Pentax announces flash and body cap lens reference designs at CP Plus

Marty, you do realize Pentax announced such thing for the Q WAY before Olympus announced theirs right?

Feb 7, 2012 - Look under Pentax Q

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/02/07/Pentax_In-development_lenses

(reply to Raist3d's comment)

Since Oly shipped their body cap lens in late 2012, I would think Oly had their lens in development before Pentax's Feb 2012 "announcement". Not sure if Oly thought of this idea before Pentax, though. But Pentax is now saying they won't ship this until Summer 2013. Could they have started development before Oly and then end up shipping 6 months after Oly?

Philly - Sure. Why not? Remember Pentax was also going through a transition period (company sales).

Or it could have gone the way you said. In all honesty who cares in the end?

I just find amusing what Marty posted as if Pentax decided to copy Olympus or something which is quite frankly ridiculous and that's all I am pointing out. It's certainly possible Olympus copied Pentax in the idea or both came to it independently. It's certainly possible too. But that's not my point.

Raist3d -- actually, Olympus probably had more turmoil than Pentax during this period: Oly CEO fired, financial scandal, near bankruptcy, financial infusion by Sony. And still Oly ships at least 6 months before Pentax.

I guess my point is, it seemed as if you were presenting a Pentax development announcement in Feb 2012 as an indication that Pentax led Oly on this type of product. It just doesn't seem likely to me. But who knows.

This body lens cap isn't anything new. For example you have loreo, which was kinda fun during the film days. And before that I use to poke holes on my lens cap for some pinhole photography.
I think some are having an issue with you Marty for saying that Pentax is copycatting Olympus which simply isn't true.

@Marty - that's fine Marty, but I am only replying to the first comment you made. And sorry but you are making the same mistake again! Pentax did not announce it several months LATER than Olympus but *BEFORE*. Please read the link I gave you!

I am not grasping at any straws, in fact it's you. I GAVE YOU THE LINK. Go ahead and click on it! How hard can that be?

@DeanAllan- Correct.
Seems like Marty doesn't get that Pentax announced this lens in development way before for the Q. Here are both the Pentax and Olympus dpreview news press releases (including their dates) on when each company announced what:

I am repeating the Pentax link *again* for convenience of those that missed it earlier. Pretty much 6+ months earlier than Olympus.

Feb 7, 2012
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/02/07/Pentax_In-development_lenses
"Pentax will use the CP+ show in Japan to show a series of lenses and accessories it has in development, including..."

Sep 17, 2012
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/09/17/Olympus-m-zuiko-digital-ED-60mm-F2-8-macro-17mm-F1-8-black-12mm-F2-body-cap-lens

Do note Pentax was not "planning" but making an announcement. The Pentax Q lens cap has been on its lens roadmap for a while.

@GWYNOXY - again you imply that they somehow were influenced by Olympus or the like. I don't know how hard this is to understand- Pentax announced this lens was planned and in active development way before Olympus announced theirs. This means they had all the intent of putting that in the product line irrespective of any competitor (making them first in the digital space actually), as they were working on it!

How on Earth from there you go to Pentax trying to fill their line as Olympus or some competitors do because of the lens cap I don't understand. There may be other products that way (witness the K-5 & K-7 nomenclature but that's in name only), but the lens cap is certainly not one of them.

Richard - you didn't know Pentax users have been screaming for (and dreaming of) a toy cap lens for the Q for "ages"?

This is BIG!

Much more important than, say, a TC. Or a viable extreme telephoto. Or a FF camera. Or...

Ok, Ok, maybe I expressed myself with wrong words (poor english, sorry....). Maybe just "releasing all products Hoya promissed ages ago" was the right ones to begin with.

Still, even if some of those products didn't apeal to most users, some are more interesting than others (yes, i'm talking about the flash the people here seen to ignoring).

Richard: do you own Pentax products? Pentax offers enthusiast level products for a great pricepoint since the 1950's. I still shoot my spotmatics.

I dont see Pentax releasing a FF product until FF is standard amongst all makes of SLR at all pricepoints. There has been no future proofing in their lens roadmap with almost every development consisting of Apsc tech. Pentax will continue to offer updated options of their current line- they will not be leading the arms race.

Interestingly enough Pentax did release the great 84-249mm equivalent telephoto lens for the Q as promised with the pleasant surprise of being constant F2.8. But let's ignore that.