DA* 16-50mm Serial Number Database.

[h0rnd0g]

Can anybody help me? after installing my new 16-50 lenses into k20d i can access menu. After pressing MENU button menu shows on a backgreen and dissapearing in 1/2 sec. With Fn button - the same situation.

I can get photos in MF mode only... What i must do to activate AF and get access to the menu and fn functions.

Lenses s/n - 9024422.

Please HELP

[Canada_Rockies]

Originally Posted by h0rnd0g

Can anybody help me? after installing my new 16-50 lenses into k20d i can access menu. After pressing MENU button menu shows on a backgreen and dissapearing in 1/2 sec. With Fn button - the same situation.

I can get photos in MF mode only... What i must do to activate AF and get access to the menu and fn functions.

Lenses s/n - 9024422.

Please HELP

I suggest that you may have a contact problem. Remove the lens and carefully clean all the contacts with a micro fiber cloth lightly dampened with alcohol, both on the lens and on the body.

[Faither]

Well, Pentax was unable to correct my DA*16-50 and returned to me a "new" lens. New being a lens that seems to have been returned by another forum member. The serial number of the "new" lens is 9019346.

What I thought odd was that the lens returned to me came with a one year warranty. Does anyone know what the warranty on a new lens is? My lens boxes and docs are packed away.

I'm going to contact them tomorrow regarding the process they go through to insure these refurbs they're sending out are thoroughly corrected.

[Imagination4]

Originally Posted by Faither

What I thought odd was that the lens returned to me came with a one year warranty. Does anyone know what the warranty on a new lens is? My lens boxes and docs are packed away.

One Year warranty period is the standard in the U.S. for new Pentax cameras and lenses.

[Faither]

The lens looked new last evening when I unboxed it but the serial number showed up in a Google search as problematic glass.

CSR was very nice, checked with a sup and said cameras, lenses and sports optics that can't be repaired are replaced with new stock -- never refurbished.

I'll give it a workout and if there's any problem, it's back to Pentax (fingers crossed I don't have to go down that road).

Regards,

John

[Pål Jensen]

Frankly, this lens is a disgrace. Not only the sample to sample variations but also, I suspect, areas of its general performance. Apart from the fringing issue at wide settings, the lens produce curiosly contrastless, colorless and flat images; particularly with a strong light source in the image. This is due to ghosting evenly spred out in the whole image field - never seen anything like it before (far more obvious in the original image file in Photoshop) It flares a lot too and I doubt it is (super)multicoated. My advice is stay away. I'm going to send my to Pentax for a check and then sell it.
I was out boating in beautiful fall weather yesterday. The image below from a remote island show typical result from this lens.

[tmt79]

Another bad lens
S/N 9026958 - Left part of image is soft from the middle - at all focal lenghts and all apertures.. otherwise lens focuses well, zooms well.

Got a "replacement" from Pentax USA Service Dep. in CO. S/N 9016761 - already listed on this thread as BAD ) And it realy is BAD - uneven in-focus area and left part of picture is less sharp than the right. Ha ha .. what a service.. Maybe a former owner could respond?

Take care

[Faither]

Originally Posted by tmt79

Got a "replacement" from Pentax USA Service Dep. in CO. S/N 9016761 - already listed on this thread as BAD ) And it realy is BAD - uneven in-focus area and left part of picture is less sharp than the right. Ha ha .. what a service.. Maybe a former owner could respond?

Take care

I just heard back from the original owner of the lens just sent back to me by Pentax. He returned it to their service center this summer. Boy, that pisses me off.

I'll be contacting Pentax again tomorrow.

[TiminyCricket]

Originally Posted by tmt79

Got a "replacement" from Pentax USA Service Dep. in CO. S/N 9016761 - already listed on this thread as BAD ) And it realy is BAD - uneven in-focus area and left part of picture is less sharp than the right.

Wow, I simply cannot believe that! So you mean to tell me that someone else had returned the lens to them as defective and they re-sent a known, defective lens back to you as "new" when it clearly was not new and had not even been thourougly tested/repaired?

I am simply shocked! I bought my lens refurbished from B&H last month, so I think mine only comes with a 90-day warranty. I've been unable to conduct enough tests of my own to thouroughly assess the lens and find myself constantly worrying if there is a problem present with it that I may not notice until after the 90-day warranty has expired. Then it would be too late... and I will tell you for a fact that if such a situation does manage to happen with my lens (hopefully not, but I'm saying if it ever does) I will retaliate in kind by selling all of my Pentax gear on eBay and move onto Canon instead. BUT AS I SAID... HOPEFULLY THINGS WILL NOT COME TO THAT!

