Nervous nellie...go with Pentax K-1 or move to Sony FF?

yiangelo wrote:

Hello all,

Long time Pentaxian here...late 80's then *ist DS and onward.

LMy Pentax K-30 bit the big one (aperture lever issue) and I've been without a "nice" camera for over a year. I have the following lenses:

Pentax 43 1.9 Limited

Sigma 35 1.4 Art

Tamron 70-200 2.8

Sigma 17-50 2.8

Pentax 50 1.7 (A)

Pentax 10-17

A couple of months ago, I took a leap of faith and purchased the Sony A6500, the Sony 18-105 F4 PZ, and the Sigma 30 1.4 for E-mount.

Now with the announcement of the Pentax K-1 Mark II and the Sony A7III I'm unsure of my next step. On the one hand, I really like the quick AF and very easy manual focusing of my old Pentax lenses with manual aperture (using an Pentax adapter), the small size of the A6500 body and the image quality. I also have some aspirations to shoot video but I'm no Martin Scorsese.

On the other hand, I primarily shoot low light candids/ street photography/ landscapes so I always loved Pentax for that. My choice is either sell all above lenses and go full on Sony FF with the A7III or A7RIII...OR sell the K-mount crop sensor lenses and the Sony 18-105 (absolutely hate the slow power zoom) and buy a K-1 Mark II with a 24-70 2.8 or the 15-30 2.8 and keep the A6500 with the 30 1.4 for a lightweight street/ Scorsese kit?

I love the ergonomics, image quality, and feel of Pentax cameras but the only thing that makes me consider selling everything and going all-in to Sony FF is the question of long-term longevity and the seemingly uncertain future for smaller companies in the photography business. I'd hate to get stuck with a bunch of expensive lenses that would become worthless if Pentax were to close shop.

Opinions? Advice? Help!

Went with Nikon D810 and recent FF sony A7rii mainly for access to zeiss lens and SIgma Art lenses. Both have good sensors and you can use any modern lens with fantastic manual focusing aid on the Sony. Loved my Pebtax days but have not regretted my move.. The business model for the best lens manufacturers to be on pentax mount is not there and mirrorlesss is the future decision for them all. Might be sad but it is reality.

Thank you!

I just received the 24-70 2.8 yesterday evening. What a brick of a lens! A friend of mine has a K-1 with a 15-30 lens and after holding the camera in my hand with that monster I decided against it for now. The 24-70 gets me the 24mm FOV like my old 16-45 and that's by far my most used FOV when I travel.

The 15-30 looks like an amazing lens but I'm going to use the 24-70 for a while with my primes and Tamron 70-200. That's already a lot of weight to carry around on vacation.

Will be posting some pictures with the new 24-70 after a few days with it...

DennisP

Time to start lifting some weights!