Two more front ends

The Sigma 135-400 I have is very crisp up until 350'ish and then falls off to the extent that ( for the same FOV ) a 350 shot cropped is better quality than 400 non cropped.

They might have limited the top end focal length to avoid or reduce this fall off.

just a thought

I'm sure i read somewhere that the 400mm zooms become a 380mm when the focussing is taken into account making a difference to the actual focal length. Although i could be wrong..

And when has Pentax ever stuck with convention thinking 31mm 43mm 77mm etc...

When did development on these actually start? It is likely to have been before Ricoh bought Pentax though.

but this issue today is that most people will only shoot with zooms. And FX zooms are huge compared to the dainty prime lenses of yesteryear.

DX-specific zoom OTOH, more closely approximate the delicate cameras of the past. And given that the quality of DX is no longer in question, it makes sense to exploit the vacuum left by CaNikon to produce pro-level DX lenses that are smaller/lighter/sharper. The trend towards smaller will only help Pentax (and Fuji too)

Michael

Speaking as an engineer who designs "Element" proof systems daily, if a lens is described as water proof or water resistant it must be by definition dust proof or dust resistant.

Thanks Brian, the first paragraph does say "water resistant" and "dust proof", but the WR description says "simplified" and "weather resistant".

This doesn't seem to contradict what you are saying? Actually dust proof seems stronger than water resistant, is there an obvious reason why that would be so?

well I suppose it all depends on what level of picture quality they are aiming for doesn't it.

automatically a few people seem to be jumping to the conclusion that it will be equivalent to DA 60-250 or sigma 100-300 in picture quality, ergo more money.

but the HD WR 55-300 is not stunning money. if they are building it to be as good as the 55-300 then I can't see how a £850 - £1100 won't be impossible.

it's all a balance of sales against no sales surely? a mid quality, pentax made WR telephoto lens with the new HD coatings to fill the gap in their lens lineup will garner interest from a lot of users and maybe even tempt across users of other systems. producing a top drawer WR HD telephoto modelled on the likes of the DA 60-250 will garner a lot of drooling but the price will put a lot of people off.

bearing in mind, take a 60-250, add the new 1.5 TC and at 1.5 crop on the APS-C you have 575mm equivalent.

the 135-380 lens is equivalent to 570mm. now why make a 135-380 telephoto at huge money on that basis. who is it going to tempt?

it's not long enough for hardcore birders, and a lot of people with the 60-250 might be content with just adding the new TC to their collection and keeping their lens rather than spend more money and upgrade.

or they sell, saturate the market and see the resale price of the 60-250 go down a bit on the 2nd hand market for a short while and upgrade to the new lens.

obviously weight will be a factor, Pentax are known for good, not humongously heavy lenses so I hope this new lens will not be a beast like the bigma.

but i feel it more likely, if they are trying to build market share that they go the mid picture quality route. build on the good reputation of the 55-300 (which under the right conditions can take a stunning shot) and produce a sub £1000 to £1100 lens for the broader market.

I have the DA* 50-135 and 60-250. Personally I would rather have a TC and retain the IQ. However if the 135-380 is DA* quality then I would be very interested.

having 60-250 + 1.5 conv = 375 so be intrested if it any better ....

well that's my point obione.

if they release this new lens at DA image quality levels and charge accordingly, will many people buy it if they already have the 60-250 and slap the new TC on it?

On the Pentax lens roadmap it has always been indicated as a DA lens, not DA*, which suggests it will probably not be in the same category performance-wise or cost-wise as the DA* 60-250. That rather supports Lancer3397's feelings.

By the way, is this launch at CP+ any more than a rumour or is there actually a trusted source of information?

Best regards

Jim

Well, it looks like the new lenses rumour proved just as accurate as , it seems, most other Pentax rumours But the silver lining is that it gives us all more time to save up for when the 135-380 does eventually materialise.

Good news for medium format fans though. Nice to see that Ricoh is still supporting that market.

Best regards

Jim

The Sigma 17-70/2.8-4 already exists and is already great

"An 18-70WR is also a welcome addition. Hopefully it might be better built than the current 17-70"

What's wrong with the build quality of the 17-70? I've only had one a relatively short time (replacing a Sigma 17-70) & so far I have no problems with it's build quality. Certainly it's in a different league to the Sigma.