[Adam]

Pentax have finally decided to add weather-sealing to their 55-300mm telephoto zoom lens; this new version will also feature the new HD-coating for improved reflectance.

Homepage announcement: HD Pentax-DA 55-300mm F4-5.8 ED WR Lens Announced - Pentax News - PentaxForums.com
Full specifications: HD Pentax-DA 55-300mm F4-5.8 ED WR Reviews - DA Zoom Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database
Pre-order: Pentax HD Pentax-DA 55-300mm f/4-5.8 ED WR Lens B&H Photo Video






HD Pentax-DA 55-300mm F4-5.8 ED WR Lens Announced - Pentax News - PentaxForums.com

Adam
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[seventysixersfan]

other than the red ring, I like the look of it-- a lot like the DA 18-135 design.

[camerons]

Excellent. I've been waiting for this. The newer coating is a bonus.

[filoxophy]

Price only went up $50 for HD and WR. Makes the 55-300 back to being fairly priced, IMHO, after the previous huge price hikes with no improvements.

[Quicksand]

Price only went up $50 for HD and WR. Makes the 55-300 back to being fairly priced, IMHO, after the previous huge price hikes with no improvements.

Wow, yeah, I am surprisingly unoffended by that price!

[Adam]

Fully how little attention this lens is getting in the wake of the K-3. Ricoh should have launched it 2 weeks later!

[Zygonyx]

Fully how little attention this lens is getting in the wake of the K-3. Ricoh should have launched it 2 weeks later!

Or rather two weeks earlier

Personnaly i will not buy this lens, story would have been different if it was DC.
Whatever the challenge to make it DC, screwdrive is just irrelevant when Ricoh puts the turbo with video capabilities of the K-3 !

[Gray]

Price only went up $50 for HD and WR. Makes the 55-300 back to being fairly priced, IMHO, after the previous huge price hikes with no improvements.

It's $100 more than the smc DA 55-300 was in March last year - a 29% increase. The smc DA is a very decent lens, but noisy - characteristics that'll pass to the HD version no doubt.

[Adam]

It's $100 more than the smc DA 55-300 was in March last year - a 29% increase. The smc DA is a very decent lens, but noisy - characteristics that'll pass to the HD version no doubt.

I agree that this lens is greatly in need of a DC/SDM motor...

[JinDesu]

I'm getting this next year with the k-3. Partly because I don't think I can afford the k-3 with a DA*60-250, and partly because my Tamron 70-200 is heavy enough.

[bdery]

If it had existed when I bought my 60-250, I might have considered it. Probably still would have bought the 60-250, but it would have been more interesting for sure.

[Traditional]

Why use a red ribbon around the lens? The color red is used already by Canon on their lenses. Is the reason for this deviation from the green on the lenses, that the logo for Ricoh is in red, and that the Pentax cameras soon will be called "Ricoh", and that Ricoh wants red on every of it's products?
Pentax is the only brand in the market that has a pleasant green color band on many of its lenses, why not continue the nice tradition?
Why not start using the rather unique and pretty pleasant color green more pronounced as corporate color for Ricoh Imaging Company?

[elpolodiablo]

Red = HD coating
Green = SMC coating

Had been the case for the HD DA Limiteds, HD 560MM and that HD 645D lens(45mm?)

[elpolodiablo]

Fully how little attention this lens is getting in the wake of the K-3. Ricoh should have launched it 2 weeks later!

Well it might not get a lot of people talking, but I can see it being bought by a lot of people, I had the DA 55-300 and optically it's wonderful for the price, I have since moved on to constant f2.8 70-200 but I have fond memories of the DA 55-300 (70-200 f2.8 = big and heavy and expensive, no way around it...)

Now, would they be making HD and WR version of the DA 16-45 f4 and DA 12-24 f4 in due time? That would give them a complete range of mid tie WR zoom lenses. That way they can keep SMC DA 18-55WR and SMC DA50-200WR to go with the K-50 for the budget WR market, and kit the HD DA 16-45 f4 WR and HD DA 55-300 WR with higher tier models for enthusiast ?

[Adam]

Well it might not get a lot of people talking, but I can see it being bought by a lot of people, I had the DA 55-300 and optically it's wonderful for the price, I have since moved on to constant f2.8 70-200 but I have fond memories of the DA 55-300 (70-200 f2.8 = big and heavy and expensive, no way around it...)

Now, would they be making HD and WR version of the DA 16-45 f4 and DA 12-24 f4 in due time? That would give them a complete range of mid tie WR zoom lenses. That way they can keep SMC DA 18-55WR and SMC DA50-200WR to go with the K-50 for the budget WR market, and kit the HD DA 16-45 f4 WR and HD DA 55-300 WR with higher tier models for enthusiast ?

The 18-55mm lens needs SDM- IMO Pentax needs to make that their #1 priority.