Originally posted by auricle When was that released?
The HD Pentax-DA 55-300mm f/4.5-6.3 ED PLM WR RE was announced (not released) on June 8th, 2016, together with the K-70.
---------- Post added 07-15-2017 at 12:01 AM ----------
Originally posted by biz-engineer Most camera makers announce new products in September. Two reasons for this:
- a lot of pentax are away , on vacation, no always following the latest news;
- end of year if when sales of electronic products are peaking.
Announcing new product when a larger number of people are willing to buy is a winning strategy.
Announcing new products in summer time and nothing around September-November time frame is the worst thing to do.
It is rare to have people expecting any camera company to release new products in the middle of summer , if Ricoh would do that, they would be the only ones
No, they wouldn't. Leica TL2 was announced on July 10th. Nikon announced the AF-P Nikkor 70-300mm F4.5-5.6E ED VR three days ago and the successor to Nikon D810 is expected to be announced on July 25th.
In 2016:
- Fujifilm announced the X-T2 on July 7th
- Sony the Zeiss Planar FE 50mm F1.4 ZA on July 11th
- Phase One the Schneider Kreuznach 40-80mm LS F4.0-5.6 and 75-150mm LS F4.0-5.6 'Blue Ring' zoom lenses on July 18th
- Samyang the XEEN 135mm T2.2 on the same day
- Leica the silver version of the APO-Summicron-M 50mm F2 ASPH on July 20th
- Nikon the AF-S Nikkor 105mm F1.4E ED on July 27th
- Samyang the 35mm F1.2 ED AS UMC CS on August 1st
- Casio the EX-FR200 on August 5th
- Samyang the 20mm F1.8 ED AS UMC on August 8th
- Nikon the D3400, the AF-P DX Nikkor 18-55mm F3.5-5.6G and the AF-P DX Nikkor 70-300mm F4.5-6.3G ED on August 17th
- Tamron the SP 90mm F2.8 Di Macro and TAP-in console for Sony A-mount on August 19th
- Canon the EOS 5D Mark IV, the EF 16-35mm F2.8L III USM and the EF 24-105mm F4L IS II USM on August 25th
- Fujifilm the X-A3 and the Fujinon XF 23mm F2 R WR on the same day
- Sony the FE 50mm F2.8 Macro on August 30th
and so on and so forth.
Ricoh Imaging are slowing down the rhythm of announcement of ILC-related Pentax-branded products, that's all:
2013: 19 new products (compact cameras excluded)
2014: 11 new products
2015: 10 new products
2016: 7 new products
2017 YTD: 1 new product.