DA* 16-50mm Serial Number Database. - Page 19

pakhead · 10-27-2008, 06:21 AM

I got my lens S/N 9023660 back from Japan after 6 weeks - the zoom ring had jammed, there was a small part rattling around inside, and I was never happy with the performance.

It seems better. The zoom ring is smoother, and overall performance is sharper and more consistent.

I've just done a quick tripod test against my 4 year-old 16-45 inside my office and these are my impressions.

At 16mm it is noticeably softer at f/2.8 that the 16-45 at f/4 in the centre - but edge performance is closer. By f/4 the 16-50 is outperforming the 16-45 at f/4, and matching it at f4.5. At f/5.6 the 16-50 is the clear winner.

At 50mm the results are similar, except that the 16-50 is noticeably softer in the corners than the 16-45, even at the same aperture, up to f/4.5.

Interstingly the 16-50 seems a little wider at 16mm, and has a very slightly yellower cast under admittedly poor office lighting.

I shall report any problems/pleasures I encounter in real world usage.

safari · 10-27-2008, 07:37 AM

I think most of my 1650 problems at wide side are due to the lame AF system on K10d body.
at beginning it's really soft at 16mm on my k10d but on my friends' k200d it performs very good, later I tried this, only use AF button to focus, AF at 50mm , then zoom out to 16mm, press the shutter & every picture is sharp. hope it helps.

btw, the serial # of my copy is 9011891, bought 07 Dec from buydig for outdoors. at beginning i thought it's a bad one 'cause it's so soft at 16mm wide open. I simply put it aside & used my primes instead . got some free time this summer & did some test shot, comparing it w/ some of my zooms & primes, found that the focus point wanderring from here to there but actually there's no sharpness problems and the IQ beats Tamron /a09, sigma 1020 and is somehow close to the primes. So I recalled this 'focusing at the longer end and then zoom out' old trick i read somewhere from an old book long long ago. now i feel the lens is a real keeper, a little bit sorry for k10d's belong-to-last-century AF module though.

ZigDaPig · 10-27-2008, 09:18 AM

Seems like no luck for me :-(
The pentax dealer (de Beukelaer in Belgium) won't budge and isn't helpful at all.
I've contacted them several times and they won't even give me their contact information to Pentax Germany (where the lens is for repairs, and where they diagnosed it with "falling damage"). Bastards ! Seems like Pentax has a pretty good system of shielding themselves from customers.
I'll try to contact Pentax Germany myself, but seems like I shouldn't get my hopes up.
In any case, this was the last time I've bought a DA* lens. Their build quality simply s*cks when compared to the old K- and M- lenses. The SDM s*cks even harder and totally isn't worth the extra money, especially not if it breaks on it's own and costs >400 $ to repair !!!

Z.

ZigDaPig · 10-27-2008, 09:25 AM

Hey Pakhead,

Did you get your lens repaired for free ???
Because all Pentax (well actually De Beukelaer) can say to me is:
"If there was something rattling inside the lens, it's pretty obvious that something inside the lens broke off, and this could only happen by dropping it on the floor, so you must have dropped it..."

Now I'm really starting to get pissed at Pentax and their distributor !
I feel like mailing whoever owns Pentax, and telling him to shove my lens...
That probably won't fix it, but at least it would be worth the $500 I'm losing over this.

Z.

pakhead · 10-27-2008, 10:02 AM

Originally Posted by ZigDaPig

Hey Pakhead,

Did you get your lens repaired for free ???
Because all Pentax (well actually De Beukelaer) can say to me is:
"If there was something rattling inside the lens, it's pretty obvious that something inside the lens broke off, and this could only happen by dropping it on the floor, so you must have dropped it..."

Now I'm really starting to get pissed at Pentax and their distributor !
I feel like mailing whoever owns Pentax, and telling him to shove my lens...
That probably won't fix it, but at least it would be worth the $500 I'm losing over this.

Z.

Hi Z,

Yes mine was repaired for free. I bought it in Singapore, but live in Bangkok - the local distributor here knows very little about Pentax products, and tried to charge me for shipping, but I stood my ground - the lens was only a month old. I had email exchanges with the store and the distributor in Singapore and they were both helpful, but I would have had to ship the lens there, only to have it shipped to Japan.

