Originally posted by Mistral75 There is a new lens on the roadmap: DA Standard Zoom LensAll road-mapped lenses are now scheduled for '2019 or later'. In the former roadmap, the HD Pentax-D FA 70-200mm f/4 was scheduled for 'Spring 2019', the HD Pentax-D FA★ 85 mm f/1,4 for '2019' and the other lenses for '2019 or later'. There is no such distinction any more.
I read this two ways: one, someone in product development at Ricoh put out information earlier that wasn't concrete to keep out negative impressions of their ability to launch new products, and now that it is almost spring 2019, they had to eat their words; or two, Ricoh Company management is re-applying the brakes to product development and it is no longer a sure bet that the 70-200 f4 and D FA * 85 will ever be released. With another company, one might suggest that there is merely a communication problem, but Pentax roadmaps have been so conservative and restrained that I doubt this third explanation is the right one.
I don't want to read too much into the red line for the updated 16-50 APS-C zoom, I don't expect to see a new kit lens for old APS-C bodies placed on the roadmap, especially in the "or later" category, so if it ever gets released, it could be a * lens, in spite of the red line. Asahiman had rumoured updates for the DA * 16-50 f2.8 and DA * 50-135 f2.8 back in the day, so other than possibly signalling that a prototype is sitting on a shelf somewhere, this new indefinite red line doesn't tell us much.