SMC Pentax DA 17-70mm f/4 AL [IF] SDM Lens Announced

Pentax has announced the SMC Pentax DA 17-70mm f/4 AL [IF] SDM lens. This lens is a welcome addition and I am very much looking forward to getting one of these lenses. It is the first SDM-only lens from Pentax which means it will only work with the K20D, K200D, K10D, and K100D Super digital SLRs. This is a great range equivalent to about 26-106mm along with the constant f/4 aperture.

As I mentioned in a previous post, this fills in the mid-range between the DA* 16-50/2.8 and the DA 18-55/3.5-5.6. This lens will probably be my new standard lens that I keep on one of my K20D cameras most of the time. While we do not know yet, I expect that the DA 16-45/4 will be discontinued once stock runs out. There is no need for this older design now that we have the DA* 16-50/2.8 and the DA 17-70/4 although only time will tell.

UPDATE: There is an FAQ file for this new lens that has some interesting information. Here is a quote from the FAQ:

Current DA* lenses (16-50mm, 50-135mm, 200mm and 300mm) contain both SDM and body-based focusing. While we will continue to develop lenses for each type of autofocus system, we will also phase out lenses that support both types of focusing simultaneously. Due to issues of cost, development timeframe and other factors, in the future, PENTAX lenses will either support SDM focusing or body- based focusing, but not both.