RiceHigh's Pentax Blog: DA 16-45 is Still in Production

Saturday, October 15, 2011

DA 16-45 is Still in Production

Every Pentax that sold in the mainland China must have its production date printed and shown on the box. Here is the image of a latest production:-

(Source: http://forum.xitek.com/showthread.php?threadid=925227)

According to the official information published in various different Pentax websites worldwide, only Pentax Imaging is still selling the DA16-45 in the US, whereas for all other countries the DA16-45 is not listed, including the Japanese Pentax product page. So, people are suspecting it was discontinued and only Pentax Imaging (US) has been selling (all) the remaining stock. Now, the above shows that at least the rumoured discontinued DA1645 lens is actually still in production. So, the Pentax DA lens lineup is not dying, as the first DA lens is still being made! ;-D

Related:-

Zeiss Stopped Production of (Z)K-mount Lenses

All Voigtlander K-A Mount Lenses are Discontinued

Made ("Assembled") In Vietnam (A50/1.2 Still in Production, by 2010)

Ten DA/DFA Lenses Officially Discontinued! New Lineup/Format to Come?

FA 35 F2 Discontinued

DA 18-250 Discontinued

Comments (13)

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0 Vote up Vote down

OGL · 701 weeks ago

http://www.ars-pentax.ru/cat622/map4652.htm

easy to buy in Russia

+1 Vote up Vote down

bandymelis · 701 weeks ago

Why not to have it in production? It is an excellent lens.

3 replies · active 701 weeks ago

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OGL · 701 weeks ago

DA17-70/4
DA18-55 WR
DA*16-50 SDM
DA18-135 WR

too many zooms - I think 16-45 is in hard position.

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RiceHigh 110p · 701 weeks ago

With the SDM, I don't think the DA*1650 and DA1770 are reliable workhorses, there have been just too many death reports of both lenses so far and the reports still continue..

Optical quality wise, the DA1855 and DA18135 are just so-so and I'm afraid that they are too average..

So, the good choices are yet not too many in the Pentaxland, really.

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Chris · 701 weeks ago

I don't like SDM and prefer screw-driven lenses anyway. Also, the motor of the 18-135 is fast and fine for me.

But do you think that SDM is STILL unreliable? I was under the impression that there were some faulty copies, but do they really give up after having worked for years?

(I own only one SDM lens: the DA*200mm f/2.8, a fantastic lens IMO. So far worked flawlessly, in one instance when I thought "now the SDM flaw has hit me" I just had forgotten to turn the lens AF switch on.)

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Michael A. · 701 weeks ago

No brainer, outstanding value / lens. Picked it used for $200, "hooked it up" with DA*50-135 and forgot all about bigger&heavier DA*16-50. Any CA on 16mm end can be easily corrected in PP and it has a useful reversed zoom feature.

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Nubi · 701 weeks ago

It's probably a counterfeit.

1 reply · active 701 weeks ago

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RiceHigh 110p · 701 weeks ago

No, it's real. I have compared that to the package/box of my DA lens that was bought from the mainland China and they are the same.

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loock · 701 weeks ago

Any croapy lens in production, is a very bad news for a TRUE DSLR user - minimum FF35

0 Vote up Vote down

Toomas Kadarpik · 701 weeks ago

optically 16-45 is so so but mechanical construction is not solid but it seems to be last quite long. The lens has quite good contrast compared to typical kit lenses.

1 reply · active 700 weeks ago

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Michael A. · 700 weeks ago

If the DA16-45 is so-so, so is the DA*16-50. Check this... http://www.pentaxuser.co.uk/news/pentax-16-45mm-a...