[JinDesu]

Looking at the CP+ video of the lens, it has a very long focus throw it seems? The 70-200 goes from 1.2m, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, and 10m with about 110 degree of rotation while the 150-450 is 2m, 3, 4, 6, 10, and 20, with what appears to be more than 180 degrees of rotation. Is that typical for other such telephotos? With such a long focus throw, those shortcut buttons and switches make a lot more sense.

Link to report for reference: CP+ Report: Pentax 70-200mm and 150-450mm - CP+ 2015 | PentaxForums.com

[Dave L]

This is an image og Jupiter and four of its moons. Shows how much cropping you can do on images taken with F*250-600/5.6. Taken with Q7 and cropped.

Great photo! The question is... can anyone get near this with a DA*300 and the 1.4 teleconverter (any camera)? I may have a go myself when weather conditions are suitable here in southern England, the last time I tried that shot was with my K-5 and 55-300, handheld and it showed the 4 moons but not the Jupiter bands. Also, Jupiter was very over-exposed, so...

Can you detail how you took the shot and if you used tripod, HDR, stacking etc., just so we know what we are up against?

It will also be very interesting to see how the new 150-450 performs at the long end, against the DA* 300 alone and with the teleconverter!

[Newtophotos]

What are the four circles (marked with DA* gold circles in the attached image) at the quarter points of the lens ring with the switches? The video on the home page shows them at the quarter points and it appears that the hand in the video attempts to press one of them.

[Nakedgun]

These are focus buttons allowing the left hand to have more control over the beast when firing without a rest, say. A proposed firmware upgrade for the K-3 will allow this function from that platform.

[siva.ss.kumar]

These are focus buttons allowing the left hand to have more control over the beast when firing without a rest, say. A proposed firmware upgrade for the K-3 will allow this function from that platform.

Oh. Interesting. Any chance of this feature appearing in K5ii/s? Or is it hardware limited and not possible?

[Digitalis]

Any chance of this feature appearing in K5ii/s? Or is it hardware limited and not possible?

I personally don't see why it wouldn't be possible - but I would say pentax probably won't offer it, otherwise they wouldn't sell as many new cameras.

[totsmuyco]

Oh. Interesting. Any chance of this feature appearing in K5ii/s? Or is it hardware limited and not possible?

Yes I second the motion, will this work on the K-5II? This is one handsome beast and I'm going save to have one in the future.

[Cynog Ap Brychan]

Galileo, Kepler, Newton, and others would be amazed!

Never mind them! I'm amazed!

[Gimbal]

I personally don't see why it wouldn't be possible - but I would say pentax probably won't offer it, otherwise they wouldn't sell as many new cameras.

My guess is that they will offer it to older cameras if possible. It would not be wise to try to blackmail people to switch to full frame, they might get pis, upset and switch to something else.

[thibs]

IMO buttons will work but the extra features like setting a focus point may not.

[Barry Pearson]

Oh. Interesting. Any chance of this feature appearing in K5ii/s? Or is it hardware limited and not possible?

IMO buttons will work but the extra features like setting a focus point may not.

I had assumed (without thinking enough about it) that the focus point feature would be controlled entirely by the lens. A bit like using manual override with the focusing ring of the lens.

But now I wonder whether it needs the lens to tell the camera "switch off AF until further notice". (Or should I stop speculating and just wait until March?)

[Gimbal]

I had assumed (without thinking enough about it) that the focus point feature would be controlled entirely by the lens. A bit like using manual override with the focusing ring of the lens.

But now I wonder whether it needs the lens to tell the camera "switch off AF until further notice". (Or should I stop speculating and just wait until March?)

The focus sensors are in the camera so the lens definitely needs to communicate with the house.

[derekkite]

Galileo, Kepler, Newton, and others would be amazed!

I was out this evening, pointed my 500mm at Jupiter and I could see the moons in live view. The challenge was getting the planet detail without blowing the highlights, but enough so the moons show up.

[StigVidar]

Great photo! The question is... can anyone get near this with a DA*300 and the 1.4 teleconverter (any camera)? I may have a go myself when weather conditions are suitable here in southern England, the last time I tried that shot was with my K-5 and 55-300, handheld and it showed the 4 moons but not the Jupiter bands. Also, Jupiter was very over-exposed, so...

Can you detail how you took the shot and if you used tripod, HDR, stacking etc., just so we know what we are up against?

It will also be very interesting to see how the new 150-450 performs at the long end, against the DA* 300 alone and with the teleconverter!

F*250-600/5.6 on a tripod and at 600mm and f/5.6. Camera is a Q7 with the Pentax K->Q adapter. It is just a single shot, DNG-format picture. It was a lot of atmospheric turbulence and not easy to manual focus on it.

[ogl]

What is the shipping time for new DFA zooms?