NO ONE should fork over $700 for a lens and then have to deal with worries and concerns like these! Especially when a similar Tamron lens has something like a 7 year warranty against defects? (Someone please correct me on that if I'm wrong).

Perhaps those of us who have, or have had the lens should find a means to band together and demand an answer from Pentax. At the very least I feel they should offer a free extended warranty to those of us who own the lens, as every day I seem to read about new problems popping up (weather sealing coming out, lens barrels jamming as a result, etc).

Does anyone have any ideas?

[tmt79]

Hi,

[QUOTE=TiminyCricket;341174]Wow, I simply cannot believe that! So you mean to tell me that someone else had returned the lens to them as defective and they re-sent a known, defective lens back to you as "new" when it clearly was not new and had not even been thourougly tested/repaired?

yes, that is exactly what I'm saying



>I am simply shocked!
Well...me too...


>NO ONE should fork over $700 for a lens and then have to deal with worries and >concerns like these! Especially when a similar Tamron lens has something like a 7 >year warranty against defects? (Someone please correct me on that if I'm >wrong).

Exactly! Where the %$# is the renowned DA* quality?? is the 700$ considered such a negligible amount to be acting on users with that kind of attitude??

>Perhaps those of us who have, or have had the lens should find a means to >band together and demand an answer from Pentax.

Maybe (???) At least I would require some answers!!
Yes, please post your ideas..

[sewebster]

It would certainly be nice if there weren't all these problems. But I think it is not trivial for Pentax to test all the lenses to everyone's satisfaction before selling them. I think the current situation shows that something should be done to improve things, but it is not trivial to do exhaustive testing on every part coming off an assembly line. Maybe they could do one more test on each lens or something, but to really test it thoroughly would probably take a lot more time than they have and would likely bump up the price even more!

TiminyCricket: I don't think you need to do extensive testing to know if you have a really bad lens. A lot of examples people have shown have been quite obvious. It is also fairly easy to just take a picture of some object like a wall, bookshelf, or anything that is relatively simple and see if it looks decent. Try that at a few focal lengths and you are done. Of course some will be more picky, and that's ok too, but it seems that the "bad" copies are often quite bad.

Anyway, not trying to defend bad QA or policies but the solution is not necessarily as simple as some might think. It would be really nice if it was easy to exchange your lens though, and I think generally it is. Sending out returned lenses again without extensive testing is pretty terrible though, agreed.

[jamesk8752]

S/N 9010323, from the first batch produced.

I bought my copy from B&H a year ago, almost immediately after this lens first became available. AF is generally OK; while IQ at 16mm is not great it is acceptable to me. Centration appears to be fairly good although there is a slight difference in the IQ at the various corners. Overall I'm satisfied with it.

Regards, Jim

[Faither]

Received a call back from Pentax and an email detailing that irreparable lenses are replaced with factory refurbished, carrying the same warranty as a new lens.

Kind of stinks but with the 1 year warranty, you can bet if there's anything close to a problem, it's going back.


Here's the email from Pentax:

Dear Mr. *******,


Thank you for contacting Pentax Imaging Company. Your question regarding replacement lenses was forwarded to me by our Customer Service Department and I thought I would email you directly with a clarification of our Warranty repair policy. You had asked if the refurbished lens used to replace yours carries a warranty and I can assure you that it does. It carries the same 1 year Pentax Imaging Company manufacturer’s warranty as a new lens and for warranty purposes is to be considered a new lens. Our basic warranty policy is to repair products when possible or replace them if deemed necessary. Depending on the availability of product and the suitability of that product for refurbishment, factory refurbished items may be used instead of new lenses and/or camera bodies when these items are replaced by our shop.

In the case of our DA* 16-50mm lenses, these lenses are restored to like-new working condition by Pentax factory technicians in Japan and meet the same optical quality standards as a new lens. Again, please let me reassure you that your replacement lens is backed by the full Pentax Imaging Company new product warranty and meets the same high functional and optical standards as all of our DA* lenses. Please feel free to contact me directly via phone or email if you have any further questions about your lens.

Thanks again,
Mark Davis

[messyhousedesign]

Hi everybody, I just received my 16-50 lens from Amazon and I noticed that when I shoot upwards at the sky and when I turn the zoom it "binds" mid zoom. It takes a little more effort to continue the zoom ... same case when it is pointed straight down. It is not terrible but it is definitely not "smooth" like when the lens is relatively level. Is this normal?

[nunzio]

SN 9024299. Good.
Purchased August 25.

N.