Originally posted by AdirondackMike I may never buy one anyway, but add me to the list.
Believing in the lens / camera compatability of the Pentax system, I bought a
HD Pentax DA 18-50mm 4 - 5.6 DC WR RE to go with the new-to-me
K-5 ll ( only 11xx clicks ). It's a KAF-3, but I didn't know the difference.
Just finished the " Evolution of the Pentax K- mount " and had to look up my lens.
Whew!! Although it does sure seem to work well.
Thanks for starting this.
AdkMike
KAF3 just means in-lens autofocus (only).
The interesting thing about that lens is that's it's an oddball without having a new mount designation. It uses a focus-by-wire system which means that focusing isn't possible at all on Pentax cameras that don't support KAF3 (i.e. those that came before the K10D). You also can't focus if the camera is off. The same applies to the new 55-300mm lens, though in its case, aperture control won't be possible, either.
The good news is that KAF4 requires no new hardware, and thus any
future Pentax camera will still be able to use any Pentax lens that came before it. And as long as this holds true, I don't think it's a problem at all. In a decade all the existing Pentax DSLR models will be obsolete anyway, whereas the lenses will not.
Adam
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