So here's my 4½ choices:
- DA 18-55wr - owned at least three times, both nice and cheap
- DA 18-135wr - owned at least twice, never satisfied with results
- DA* 16-50 - never tried, heavy & spendy but f/2.8; SDM is good and bad news.
- DA 20-40 Limited - a curious new choice, wr and DC motor. Most expensive choice.
- DA 55-300wr - tried and liked all previous non-wr versions
The first two should just be removed from this list, as I keep selling them. The 18-250 zoom covers both their ranges anyway and it can handle a little moisture now and then. Thing is it also covers the 55-300's range pretty well!
So that leaves the big two: DA* and Limited.
The 16-50 could crowd the 17 fisheye a bit, which would be sad, but for hiking it's a solid though heavy choice along with the 105mm Takumar or perhaps an 85mm lens to be found later. For hiking light the 20-40 is a very good choice, does not crowd the fisheye and opens up space for
primes like the 50/2.8 macro. The DC motor of the 20-40 has shown itself to be durable, though the SDM on the 16-50 can be overridden with the screw drive inside the camera (farewell silence, but hello certainty).
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And of course, Pentax is bound to seal a prime lens one of these days... right?
I live in interesting times :^)