Ricoh has announced a new 28-45mm f4.5ED AW SR lens offering for Pentax medium format cameras such as the 645D and 645Z. Offering up an equivalent 22-35.5mm focal length range in the smaller 35mm world, it’s a wide-angle zoom lens that perfect for landscapes, a portrait lens on the far end of its zoom range, and somewhat candid street photography.
Internally the lens is comprised of 17 elements in 12 groups, including two high-performance aspherical elements and two extra-low dispersion elements. On the outside Ricoh has also given the lens a HD lens coatings to optimize light transmission and minimize reflection. There’s also an Aero Bright Coating to help improve image quality.
To top it off this piece of kit features a Shake Reduction mechanism to help mitigate vibrations while trying to handhold this big honking camera. Ricoh says its stabilization technology can effectively compensates for camera shake up to approximately 3.5 shutter stops. The lens is also dust and waterproof thanks to eleven special seals, though we still would not dare to leave this expensive lens out in the rain for too long.
The ens will ship later this month with a hefty price tag of $4999.95. See past the break for another look at the lens.
