Originally posted by jatrax The new 70-200 is marked DFA not DFA*.
But does it mean all that much? The '*' denotes build quality and optical quality. They put the best optical design they are capable of into a * lens, but designs get better over time. E.g. the Canon 70-200 f/4 L is considered a stellar lens. I doubt Pentax' new 70-200 f/4 will perform worse optically than the 60-250 will, especially as the latter was designed for APS-C cameras, and, while covering the FF image circle, was not found by Pentax to be good enough to be officially labelled as FF worthy.
What aspects does that leave? Build quality and weather sealing. Could be that the 70-200 will only be WR, not AW. That'd be a plus for the 60-250. Build quality wise, the non-D FA* 28-105 and 15-30 seem pretty solid.
Quote: 60-250 is a very different range than 70-200.
I disagree, I find the ranges very similar. 60 vs. 70 mm is a rather small difference, and so is 200 to 250 - at such high focal lengths, the actual difference in field-of-view becomes rather small (I actually just mounted my 55-300 to compare 200 vs. 250 mm).