Originally posted by aurele Hell ! Many people bash this lens even though nobody have seen it, tried it, or got any clue on the price !
Maybe it's to replace the 18-55 which would be great ! It have DC (for how long have we been whining about the lack of this DC motor into entry level lens ? ), it have WR (obviously to be paired with a WR body - K50/K3), ED glass (no more fringing ?).
If it's priced around the same as the current 18-55 non WR, then what's to whine about ?
I understand many where hoping a 16-85 f2.8 or f4 (inc. me for example), but isn't that a small step in the right direction ?
I expect it to be priced around 550-600 euros, e.g. similar to the Canon and Nikon offerings. Compared to those, it doesn't have VR, but it does have WR. And the V and W letters are so close together in the alphabet that the cost of those features should be nearly identical as well.
Actually, the longer I think about it, the more this lens makes sense to me. The 18-55 is your standard kit lens to get started. Sigma has a 17-70 offering that is faster than Pentax's, so they are having a hard time competing there with the DA 17-70 (even though that is a very good piece of glass imho). Then there is the 18-135, which is light, compact and good for what it is, but doesn't really shine in the long end as an allround lens. A 16-85 distinguishes itself from the Sigma by being longer and wider and having WR. Yeah it's not a fast lens, but OTOH the 15/16-85s from the competition aren't any faster.