Jon Glass mused: > > On Dec 31, 2004, at 2:22 AM, Kenneth Waller wrote: > > > You'll enjoy it I'm sure. > > I've had mine for several years and find it is one of my most used > > lenses (I > > use it alot with the 1.4 X-S teleconvertor). > > I was surprised to see the price, I paid around that much several > > years ago, > > when I bought it new. > > > > Lets see some images when you can. > > > I can't imagine myself needing a lens like this, but it's a beauty! > However, if it's "rare" why? Does Pentax no longer make a lens this > big, or like this?
It's a lens that is close to the top of my want list (I don't have a need list; anything I really need will get bought, and I'll work out how to pay for it later :-) It's exceedingly rare in the used market - I've been keeping half an eye out for the last several months, but nothing had shown up. Nor do most of the online stores show it as in stock any more (along with most of the other high-end Pentax lenses). There have been several reasons put forward to explain this, ranging from the pessimistic "Pentax are getting out of the high end; all we are going to get will be consumer-grade glass" to the optimistic "Pentax are going to introduce a whole new range of IS/USM lenses". I'm not sure what I think. I'd like to think we'll at least get a new DA-F lens or two; the recent lens releases from Pentax indicate that they still think there is a market for good glass. Perhaps we'll see a new announcement at Photokina that will clarify the situation. Or perhaps we won't - I'm certainly not going to hold my breath waiting for announcements from Pentax.
