[angerdan]

There are some rumors about the DA 560mm f5.6, which does sound interesting:

As far as i have been told, something might happen soon with HD DA 560/5.6 : it seems that exports to Europe have ceased, the reason beeing "non-conformity with EU safety rules".
Another limitation of this lens beeing its slowish AF speed to accomodate properly the K-3 III...
So, in a global product/market analysis, Ricoh Imaging could modernise its lonely FF compatible long-range tele.

Oh no. What have you been told? 560 is going to be EOLd (not that they are produced in large quantities)
If K-3iii can't improvise the 560 performance, then it is a big let down for me. I am hoping to maximise the 560 performance with K-3iii

I don't get what you mean by "EOLd", but the fact that they have stopped delivering new units to Europe is true
Also, the fact that the current SDM drive of the 560 is slow (not enough power / torque), and will not be able to compete with what K-3III's tracking uses require, imho.
So my bet is a new HD DFA 560/5.6 lens with DC engine in the comming months.

"End Of Life" - so basically being discontinued.

Perhaps it is sold out? They made an initial batch of 400 units of this lens. I suspect theres only one batch. It is likely this batch is now depleted.....

The prototype of this lens had collapsible barrel, but for some reason Pentax chickened out....Like they did with the weather sealing for the FA* lenses.....

The current (not so current anymore? ) HD Pentax-DA 560mm f/5.6 ED AW already includes a DC motor.
Source: HD PENTAX-DA 560mmF5.6ED AW / Telephoto Lenses / K-mount Lenses / Lenses / Products | RICOH IMAGING

I always felt - from outside, as I wouldn't have an use for such a long tele in general - that the main "improvement" that could be applied to the 560 would be a shorter body to fit hand luggage size restrictions in flights.
Maybe a collapsing barrel?

Yet they could make the barrel collapsible, considering the amount of empty space inside the lens.

Yes, they could. It is a design based on a Pentax telescope. Maybe they could make several super telephotos based on Pentax telescopes and make them collapsible so that they will be easier to transport?

Yeah, that was my thought as well. Now that they've shown that the 55-300 and 18-50 can collapse quite a lot, maybe they could attempt the same here.

My bad, possibly the first DC generation ?
Hum... this doesn't match with what i heard, but may be the reality.

What did you hear?
The 400 units were stated at the lens launch. It is my guess that they haven't made more. I don't think such lenses fly off the shelf.....

"Initial production volume: 400 units per month" to be more accurate.
There are two assumptions there - that they only made it for one month, and that they never made another batch.

I'm pretty sure that the original japanese press release said 400 units period, not per month (the latter a translation error). 400 units per month is totally unrealistic. After all, the lens costed $7000 upon release.
The lens has been sold for 9.5 years now. Provided that they indeed made 400 units it is not unlikely that the stock is being depleted about now. If so, the question is whether they will just discontinue it, update it (like D-FA treatment) or replace it with something different...

I know for certain that the "one direction" part is not true;
I have had telephoto lens reverse itself several times, especially with my K-30.

They said per month, they always said per month. You can check the announcement: K????????????????????HD PENTAX-DA 560mmF5.6ED AW?????RICOH IMAGING
I'm not blindly relying on Google Translate, the kanji for month is there.

But that is an initial production volume, so it doesn't mean they're making 400 units per month since then.

A much faster AF drive motor would be usefull as well as an shorter build and better tripod mount.

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Last edited by angerdan; 05-21-2021 at 02:29 PM. Reason: fixed typing error: sond -> sound

[zapp]

The current 560 has several flaws, on the other hand it is not that old, so let’s not jump around in circles too soon. A long fixed focal length lens for FF is missing. A large (decently large) aperture tele line could be missed as well (I miss it, not everyone needs it). So yes, good news. New TCs with new tele glass would be nice, but COVID will slow down the process and reduce how much we would be willing to spend.
Collapsible design, modular concept like Leica-R, diffractive optics, 300&600 mm...

[pentaxus]

I wonder what EU safety rule it could be violating.

[timautin]

This might be a bad new for my wallet...

[MikeyBugs95]

The current 560 has several flaws, on the other hand it is not that old, so let’s not jump around in circles too soon. A long fixed focal length lens for FF is missing. A large (decently large) aperture tele line could be missed as well (I miss it, not everyone needs it). So yes, good news. New TCs with new tele glass would be nice, but COVID will slow down the process and reduce how much we would be willing to spend.
Collapsible design, modular concept like Leica-R, diffractive optics, 300&600 mm...

I personally think something small and compact, similar to Nikon's 500mm phase fresnel design, around the 500/600mm focal length would be good. They (Pentax) have an, from what I read, excellent 300mm f4 so if they update the coatings and update the motor to the new ring or DC motors, I think they would nail it. Why reinvent the wheel when they have a good product.

[mlt]

I wonder what EU safety rule it could be violating.

Causes wallets to open

[builttospill]

I don't own the 560, but I own the 250-600. At times I wish I had the 560 due to its light weight. Over the summer I used Canon's newer 600mm in the Teton Mountains and because it was so light it was easy to get great shots handheld. The 250-600 can be challenging to get steady shots on a tripod unless it's a very high-end tripod because the lens is so heavy. I have been able to get a few great handheld shots with the 250-600 but only a few. The Canon 600 felt fake at first because it was held effortlessly. This is a pretty big advantage of the 560.

[zzeitg]

I wonder what EU safety rule it could be violating.

New regulations are generated every month. I'd be more surprised if there's any product not violating some of the rules

[zzeitg]

500 mm f/4 or f/4.5 plus a nice FF TC.... Merry Christmas!

[stevebrot]

C - O - N - J - E - C - T - U - R - E ...

HD PENTAX-DA 560mmF5.6ED AW / Telephoto Lenses / K-mount Lenses / Lenses / Products | RICOH IMAGING


Steve

[pschlute]

I cannot believe that a lens that is bought by a very few users is causing so much excitement.

[StiffLegged]

I wonder what EU safety rule it could be violating.

Lack of guard rails. The user instructions also omit to warn you not to walk out into traffic while using this lens on a K-5ii.

[Paul the Sunman]

I cannot believe that a lens that is bought by a very few users is causing so much excitement.

I believe the excitement is more about what this lens could/should have been.

[pres589]

I'm now wondering how many of these lenses they made, total, because 400 and that's it sounds either wrong or sad.

[MarkJerling]

I'm now wondering how many of these lenses they made, total, because 400 and that's it sounds either wrong or sad.

Did you buy one?