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: Solid Performer
Summary: 5 Stars
Excellent image quality across the entire zoom and aperture range that lives up to the DA* designation. The f/2.8 shutter speed provides for shooting in lower light conditions. Attached to the Pentax K20D, it results in very fast and very quiet focusing, and good color and sharpness characteristics. Only drawback is that this lens is a bit bulky (77 mm diameter opening)and heavy.Digital camera Review: Looks and feels solid. Nice bokeh. Wish it had faster AF and better QC.
Summary: 4 Stars
This lens looks great and feels very solid. Taking into account the professional specs and the price of the lens, it seems to be a real bargain. Well, it is almost true... but not exactly so.
But firstly, the positive:
- Image quality is very good, especially when stepping down by at least one f/stop
- It has good bokeh
- Works with the old "screwdriver" bodies, as well as has SDM
Now, the negatives:
- The quality of this lens is very inconsistent. I knew about this before buying my copy, so it did not come as a surprise when I discovered that my lens was a bit "off". In my case one corner is slightly softer than the rest of the image, but it is only noticeable on test shots wide open and is not field relevant. So I decided to keep it and not to go into a gamble with exchange for another copy.
- You may have a strange effect when this lens is focusing spot on in the daylight and is a complete disaster in incandecent or lower light situations. You may even experience this problem to some extent in all light conditions, depending on you copy of the lens. This happens sometimes with my lens set at 16 mm zoom position. My lens shows in some cases FF, and in some - BF, which may be a problem when shooting at large apertures. My SMCP 35 f/2.0, 77 f/1.8 or 50 f/1.4 do not have this problem on my both cameras (K10D and *ist DS), so I explain this phenomena by lens behavior.
- The focusing is quite slow - both with SDM and with the screwdriver. This is not what you would expect from the professional-grade lens. Perhaps this is a price to pay for supporting the SDM-enabled and the legacy "screwdriver" bodies in one lens.
Digital camera Review: Excellent!
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this lens shortly after buying my K10D, and I've been really impressed with it. Sharp with fast and quiet AF, it's turned out to be an excellent lens. The price has dropped about $100 in the months since I bought mine, but I don't care, this lens is just that good.Digital camera Review: Great lens
Summary: 5 Stars
A great wide to standard zoom lens. It is fast, sharp, and has an extremely rugged build. It is definitely a large, heavy lens compared to the DA 18-55MM, for example. On the other hand, the weather sealing is evident and the focusing ring is large. The SDM is virtually silent, quick, and silky smooth. Overall this lens is well worth the investment.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.