Originally posted by D1N0 So why don't the DA* 60-250 and DA 300 not have focus limiters? Why would Pentax all of a sudden put focus limiters on their zooms? The DA 560 is an extreme Tele. It seems to me that you are reasoning away from an SR switch no matter what. I think chances are quite high Pentax will move to OIS in their tele lenses, since it is more effective than IBIS and it stabilizes the VF image.
Why would Pentax put a focus limiter on their 150-450ish zoom? Because it's an extreme telezoom.
Why would they on their 70-200ish lens? Because all their competitors do on their current ones:
- Canon : 4 lenses, f/2.8 and f/4, with and without IS
- Nikon: 2 lenses, f/2.8 and f/4
- Sony: 3 lenses, f/2.8 and f/4 in A mount and f/4 in E mount.
All these nine lenses from Ricoh competitors have a focus limiter, which is logical taking into account the destination of these lenses and the consequent need for fast autofocus. Do you think that, for the first star lens under Ricoh era, for their first DFA* ever, they could envisage to offer a lesser value to their customers? I do not.
I am not, as you wrote, "
reasoning away from an SR switch", I am considering a variety of clues and mostly reasoning by analogy:
- what is proposed by direct competitors,
- the fact that the second of the two side-by-side switches has the same position as the focus limiter on DA 560mm and a different position from the SR switch on DFA 645 90mm and DA 645 28-45mm,
and I am consequently inclined to consider this is a focus limiter and not a SR switch.
But this is only an opinion, even if I am tempted to consider it as an educated guess. I could be wrong and, as I have written before on the same subject, time will tell.