[ogl]

The lens could be made of pure gold but it's still 40mm f4 which is very meh.

DA16-45 was f4 and it was very good zoom

[tram57]

IQ is king but some on here want the impossible. I can see where Pentax are going lens wise now, usable size, usable aperture wrapped in gorgeously detailed bodies. The rest of the market is going big, Pentax are following their traditionally small but massive bang for buck IQ wise. I was chatting with a visiting PRO photographer (stock model shooting, circa 25,000 images a month) at my club and he had a 5D III with a 85 f/1.2 mounted. I put my K-5 with 77 beside it and it was dwarfed, one question asked, what's the typical aperture you set when taking a portrait? Between f/2 and f/2.8 was the reply. So there fellow forumers is the answer.. Pentax design lenses to be usable from wide open without sacrificing or encountering weight / handling issues. They actually want you to sling your K whatever on your shoulder, take a walk and enable you to create some images that will make you want to take more and better ones. Not to design lenses that are so big or expensive or so difficult to use that you won't be taking them out.
I like this little zoom, as someone mentioned earlier, a street shooting ninja zoom

Remember, to get the equivalent image with the same DoF with APS-C as with FF you have to use about one stop faster apeture and 67% of the focal length.

[thibs]

Remember, to get the equivalent image with the same DoF with APS-C as with FF you have to use about one stop faster apeture and 67% of the focal length.

But the targets of this lens don't give a damn about DOF.

[starbase218]

I expect this lens to be as sharp as the primes and a much better performer than the kit lens. Plus it looks much better. I don't really see competition with the kit lens(which is so cheap it might as well be free). More with the limited primes in that range and maybe with the 17-70 and 16-50 but those lenses have a different philosophy.

The point is exactly that: the kit lens is so cheap. I remember the 16-45/4 selling for about 220 euros and for that price it was a great lens. Compared to the kit it had a constant aperture, more wide-angle, less distortion, almost no vignetting... I liked it a lot, it was a solid lens. But this is not going to cost 220 euros. And it has less range, and a variable aperture (I like shooting in M mode).

I also don't care too much about how a lens looks. It's not as if I can see it when I look through the viewfinder. I care more about what the lens looks at.

[lytrytyr]

But it's unreal to order in Europe and USA for many years.

No, you can still find a new FA 20-35 in the US:

http://www.cccamera.com/spec_sheet.html?catalog[name]=Pentax-smc-P-FA-20-35mm-F%2F4.0-AL-Lenses---SLR-%26-Compact-System&catalog[product_guids][0]=255423

[Cynog Ap Brychan]

Remember, to get the equivalent image with the same DoF with APS-C as with FF you have to use about one stop faster apeture and 67% of the focal length.

I usually want more DoF, not less. I certainly don't worry about FF equivalency when I am using an APS-C camera.

[JinDesu]

But it will have DC and WR, and if you don't value those - others do. I can't imagine shooing screwdrive after using my Sigma 50 F1.4. It is so much more discreet in all sorts of situation over
my old F35-70.

[cali92rs]

DA16-45 was f4 and it was very good zoom

It was a good zoom...that went to 16mm and will be more than likely MUCH cheaper than this lens.
My point is once you step up past a certain price, you expect both good build quality and speed. Sigma showed that it can be done.

[monochrome]

No, you can still find a new FA 20-35 in the US:

http://www.cccamera.com/spec_sheet.html?catalog[name]=Pentax-smc-P-FA-20-35mm-F%2F4.0-AL-Lenses---SLR-%26-Compact-System&catalog[product_guids][0]=255423

Damn. Just like posting a great eBay auction.

I found that lens yesterday and I was going over there tomorrow (but WTH, I wasn't going to buy it anyway. I need a dSLR and there's a new one out).

They also have a few 16~45's NIB.

[boriscleto]

The point is exactly that: the kit lens is so cheap. I remember the 16-45/4 selling for about 220 euros and for that price it was a great lens. Compared to the kit it had a constant aperture, more wide-angle, less distortion, almost no vignetting... I liked it a lot, it was a solid lens. But this is not going to cost 220 euros. And it has less range, and a variable aperture (I like shooting in M mode).

I also don't care too much about how a lens looks. It's not as if I can see it when I look through the viewfinder. I care more about what the lens looks at.

Then you aren't the target market for this lens. Let it go.

[monochrome]

Then you aren't the target market for this lens. Let it go.

If I understand correctly, Ricoh's new Pentax Value Proposition is ergonomics, build quality, engineering, and image quality - issued at street price so it holds up there longer. If there are three price points for bodies that's just marketing.

We should expect premium features on everything and a really high build standard on Limited lenses.

How they look is part of the Value Proposition.

[Uluru]

The lens could be made of pure gold but it's still 40mm f4 which is very meh.

Yeah, right. I hope you do understand that f stop by itself means absolutely nothing.

It's the nature of that f4 that matters. I'll take f4 of the Leica's Summicron over f4 of any commercial zoom at any time.
It is not if the lens is f4, but how that f4 is described optically and what is capable of.

For example, f4 on DA70 is absolutely stunning, better say incredible, and I'd pay full price of the lens even if it were that f4 to start from, (and not f2.4).

[Zygonyx]

Yeah, no aspherical lens + extralow dispersion + HD should make a big bargain...
+There is possibly no need of any lens-hood... because negligible flare.

[cali92rs]

Yeah, right. I hope you do understand that f stop by itself means absolutely nothing.

It's the nature of that f4 that matters. I'll take f4 of the Leica's Summicron over f4 of any commercial zoom at any time.
It is not if the lens is f4, but how that f4 is described optically and what is capable of.

For example, f4 on DA70 is absolutely stunning, better say incredible, and I'd pay full price of the lens even if it were that f4 to start from, (and not f2.4).

That's because the DA and leica are stopped down when they are at f4. No lens is as sharp wide open as it is when it's stopped down. And that extra stop sure comes in handy when you are indoors.

[lytrytyr]

No lens is as sharp wide open as it is when it's stopped down.

That depends on where diffraction starts to kick in:

Sigma AF 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM - Lab Test / Review - Analysis