[ToyTank]

I have 4 of the 5 DA Limited lenses, every one except for DA 35 macro. What does this announcement do for the resale value of my lenses?

I feel for you brother, but I'm waiting on that fire sale now. Just bought a DA 15 coming today, now I wonder if I should send it back...

I'd predict a short term fall in value, but long term I think the SMC and HD will have almost identical value, the discontinued SMC DA will likely get a following and my even become collectible.

[JinDesu]

They don't look that Canon-L style, so I would be fine. And it's a good occasion to compare the new coating to the previous, so...

Yep, they look quite distinctive and nothing like the Canon L lenses.

24 1.4 vs 21 3.2




35 1.4 vs 35 2.8





I might be partial, but I definitely prefer the DA red ring look.

[yellowbrick]

I feel for you brother, but I'm waiting on that fire sale now. Just bought a DA 15 coming today, now I wonder if I should send it back... I'd predict a short term fall in value, but long term I think the SMC and HD will have almost identical value, the discontinued SMC DA will likely get a following and my even become collectible.

You might want to hold onto the DA 15 assuming you got a decent deal on it. But if you paid full-price, you may want to send it back and wait and see how the new lenses are priced...

I hope you're right about the SMC DA limited lenses keeping most of their value, but then again, I love my DA limiteds so much that I don't see myself selling any of them. Unless, of course, I want to replace them with the new versions-- if they are in fact that much better to warrant it!

[goubejp]

No, AeroBrightCoating is not replaced by HD; it's still reserved for their best and most expensive lenses.

The most expensice lens is the DA560 and it uses HD coating...

[Kunzite]

???

The lenses shown still say Pentax-DA on them.

Facts are unable to stop good ol' Pentax bashing.

[Kunzite]

The most expensice lens is the DA560 and it uses HD coating...

And the HD D FA645 90mm macro uses both HD and ABC coatings.
I didn't mean it as "expensive lenses would automatically use ABC"; that would be too simplistic. Maybe with the 560mm the low elements count made ABC unnecessary, maybe it was too expensive to use it on such large elements.
The thing is, ABC wasn't replaced by HD.

[paranoia23]

this is the end ... but for real ... now you can benchmark the coathings against each other

[Rondec]

I don't particularly care one way or the other, but I do hope they have been working on something else, other than giving all of their lenses an option of two coatings -- one 50 percent better than the other. Well, and I guess a new skin too, for the lenses.

I guess once they had the new coat developed, it was just a matter of time before they offered other lenses with it on it. Still, a little surprising that they will continue the older coatings at the same time. I can't imagine that it would cost that much to add it to the lens. But who knows? Maybe it is made from the tears of fresh water crocodiles who are between 5 and 10 feet in length...

[filoxophy]

Re the HD coating, from the original press release: "This coating assures optical performance almost equal to Aero Bright Coating, another PENTAX-exclusive lens coating process made possible by advanced nanotechnology and applied to higher-class lenses."

As for the design changes, no, I don't think Limiteds "look like" L glass, just that the green ring was (to my knowledge) instantly recognizable as a Pentax lens. Now that distinctiveness has been lost. Again, though, in the scheme of things I welcome this announcement. Ricoh shows their continued commitment to the K mount ecosystem.

[johnmflores]

Are we photographers or fashionistas? Must be a slow news day...

[goubejp]

I would like to see an upgrade of the HD DA*300 with HD, DC motor, focus limiter, same optics.
May be this is the prelude of other lens announcements...

[redrockcoulee]

Are we photographers or fashionistas? Must be a slow news day...

The big problem is that Pentax when deciding to change the coating and blades they also decided to do some small changes in appearances to the lens so that everyone can tell if it is a SMC or HD coating. If Pentax had kept the appearances the same then this Forum could have built a database of lens seriel numbers so that prospective buyers could easily searched this new database instead of the more difficult method of observing the different labelling and the ring colours to determine the type of coating.

[MouLaG Ôfr]

What if Pentax added HD coatings and rounded blades to the the 31 43 and 77? OOOOohhhhh that would be nice! And expensive!!

and WR, please

and maybe a sort of DC, SDM ...

[MouLaG Ôfr]

They probably had to make a compromise, so they could only remove one Pentax label.
The silver Pentax label on the base is removed and replaced by aperture/focal length.

And with the next version, the last Pentax label should disappear

[Kunzite]

By the way - according to digicame-info, two new flashes, the AF540 FGZ II and the AF360 FGZ II will be announced together with the updated Limiteds.