The distributor shipped it to Japan, I enclosed a letter explaining the problem (and protesting the shoddy Q/C of this lens), and got it back, much improved (so far!) but not perfect. It focuses better on my K10, has more consistent sharpness, but is still soft at 50 mm up to f/4.

Your problem sounds identical to mine - the zoom ring jammed at around 24mm, mysteriously unjammed for a while, then jammed again at 28mm. I could hear a very small part rattling around inside. My lens has never had any kind of drop or bang.

It is clearly a manufacturing fault and should have been repaired for free, in Japan which is the only place they can do this properly. If they claim it has been dropped they should offer proof - evidence of damage on the exterior of the lens.

Mail a letter to pentax in Tokyo - or go back to your distributor and DEMAND your money back. The problems with this lens are way too widely reported for them to pull that one on you.

Darren · 11-03-2008, 12:44 AM

9027306 - good copy.
SRS Microsystems UK

*laissezfaire* · 11-03-2008, 06:37 PM

this one appears perfect:
9116754

Priyantha Bleeker · 11-08-2008, 09:31 AM

9024543 I bought it 5th of October from the dutch shop Cameranu.nl.
The lens seems to be bad

It's backfocussing all the way and it is prone to too much CA I think.

apeman · 11-13-2008, 11:18 PM

#9017580 - Autofocus not working on my Pentax K100DSuper, it appears that SDM is broken.

avian · 11-24-2008, 05:34 AM

I didnt expect to get a good one first go.. but so far so good. 9024604 is the serial number if interested.

I took one or two photos that I suspected had some vignetting on the top right, but was really just me being paranoid. A few more controlled shots (even at 16mm / f2.8) show its in another league to the kit lens, which has since been sold on ebay.

chicochongchu · 11-25-2008, 06:51 AM

hey guys,

i got the 16-50 serial 9026836 and so far its been making me smile!

i know there are a lot problems with this model, but i couldn't resist the size, speed and build of this baby!

i bought mine here in manila in a pentax distributer called Camerahaus... i got it November 20, 2008 (and i have one week to return if defective)

i guess my main question is, what do i look for to see if its really a good or bad copy?

i shot with it last saturday (visit this link top see my photos last saturday - mind you i uploaded this in low resolution due to the number of photos When you have to choose between the truth and the legend.... Print the legend. - URCC Indestructible ) and it seemed ok... im no expert with testing out lenses so please let me know what to watch out for!

thanks!

*markf79* · 11-29-2008, 11:12 AM

Wow.

Quite a difference from the kit lens. I sense a rather expensive habit beginning to form...

bjsmith · 11-30-2008, 08:29 AM

Originally Posted by markf79

Wow.
Quite a difference from the kit lens. I sense a rather expensive habit beginning to form...

It surely is the bomb. I had the DA 16-45 f/4 and I thought it was quite a bit better than the DA 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 on my K100D. But man, when I compared the DA 16-45 f/4 to the DA* 16-50 f/2.8 on the K20D, it was night'n day in sharpness.

TTQ225 · 11-30-2008, 12:52 PM

After reading all posts in this thread I still decided to bite a bullet and to buy this lens. The store (Lens & Shutter in Vancouver) had two lenses to choose from. I chose the one with highest serial number - 9020657.
Here is my opinion after taking the lens mounted on K20D with me on the trip to Germany and Austria and returning yesterday with 400+ shots taken: The lens is good. No mechanical problems, it is very sharp from F4 and up but still quite OK at F2.8. The focus is soft in the bottom left corner of the frame, but not excessive. Very minimal CA, I needed to fix just a couple of shots in the Lightroom and it was quite easy to do. When I brought the lens home from the store, the focusing test showed the back focusing which I fixed by dialling -2 in AF adjustment in the camera. It is dead on now.
The only gripe I have is an excessive distortion at 16mm unless an object is straight in front of the lens. This is usually is not possible when shooting tall buildings at the angle.
It is not a good lens for architectural photography, otherwise I am happy with it.
Efraim

forestmage · 12-04-2008, 10:31 PM

serial number 9029373 arrived yesterday and I had the chance to take some shots wtih it today. All seems well with the lens.