Three New K-Mount Lenses Coming

No new Pentax announcements at Photokina 2014

By PF Staff in Photokina 2014 on Sep 15, 2014

Pentax rumors leading up to Photokina were thin, and there turns out to be a good reason for this: Ricoh is not supplementing their recent camera releases with anything else.  In other words, Ricoh made no new product announcements today.

The Ricoh Imaging booth at Photokina 2014 will therefore focus on presenting the Ricoh WG-M1, Pentax XG-1, Pentax Q-S1, Pentax K-S1, Pentax K-3 Prestige, and Pentax 645Z cameras: the most recent additions to their product lineup.  We will give you an overview of the booth in a separate article, but remember that the show doesn't officially start for another 21 hours, so it is still subject to change.

For loyal Pentax followers— especially DSLR users— the lack of news might seem like a bit of a let-down.  But there's always a silver lining: Pentax/Ricoh engineers must be hard at work behind the scenes to get the next big thing ready for CP+.  Plus, we can't overlook prior 2014 announcements such as the Pentax 645Z, which while not targeted at your typical Pentax user, is a formidable product.

Despite the lack of official news, it looks like 3 new K-mount lenses are currently under development.  We expect to see prototypes on display tomorrow, but today, all we can report on for now are the corresponding labels:

Photokina 2014 - Pentax Lenses Under Development (K-mount)

These lenses must almost be ready for launch, as they've been present on the Pentax lens roadmap for at least 6 months.  They consist of a fast zoom lens (~70-200mm range), a superzoom lens (~100-400mm), and a walkaround zoom. 

We only have details on the latter, which was revealed in a "reference exhibit" press release at Photokina. It will be known as the HD Pentax-DA 16-85mm F3.5-5.6 ED DC WR, slated for launch at the end of 2014.

Press Release

RICOH IMAGING COMPANY, LTD. is pleased to announce that it will exhibit three interchangeable lenses as reference models at Photokina 2014. These items are currently under development for use with PENTAX digital SLR cameras.

Overview of Products

1. Interchangeable lens for K mount digital cameras
Model name: HD PENTAX-DA 16-85mm F3.5-5.6ED DC WR (tentative)

• High Resolution 5.3times standard zoom lens in small and light weight size
• Weather-resistant construction
• High-grade HD coating
• Smooth, quiet AF operation thanking to a lens-installed AF driving motor
• Market launch: Winter 2014 (tentative)

2. Interchangeable lens for K mount digital cameras
Model name: to be announced later

• High magnification  super-telephoto zoom lens
• Market launch:  Not decided

3. Interchangeable lens for K mount digital cameras
Model name: to be announced later

• Large diameter telephoto zoom lens
• Market launch:  Not decided