slow in developing and has questionable long term support. On the other hand, SONY has just come out with two totally new cameras; A55 and A33 to rave reviews. I question the future of Pentax.

[xjjohnno]

A good thing I grabbed myself the 58mm Nokton, the S11 90mm Apo Lanthar and the Planar 50mm over the last few months with this announcement about no more PK lenses.

[AhamB]

There will still be the Zeiss ZS (m42 mount) lenses if Cosina isn't discontinuing that line as well (I can't imagine they sell many of those either though).

Perhaps some Voitgländer SL(II)'s can be Leitaxed for Pentax too.

[no-X]

[Univer]

Hi,

Certainly not happy news. Maybe - and I freely acknowledge that I may be viewing the situation through the filter of my own personal priorities - it's more difficult to justify producing premium full-frame lenses for a mount that seems unlikely, in the near term at least, to find itself attached to a full-frame camera.

Of course, the most powerful reason for the discontinuation of these lenses is an economic one: the K-mount versions don't sell in high enough numbers to sustain production. But at some point all of these factors converge. Canon, Nikon and Sony all manufacture full-frame cameras; Pentax seems to have little interest. If I manufactured high-end aftermarket automotive suspension equipment, and a car brand showed no enthusiasm for producing performance models that could benefit most significantly from my upgraded equipment, I don't think I'd keep those specific pieces in production.

(And as for the M42 versions, adaptability alone presumably warrants keeping them in production.)

Cheers,

Jon

[poilu]

the new compact prime series from Zeiss have interchangeable mount
if they do the same for more lens, maybe pka will have a come back via adaptall

[no-X]

[Spotmatic]

[xjjohnno]

Well I sold my FA 50 f1.4 to fund my Voigtlander 58 and happy I did. I've yet to acquire or even try any of the Pentax limited lenses.

[Spotmatic]

[Class A]

[Spotmatic]

[AhamB]

[Spotmatic]

[AhamB]

Well I hope the patience of you Pentaxians will pay off and that Pentax will come around and release a FF body soon. So far they thought that the world would be satisfied with crop, while they couldn't even succesfully market those camera's.

[blende8]

Just read on a blog that Zeiss will bring out their full lineage of MF lenses for Sony A-mount.
Perhaps Cosina needs the capacity for these now?

[Nikos]

[LucisPictor]

[rawhead]

[blende8]

I meant the MF lenses.
Cosina is making them. This is fact.
I don't know who is making the Zeiss AF lenses.

[AhamB]

[blende8]