[shaolen]

So I thought the HD lenses have red rings but these new ones have green ones. I wish they kept the limiteds that way

[ruggiex]

Maybe they just didn't want the market to be confused between old Ltd vs new Ltd when there are 2 versions of the lens. Imagine a lot of people buys HD Ltd and gets SMC Ltd without noticing...

[max_pyne]

What if they would differentiate between Crop (APS-C) and FF by Red and Green rings on the lens?
I like green, but that would make life easier for the new customer of Pentax / Ricoh, right?

[jatrax]

I believe they mentioned that going forward lenses would have green rings, the red is gone. Speculation is that they read the horrified expressions of displeasure at the red color on Pentax Forums and felt they had to change.

Star lenses will retain gold rings. It seems, if this is true, the only red rings will be on the DA Limiteds and the 16-85.

[ruggiex]

I think we also have to see if the new retractable HD 18-50 is red or not vs the bundled version of SMC 18-50. I have a hunch that it will be red. I still think the DFA 70-200 having both green and gold is odd.

[Blue]

I believe they mentioned that going forward lenses would have green rings, the red is gone. Speculation is that they read the horrified expressions of displeasure at the red color on Pentax Forums and felt they had to change.

Star lenses will retain gold rings. It seems, if this is true, the only red rings will be on the DA Limiteds and the 16-85.

I thought that odd given red being historically associated with Asahi Pentax packaging. That said, it is good to be able to tell the 2 version of the DA LTD series apart.

[jatrax]

I thought that odd given red being historically associated with Asahi Pentax packaging. That said, it is good to be able to tell the 2 version of the DA LTD series apart.

Agree. Guess they re-thought it for some reason. I also missed the HD 55-300 which is red ring.

I thought it made sense: gold ring = star lens, red ring = HD coating, green ring = SMC coating. But now, who knows? If it had just been the DA Limiteds with red rings, then they could have re-done the FA limiteds in red and said red = Limited. But with the 16-85 and 55-300 already red that will not work either.

That's what happens when the marketing department gets involved......

[yucatanPentax]

I believe they mentioned that going forward lenses would have green rings, the red is gone. Speculation is that they read the horrified expressions of displeasure at the red color on Pentax Forums and felt they had to change.

Star lenses will retain gold rings. It seems, if this is true, the only red rings will be on the DA Limiteds and the 16-85.

Maybe it is time to start hoarding all the red rings, in anticipation of the demand for such mysterious rare, red-ringed lenses a few years down the line. Maybe they're the future cult lenses?

Seriously though, people are all trying to read something into the ring colors. What if they are just pure marketing and not engineering or representative of anything else? The "newest" version of a re-done lens gets a different color. And we all try to figure out what it means when they aren't even trying to organize the ring colors?

Anyway, as long as the rings aren't yellow. That leaves blue, orange, light blue, purple, pink... ... ... ... ... ... ...

[bdery]

It seems, if this is true, the only red rings will be on the DA Limiteds and the 16-85.

the HD 55-300 has it too.

I still think the DFA 70-200 having both green and gold is odd.

All DA* have that gold ting. I really dig it on my 60-250.

for a while colouring was a mess at Pentax. The DFA 100 macro WR is blue of all things...

[robjmitchell]

I always wondered how the red ring was not infringing on cannon copyright somehow.
Of course the new 70-200/2.8 has aero coating 2, which seems to be a combo of HD over SMC so maybe it should have a multi coloured ring?

[shaolen]

the HD 55-300 has it too.



All DA* have that gold ting. I really dig it on my 60-250.

for a while colouring was a mess at Pentax. The DFA 100 macro WR is blue of all things...

whoa I didn't know that had a ring

[AquaDome]

I sold my HD DA55-300 because the red ring clashed with my green-ring DA Limiteds. I won't miss the red ring.

[Kerrowdown]

I thought the HD lenses have red rings but these new ones have green ones

It's so folk don't confuse them with Canon...

[shaolen]

Man if its really due to the complaints on here about red rings then I for one am glad they're paying attention to us lol. I was opposed to the red myself for the fact it reminds me of canon ughh. Not a canon fan

---------- Post added 02-17-15 at 06:24 AM ----------

I once had a fujifilm HS20 and it had a red ring and everyone kept asking me if it was a canon

[ruggiex]

All DA* have that gold ting. I really dig it on my 60-250.

for a while colouring was a mess at Pentax. The DFA 100 macro WR is blue of all things...

I just realized DA* has always been Green PLUS Gold. I never noticed the green on my 16-50 and 50-135 for some reason so I have been thinking the new DFA looks odd.