Pentax K-m

Thanks for the link.

"11 elements in 8 groups" indicates that it is a mark II type.

DA 18-55 II is 220g without the hood and caps, so the DA-L 18-55 is genuinely lighter by 20 grams.

DA-L 50-200 is 25 grams lighter than DA 50-200.

This presumably means that as a cost saving exercise the hoods are not included with the lenses. I would call this a retrograde step as even with SMC coating I think these complex lenses need a lens hood always.

What a shame it is that Pentax are penny pinching like this to compete with Canon and Nikon on price.

I would have thought there were other ways of doing it.

If indeed that is what is happening, and it's too soon to say for sure!

An entry level DSLR could be an excellent way to raise more sales/cash for Pentax and to woo the users of "bridge" cameras.

If this helps to pay for more research and brings more and better products to market sooner then I won't be complaining. After all, I don't need to buy the cheaper models if I don't want to.

I would suspect that the low cost DSLR will be another battle ground for the big players and it may be worrying for the bridge camera manufacturers....