Do we really need/want updated DA★ lenses?

Several reactions in the main K-3 Mark III news have mentioned a keen desire for new DA★ 16–50mm and/or DA★ 50–135mm lenses. Aside from some Sonic Drive Motor (SDM) reworking circa 2015, these lenses haven't changed since their introductions in late 2007. Ricoh/Pentax finally rounded out the "trinity" of professional, constant-aperture ƒ/2.8 lenses in 2019 with the DA★ 11–18mm, so chances are that one will hold up until 2032

What about the 16–50 and the 50–135? Are you keen for updates to the professional DA zoom lineup?

(And I guess we can lump in the ƒ/4 DA★ 60–250, which is also a 2007 release.)

PocketPixels wrote:

Several reactions in the main K-3 Mark III news have mentioned a keen desire for new DA★ 16–50mm and/or DA★ 50–135mm lenses. Aside from some Sonic Drive Motor (SDM) reworking circa 2015, these lenses haven't changed since their introductions in late 2007. Ricoh/Pentax finally rounded out the "trinity" of professional, constant-aperture ƒ/2.8 lenses in 2019 with the DA★ 11–18mm, so chances are that one will hold up until 2032

What about the 16–50 and the 50–135? Are you keen for updates to the professional DA zoom lineup?

(And I guess we can lump in the ƒ/4 DA★ 60–250, which is also a 2007 release.)

I want to see more DFA* and DFA limited lenses, not DA* ones.

You're very keen on the "professional" tag, but I doubt there are many people earning their living with APS-C Pentax gear, so these are high end lenses. I don't know if the the existing ones have optical formulations which will last and if they need minor revisions, but tweaking low volume , high cost lenses in a way which nets very few extra sales seems like a bad use of scarce resources.

James O'Neill wrote:

PocketPixels wrote:

Several reactions in the main K-3 Mark III news have mentioned a keen desire for new DA★ 16–50mm and/or DA★ 50–135mm lenses. Aside from some Sonic Drive Motor (SDM) reworking circa 2015, these lenses haven't changed since their introductions in late 2007. Ricoh/Pentax finally rounded out the "trinity" of professional, constant-aperture ƒ/2.8 lenses in 2019 with the DA★ 11–18mm, so chances are that one will hold up until 2032

What about the 16–50 and the 50–135? Are you keen for updates to the professional DA zoom lineup?

(And I guess we can lump in the ƒ/4 DA★ 60–250, which is also a 2007 release.)

I want to see more DFA* and DFA limited lenses, not DA* ones.

You're very keen on the "professional" tag, but I doubt there are many people earning their living with APS-C Pentax gear, so these are high end lenses. I don't know if the the existing ones have optical formulations which will last and if they need minor revisions, but tweaking low volume , high cost lenses in a way which nets very few extra sales seems like a bad use of scarce resources.

What I would love to see from Pentax are:

a DA⭐️50-150 f2.8

a FA 50-500 SDM (or 60-600)

PentUp wrote:

James O'Neill wrote:

PocketPixels wrote:

Several reactions in the main K-3 Mark III news have mentioned a keen desire for new DA★ 16–50mm and/or DA★ 50–135mm lenses. Aside from some Sonic Drive Motor (SDM) reworking circa 2015, these lenses haven't changed since their introductions in late 2007. Ricoh/Pentax finally rounded out the "trinity" of professional, constant-aperture ƒ/2.8 lenses in 2019 with the DA★ 11–18mm, so chances are that one will hold up until 2032

What about the 16–50 and the 50–135? Are you keen for updates to the professional DA zoom lineup?

(And I guess we can lump in the ƒ/4 DA★ 60–250, which is also a 2007 release.)

I want to see more DFA* and DFA limited lenses, not DA* ones.

You're very keen on the "professional" tag, but I doubt there are many people earning their living with APS-C Pentax gear, so these are high end lenses. I don't know if the the existing ones have optical formulations which will last and if they need minor revisions, but tweaking low volume , high cost lenses in a way which nets very few extra sales seems like a bad use of scarce resources.

