I feel they have spent too much resource on too many low end zooms but none
of them are good. For instance, there have been three 300mm tele zooms and
none of them good. There were some 200mm tele zooms nobody remember either.
Since almost nobody is buying the 80-200/2.8 zoom, why not made a good yet
affordable 70-210/4ED instead? They managed to design the FA28-70/4 which
has good optics but decided to build it so cheaply it self-destructed.
FA24-90 should be a serious amateur lens, but obviously with lower than
expected built quality. I have never understood the need for a fisheye zoom,
but I am no fisheye shooter either. DA40/2.8 is certainly a ridiculous
decision. Why make DA14 when there is 16-45 zoom? Why not make it wider
which is more practical? Something like the Canon EF-S10-22 would be very
attractive and practical.
Alan Chan
http://www.pbase.com/wlachan
I guess that the F 17-28 is out of production. A funs lens.
I don't understand why Pentax is giving priority in its new lens
development to specialty lenses that will have low demand. While users are
waiting and waiting for a DA 50-200 f4, Pentax brings out a gimmick lens --
the DA 40 f2.8. I'll bet they'd sell a lot more of a DA telezoom with the
same optical quality as the DA 16-45.
Then there are the new D FA macros. Did anyone notice anything wrong with
the FA macros? I have used my FA 100 f2.8 on the *ist D quite a bit, and
the image quality is stunning, even at F22. I don't see how a "digital"
lens could improve on what I already have. I haven't heard anyone complain
about the FA 50 either (which Boz considers the best in its class). The new
D FA macros will apparently be more expensive than the FAs they replace. I
guess they are lighter, but that strikes me as a poor justification for
allocating design and production resources in this way. They are claimed to
be shorter too -- that is true, when the lenses are focused to infinity. In
macro mode, their barrels extend quite a bit, probably to about the same
length as the FA models. I don't like extending barrel designs.
We have been too complimentary here lately. It is time to return to
lambasting Pentax.
Joe (grumpy this morning)
