HD PENTAX-D FA 70-210mm F4 ED SDM WR now official

HD PENTAX-D FA 70-210mm F4 ED SDM WR

A compact, lightweight and weather-resistant telephoto zoom lens for use with 35mm-format full-frame digital SLR providing great portability

Even though it has a highly portable design, this high-performance zoom lens covers a 35mm full-frame image circle. Its compact, lightweight, weather-resistant body lets users carry it anywhere with ease, and effortlessly capture high-quality images of a wide range of subjects, including landscapes, portraits, close-ups and sports events. Use of the high-grade, multi-layer HD Coating to the optics optimizes the overall lens coating performance, while assuring edge-to-edge sharpness and minimizing flare and ghost images in backlit situations. Thanks to a minimum focusing distance of 0.95 meters and a maximum magnification of 0.32 times, it provides a photographic coverage much wider than that of previous models.

$1,099.95

https://us.ricoh-imaging.com/product/hd-pentax-d-fa-70-210mm-f4-ed-sdm-wr/

And £/€1,199. Available on the 15th of February.

GossCTP wrote:

Looks to be the Tamron 70-210. Same number of elements, min focus and max magnification.

to quote Lenstip

”The summary can be only positive – you get a lens optically better than the products of Nikon or Canon and it is also noticeably cheaper.”

Add Pentax coating and quality control and you have a clear winner exclusive to Pentaxians. 👌

GossCTP wrote:

K0d wrote:

GossCTP wrote:

Looks to be the Tamron 70-210. Same number of elements, min focus and max magnification.

to quote Lenstip

”The summary can be only positive – you get a lens optically better than the products of Nikon or Canon and it is also noticeably cheaper.”

Also retails for $800 in those mounts.

Add Pentax coating and quality control and you have a clear winner exclusive to Pentaxians. 👌

I don't believe that Pentax has a coating edge anymore. Everyone's coatings seem top notch. Dubious on the quality control as well. For the extra money there is WR and quick shift focusing, which I don't think is present in the Tammy.

Don't forget the focus limiter, and when it comes to coatings all companies seem to have good coatings but there are examples where some companies really do poorly when it comes to flare control even on the most modern lenses.

GossCTP wrote:

K0d wrote:

GossCTP wrote:

Looks to be the Tamron 70-210. Same number of elements, min focus and max magnification.

to quote Lenstip

”The summary can be only positive – you get a lens optically better than the products of Nikon or Canon and it is also noticeably cheaper.”

Also retails for $800 in those mounts.

Add Pentax coating and quality control and you have a clear winner exclusive to Pentaxians. 👌

I don't believe that Pentax has a coating edge anymore. Everyone's coatings seem top notch. Dubious on the quality control as well. For the extra money there is WR and quick shift focusing, which I don't think is present in the Tammy.

The Tamron version has quickshift and weather seals in the exact same locations. Many (here) tout the Pentax WR as if it is a rare feature. But that's available on a lot of different brands lenses today. All the modern Tamron lenses for example have it.

I will be interested in seeing a 1 to 1 comparison of flare, ghosting, contrast in hard light and other situations between Tamron and Pentax versions of this lens. Out of curiosity more than anything since you can't get one on the other.

MightyMike wrote:

Don't forget the focus limiter, and when it comes to coatings all companies seem to have good coatings but there are examples where some companies really do poorly when it comes to flare control even on the most modern lenses.

That's Sigma and their disrespectable ways of cutting the cost.

Oiche wrote:

MightyMike wrote:

GossCTP wrote:

K0d wrote:

GossCTP wrote:

Looks to be the Tamron 70-210. Same number of elements, min focus and max magnification.

to quote Lenstip

”The summary can be only positive – you get a lens optically better than the products of Nikon or Canon and it is also noticeably cheaper.”

Also retails for $800 in those mounts.

Add Pentax coating and quality control and you have a clear winner exclusive to Pentaxians. 👌

I don't believe that Pentax has a coating edge anymore. Everyone's coatings seem top notch. Dubious on the quality control as well. For the extra money there is WR and quick shift focusing, which I don't think is present in the Tammy.

Don't forget the focus limiter, and when it comes to coatings all companies seem to have good coatings but there are examples where some companies really do poorly when it comes to flare control even on the most modern lenses.

I'll bet any money the HD coatings in the Pentax clone result in a vastly more flare resistant lens than Tamrons.

I wouldn't bet on vastly!

Pentax still have the best coatings, I gasp at how bad other brands are in UWA and WA lenses. Nothing ruins a good backlit photo as much as lens flare. This is why for me Pentax has the best landscape camera system.

There is one thing that so many people on these forums and elsewhere don't realize about flare, its not just about coating, sure coating has helped a great deal but all it can really do is reduce the strength of the reflection, it cannot remove the reflection. You need to design a lens so that it doesn't have similar parallel curvatures or lack there of from air-gapped elements next to each other to eliminate most flare from an optical design, having the curvatures quite different from one another will allow any reflections to leave the optical path rather than stay in the optical path all the way to the sensor. The problem is that some optical formulas and designs don't lend themselves to this and will always induce worse flare than others, therefore certain lens types in certain focal length ranges unless designed quite rare and fancily will always have problems with flare where the best coatings will only minimize the amount of reflection and not the reflection itself.

I believe the HD coatings will weaken the strength of the reflections that occur in this new lens but those reflections will still be there as the optical layout hasn't changed.

So where one sees a wide angle lens (or any lens) with very little flare as compared to another similar lens and thinks its due to the coating, go back and look at the optical layout differences and realize that the coating isn't the whole story, its not even the majority factor!

K0d wrote:

Add Pentax coating and quality control and you have a clear winner exclusive to Pentaxians. 👌

https://patents.justia.com/patent/20090244709

https://patents.justia.com/patent/8586144

Before you get too excited about exclusiveness do realize the Ricoh coating we typically speak about is a Hoya development as seen in application for the patent, and was transferred to Ricoh when patent was granted. One reference is the patent application, the other reference the patent granted for that application. I don't know who makes the optical glass for Tamron, but Hoya is a major supplier of glass to many lens makers.

If QC is a step up that would be a big plus as variability in QC seems to always be a forum topic with Tamron.