Originally posted by PDL In the later years - the 16-50mm and the 50-135mm * lenses are also Weather Sealed. That is why I bought them. The LTD lenses are not sealed and are designs from the 70's.
I can't really find a definitive date for the Limited Series of Lenses.
I think the limited lenses are more recent vintage than that. The FA limiteds were almost all released in the 90s. The FA 31 came out in 2001, The 43 in 1997, and the FA 77 in 1999. The DFA 21 limited was just released in 2022 and has weather sealing.
The DA limiteds were all released in the 2000s, although I suppose the DNA of the DA 40 goes back to the M 40mm pancake. I started shooting with Pentax around 2005 and I remember the release of all of the DA limiteds and of course, the DA * lenses too.
I believe there were star lenses going back to the A * series -- the A series had a 85mm f1.4, 135mm f1.8, 200mm f2.8, 200mm f4 macro, 300mm, f2.8, 300mm f4, 400mm f2.8, 600mm f5.6, and 1200mm f8 lenses that were in the series. Some of the DNA from these lenses -- particularly the 200mm f2.8 and 300 mm f4 is present in today's star lenses of those focal lengths.