What I would love to see from Pentax are:

a DA⭐️50-150 f2.8

a FA 50-500 SDM (or 60-600)

I'd like a DFA 28-200 WR. (doesn't need to be * or fast ) , And a DFA 28mm prime.

Then a DFA* 24 , more amigos for the DFA Limited 21. (Even updates to the 3 amigos to get them off screw drive and onto HD coatings instead of SMC)

James O'Neill wrote:

I want to see more DFA* and DFA limited lenses, not DA* ones.

You're very keen on the "professional" tag, but I doubt there are many people earning their living with APS-C Pentax gear, so these are high end lenses. I don't know if the the existing ones have optical formulations which will last and if they need minor revisions, but tweaking low volume , high cost lenses in a way which nets very few extra sales seems like a bad use of scarce resources.

I earn my living with APS-C Pentax gear, and I own a DA★ lens, yet I do nearly all my commercial work with an old K200D and Sigma 28–105mm. I suppose that makes my Sigma kit zoom my "professional" lens. The light kit is what really matters for product photography, so I usually leave my "high end" as you call it lens at home.

Pentax revamped most of the APS-C Limited line around 2013, adding HD coatings (delightful) and rounding the aperture blades (unforgivable). The lens hood redesign and HD update to the 10–17mm Fish-Eye in 2019 were welcome if incremental updates.

I'm wondering how many professionals bought the original DA★ lenses and APS-C cameras because those were the only K-mount offerings back then. (Meaning, they weren't interested in 645 gear, and they would have bought fullframe cameras and FA★ lenses had those been available.)

Partly because my office equipment is so bargain-basement, I find my personal DA★ and K-S2 to be quite marvelous on weekend hikes, but I recognize that mine is an unusual case.

PocketPixels wrote:

Several reactions in the main K-3 Mark III news have mentioned a keen desire for new DA★ 16–50mm and/or DA★ 50–135mm lenses. Aside from some Sonic Drive Motor (SDM) reworking circa 2015, these lenses haven't changed since their introductions in late 2007. Ricoh/Pentax finally rounded out the "trinity" of professional, constant-aperture ƒ/2.8 lenses in 2019 with the DA★ 11–18mm, so chances are that one will hold up until 2032

What about the 16–50 and the 50–135? Are you keen for updates to the professional DA zoom lineup?

(And I guess we can lump in the ƒ/4 DA★ 60–250, which is also a 2007 release.)

I would never touch any of the DA* lenses that use the Sudden Death Motor.  To the best of my knowledge Pentax has never admitted a problem with them or updated the lens designs.  If they made changes in 2015 they did it extremely quietly.  At this point I'm not interested, even if they redid them from the ground up.

Smitty1 wrote:

Mark Ransom wrote:

PocketPixels wrote:

Several reactions in the main K-3 Mark III news have mentioned a keen desire for new DA★ 16–50mm and/or DA★ 50–135mm lenses. Aside from some Sonic Drive Motor (SDM) reworking circa 2015, these lenses haven't changed since their introductions in late 2007. Ricoh/Pentax finally rounded out the "trinity" of professional, constant-aperture ƒ/2.8 lenses in 2019 with the DA★ 11–18mm, so chances are that one will hold up until 2032

What about the 16–50 and the 50–135? Are you keen for updates to the professional DA zoom lineup?

(And I guess we can lump in the ƒ/4 DA★ 60–250, which is also a 2007 release.)

I would never touch any of the DA* lenses that use the Sudden Death Motor. To the best of my knowledge Pentax has never admitted a problem with them or updated the lens designs. If they made changes in 2015 they did it extremely quietly. At this point I'm not interested, even if they redid them from the ground up.

I got a brand new boxed DA* 16-50mm from Ricoh corporate after repair staff couldn't figure out how to repair my first one and 3x in the shop for the same issue (couldnt infinity focus; super soft) . This was 2016.

