Pentax SMC DA* Series 16-50mm f/2.8 ED AL IF SDM Wide Angle Zoom Lens for Pentax Digital SLR Cameras by Pentax
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Digital camera reviews of Pentax SMC DA* Series 16-50mm f/2.8 ED AL IF SDM Wide Angle Zoom Lens for Pentax Digital SLR Cameras
Digital camera Review: A bargain...just buy it!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
For Pentax K20D users:
(Older model owners: upgrade already, you're missing all the fun, what are you waiting for? ;-)
I reviewed tons of sites before purchasing this lens. Here the lowdown after some extensive K20D (real world studio with people, not charts) testing:
-"Famous urban Internet legend" QA issues: Are done and over with. Blast from the (2008) past. All current lenses in stock do not have any issues anymore (in case you heard).
-Sharpness/Focus: Much, much better then lower grade zooms, especially if you stop down an f-stop or two (which you really should anyhow). It really shows all the (detailed) glory of your sensor. Do not settle for a third party lens (Sigma, Tamron, etc.) if you can have the real thing.
-AF: Way more accurate then kit/consumer lenses. Dead-on 95% of the time (versus non * lenses: More like 50%-70%). And in case you're comparing: Yes, it's better then the 17-70mm Pentax.
-A real bargain compared to Nikon/Canon glass: you would have to pay over a grand for the same quality.
-Bottom line: the best zoom glass you can get other then the (new digital) * primes. Even there, I think you would have a hard time to see a difference.
And yes, I do this for a living (shooting, not reviewing, that is).
I'm just flabbergasted how professional Pentax has become: The Nikon D300 with any glass shoots like a Coolpix in comparison (yes, I own an entire Nikon outfit).
Digital camera Review: Bad QC
Summary: 1 Stars
I'm very disappointed with this lens. The subject of every picture I took on my K10D with this lens was out of focus when shot on auto. The focal point seemed to be 3m behind my subject. None of my other lens have this problem. My DA* 50~135 consistently hits focus on the target and is ridiculously crisp. I could manually focus on my subject and produce a reasonable image if the aperture was dialed down enough, but the point of this lens is the ultrasonic auto focus. At 50mm f2.8 everything was very soft. The image didn't start to sharpen up until f5.6. When shooting at 16mm nothing was sharp. The entire aperture range was blurry. At any range there was a 5mm purple fringe on any high contrast object. I have heard some people have gotten great copies of this lens. This wasn't one of them. For every great review of this lens I see, there are about 8 people complaining about it. Pentax, this is unacceptable. Think of your reputation!Digital camera Review: Bad quality control
Summary: 1 Stars
After buying this lens I noticed that most pictures were "soft" on the right side. Not on the left. I then did some more specific testing at all focal lengths and aperture values, and found out that the lens was decentered. This lens has had a very big quality control problem that you can read about all over the net. I thought I might get lucky, but I was wrong. Luckily I bought it from Amazon. They have such a great return policy.
As of 1/25/10 quality control problems for this lens have NOT been fixed. SDM failure is quite common. In fact, there is now an online petition to Pentax about this with over 400 signatures. I went through 3 of these lenses (one SDM failure, two with decentering) before I gave up.
Digital camera Review: Better the Second Time
Summary: 4 Stars
This lens got a good review in the March 08 issue of Popular Photography and I was anxious to try it with my K10D. The first lens I received had a Jeckel/Hyde personality. At 50-35mm it was tack sharp with excellent contrast, especially when stopped down one or two stops. At 16mm I couldn't get a single shot in focus at infinity in manual or auto focus modes. Wide open it was awful, but even stopped down several stops it was never sharp from about 28 through 16mm. I also noticed a lot of purple fringing, again, more noticeable at wider angles. I got much better overall results from my older Pentax DA 16-45 f4 lens. I rated it with 2 stars, returned it to Amazon and decided to wait a few months to see if the quality control improved.
I took a chance on a second lens about 7 months later. Big difference! This one was what it should have been the first time. Very sharp at all focal lengths especially when stopped down 1-2 stops. The build of the lens is great and the SDM focusing is virtually silent. Some purple fringing is also noticeable on the newer lens, especially at wider angles, around edges with higher contrasts. This is easy to correct in Adobe Lightroom software. Overall an excellent lens for the price and worthy of 4 stars.
Digital camera Review: DA* 16-50/2.8
Summary: 5 Stars
Absolutely beautiful lens. Both the product visually, and the images that it creates. The barrel distortion on the wide end is as much as can be expected at 16mm, and is plenty acceptable depending on what you're shooting. The color rendition and contrast really have to be seen to be believed. A professional level lens really will bring your photography up a couple notches.
I wish you had the choice of using the SDM OR the screw drive for autofocus, but on the k20d you are limited to the SDM. It is absolutely silent, but is about the same speed, if not slower, as the screw drive on other lenses. And honestly, I prefer the screw drive, especially at the wide end, to be able to hear and know it's focusing, and when it's stopped.
Autofocus issues aside, I would gladly pay [...] bucks for this lens, even if it were manual focus. The optics are just THAT good.
I do 90% of my work outdoors, and the weather sealing is a huge bonus. Being able to pull out battery powered flashes and do full lighting set ups even in pouring down rain is amazing.
I cannot recommend this lens highly enough.