Originally posted by FantasticMrFox 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.
From a marketing point of view, replacing a DA* lens with a D-FA looks like a step down, no matter how good the D-FA is. For that reason alone I think that there will still be a Star lens in that range, and not be replaced with the D-FA. If they really want to do that, I think they’d need to designate the 70-200/4 as a D-FA*, which could still happen.
But it all depends on just how they position the 70-200/4. I just took another look at the road map, and noticed there is still the ~70-300 tele zoom, distinct from the 70-200/4. That one will almost certainly be an entry level, consumer grade lens. Unless it’s a crop lens (and since they already have TWO 55-300 consumer grade crop zooms, I doubt it), that will push the position of the 70-200/4 up (as a constant f/4 lens it’s starting above entry level). If the D-FA 70-200/4 is as good or better than the existing DA*60-250, they will either have to up the level with a much better DA* 60-250 mk II (or similar range), redesignate the 70-200/4 a Star lens, or discontinue the 60-250 without an official replacement.
I still hope they keep the 60-250, and I still think there is a placement of the 70-200/4 between the 70-300 and the 60-250 that works, but it’s a small space. We’ll just have to see how things play out.