The SDM in the new one failed within a year of extremely light use. I took it out maybe 3 or 4 times that year for a couple hours at a time in fair weather.

It was around that time I sold it and a lot of other things.

My DA* 50-135mm SDM failed too. I do think they need a DC motor or some other form of drive motor.

Yes, that's the commonly reported failure scenario - the less you use the lens, the more likely it is to fail.  Very counter intuitive.

Since I never give my lenses a real workout, they'd be guaranteed to fail on me.

The reputation of the 16-50 and Pentax's failure to address the situation kept me from purchasing any SDM lenses. I have the 16-85 for Pentax and the 16-55 F/2.8 for Fuji, so I don't have any further need in this area.

I'm not one bit interested in 'updated' lenses that have no filter thread.

PRISCILLA TURNER wrote:

I'm not one bit interested in 'updated' lenses that have no filter thread.

With the notable exception of the HD 10–17mm Fish-Eye, are there any current Pentax lenses that lack filter threads?

PocketPixels wrote:

PRISCILLA TURNER wrote:

I'm not one bit interested in 'updated' lenses that have no filter thread.

With the notable exception of the HD 10–17mm Fish-Eye, are there any current Pentax lenses that lack filter threads?

This one: HD Pentax-D FA 15-30mm f/2.8 ED SDM WR, otherwise I might have gone full-frame for the beautiful maximum angle. W/A is difficult that way, and a fast W/A lens will have too curved a front element. For me, speed is not a selling-point when there's no thread.

I hope the next update be DA* 50-135.

Then go to primes: DA*300 f4 and DA* 55.

But please Ricoh, don't take forever to do it.

PRISCILLA TURNER wrote:

PocketPixels wrote:

PRISCILLA TURNER wrote:

I'm not one bit interested in 'updated' lenses that have no filter thread.

With the notable exception of the HD 10–17mm Fish-Eye, are there any current Pentax lenses that lack filter threads?

This one: HD Pentax-D FA 15-30mm f/2.8 ED SDM WR, otherwise I might have gone full-frame for the beautiful maximum angle. W/A is difficult that way, and a fast W/A lens will have too curved a front element. For me, speed is not a selling-point when there's no thread.

I bought it and sent it back. For all its fine qualities it was too big and too heavy to walk around with. It's just not practical lens.  Paradoxically I'm in love with the DFA*85 which is big and heavy, but I want to be able to take a zoom on a long walk - which is less of a consideration with the big 85. And a massive zoom which only covers the wide range means taking two zooms.

SungiBr wrote:

I hope the next update be DA* 50-135.

Then go to primes: DA*300 f4 and DA* 55.

But please Ricoh, don't take forever to do it.

I'm curious. What do you want changed with the DA* 300 ?

1. The wide * zoom is brand new

2. The normal * zoom 16-50 should be completely redesigned. The new one is on the roadmap, So that debate is of little essence.

3. The long end is trickier, as both the 50-135 and 60-250 are excellent optically, and much smaller than their FF counterparts. They could use new motors, but i think the new optical formula (if they decide to re-do them) should not stray too far. Unlike FF, aps-c really should be size-conscious.

I love the 15-30. Yeah, it's huge and won't take filters, but it's absolutely fantastic and tack sharp all over, with incredible contrast. When it tight quarters, or if you want to shoot architecture, it's a no-brainer. A real joy at night too on the K1, aiming for the start.

I don't miss the filter thread, although i really thought i would before getting it.

miles green wrote:

I love the 15-30. Yeah, it's huge and won't take filters, but it's absolutely fantastic and tack sharp all over, with incredible contrast. When it tight quarters, or if you want to shoot architecture, it's a no-brainer. A real joy at night too on the K1, aiming for the start.

I don't miss the filter thread, although i really thought i would before getting it.

Interesting, for shooting architecture I would find not being able to use a circular polarizer to be major drawback and probably a deal-breaker.