Summary of new products today - HD 16-50/2.8, HD DFA 21mm Limited

Thought I'd post here a quick summary of the new products announced today.

HD DA* 16-50mm f/2.8, a long (looong) overdue replacement to the current DA*. It has a PLM motor, which as far as I'm aware can only be used in lenses in which the weight of the focusing group is very low as it's not very powerful, though very fast. Hopefully not too weak and won't lead to yet another dud 16-50mm in the lineup.

HD DFA 21mm Limited - a brand new Limited to cover full frame. Unlike it's much older brethren it'll be WR and have a built-in focus motor. Max aperture not yet known.

Other than that, a reminder about the DFA 85/1.4 and some info about the forthcoming APS-C flagship:

* It'll have a battery grip available
* It has a re-designed optical viewfinder with 1.05x magnification which they claim gives an image the same size as that in the viewfinder of the K-1.

Useful summary. Interesting video and I enjoyed the style, perfectly in keeping with our current wfh lockdown scenario using teams, Webex, zoom etc.
Both the 21 and 85 are real eye catchers for me. We've been lamenting a wide angle prime for the K-1 series and this is a good indicator of where Pentax sees the Limited series continuing. The 85? Well I have its baby brother the 50/1.4 and can't wait to see how the 85 performs when I buy it on release.

It was an interesting video.. One I found very curious.. I think it says that we are not giving up on the DSLR market entirly. But what we are producing won't be mass market products as such. But higher end professional goods. Like a lot of therir clientell I too cannot wait for the 85mm f1.4. But cant see me wanting to pay it's price...!! Though I did plunge for the 15-30 and 24-70.

The new lenses look good. That 21mm will be amazing on the K-1. The revamped 16-50 also looks good but will have to wait and see.