[bdery]

They may also only be drawing down on inventory, PF, and not making any new ones

I certainly hope their production use some kind of Lean Manufacturing, and that they do not stockpile that much inventory.

I believe the starbursts achieved in other lenses like the 15mm limited represents an exploitation of a lens design. I doubt the creators were going for this, and "corrected" it with the new 15mm HD by adding rounded blades.

I agree this is probably the case. What is sad is that they did not saw the starbursts as a beneficial feature, to be preserved and marketed. In the "old days", when lenses such as the FF Limited were made, such hard-to-measure features were valued. Nowadays test charts drive design choices, it seems.

[clackers]

I certainly hope their production use some kind of Lean Manufacturing, and that they do not stockpile that much inventory.

They would not want stockpiles, either, for business reasons.

Much easier not to make them in the first place, I fear.

There is a thread joking about how rare Pentax owners are. The number of Pentax owners who also buy Sigma or Tamron lenses is by definition smaller.