Pentax has announced details on two new lenses designed exclusively for Pentax digital SLRs. The wide DA* 16-50mm and the telephoto DA* 50-135mm, both at f/2.8, are weather and dust resistant and carry a new supersonic system for quieter focusing.
The new lenses use the KAF2 mount. The smc Pentax-DA* 16-50mm f/2.8 ED AL[IF]SDM is constructed of 15 elements in 12 groups. When fitted with a Pentax DSLR, the lens has an equivalent focal length of 24.5-76.5mm range in 35mm format. The smc-Pentax-DA* 50-135mm f/2.8ED [IF]SDM lens consists of 18 elements in 14 groups and has a range of 76.5-207mm in traditional 35mm.
I hope Pentax refrains from using the asterisk in naming their products. I recall our thesis-writing instructor teaching us that the asterisk is used to denote something that is believed to have existed but is unrecorded, or that is wrong or ungrammatical. Although Pentax wishes that we read it as “star†the public will always be confounded by the asterisk. Pentax should have learned that by now with their *ist D(ebacle).
[Site: PentaxSLR.com]
[Via: DPNow.com]