Pentax 55-300mm on the way

davidd10 · 06-06-2008, 12:23 PM

Just got a message from Amazon my Pentax 55-300mm lens is own it's way and I should get it Monday. I ordered it over a month ago and I hope it is a good lens. Have not been many reviews about it, but I'll get to try it out soon!!!

Adam67 · 06-06-2008, 12:27 PM

Reviews have been favorable. Very good lens for the money. Has been said to outperform the Tamron's & Sigma's of similar range & price.

opiedog · 06-06-2008, 07:07 PM

Originally Posted by Adam67

Reviews have been favorable. Very good lens for the money. Has been said to outperform the Tamron's & Sigma's of similar range & price.

reviews have been favorable vs the sigma and tammy 70-300's, but price wise, it's much higher than both sigma and tamron.

however, with better IQ, quick shift and less CA/PF, IMHO, it's worth the cost.

now, where is that delivery truck?

audiobomber · 06-06-2008, 09:50 PM

Originally Posted by opiedog

however, with better IQ, quick shift and less CA/PF, IMHO, it's worth the cost.

now, where is that delivery truck?

Don't forget the extra 15mm on the wide end. That's a nice feature. My copy is in transit, should have it before next weekend.

opiedog · 06-07-2008, 05:13 AM

Originally Posted by audiobomber

Don't forget the extra 15mm on the wide end. That's a nice feature. My copy is in transit, should have it before next weekend.

yes! i almost forgot about the 15mm on the wide end. that IS definitely a plus!

Arpe · 06-08-2008, 07:10 PM

The idiots at Amazon won't ship it to New Zealand! Yet there are heaps of other US stores that will! Idiots.

AML · 06-08-2008, 07:24 PM

Originally Posted by Arpe

The idiots at Amazon won't ship it to New Zealand! Yet there are heaps of other US stores that will! Idiots.

Arpe, this is reason i went with Adorama. It's stupid that Amazon won't ship any camera items outside the US.

davidd10 · 06-10-2008, 07:56 AM

I got it (55-300)yesterday and could not wait to get home to try it out. I really don't think I like this lens because it's very noisy when trying to focus. Yes I mean trying to focus (back and forth/back and forth) some times it's in focus and sometimes it's not but it says it is!!! Also all my tryout pictures are very grainy looking. I going to test it a few more days but it's most likely going back.

*Michaelina2* · 06-10-2008, 08:25 AM

Edited from an earlier post...

Are you sure it's fair to say that it's lens that's 'hunting'? Perhaps, it's your camera body that's recalibrating.

When I mount the 55-300 on my K20D, I simply AF on a distant object using my planned focal length and let the camera and lens synchronize. Once that's done (it takes a couple of seconds), I've found it to focus as quickly and accurately as my other non-motorized lenses using about the same focal length. As to noise level, it's about the same as the others, too. I see all of this as part of 'getting ready to go' and no big deal.

Have you tried MF?

It takes some skill, but it's total stealth and you are 'spot on.'

--- my 2 cents...

OniFactor · 06-10-2008, 09:23 AM

i'll trade you a 50-200 if you really don't like the 55-300. :-D

*John Kovarik* · 06-10-2008, 09:42 AM

Broadly speaking I rate mine as in the 'OK' category. My only other zoom, the Tamron 18-250 is much better in IQ. there is the $150 price difference though............

Pelham · 06-11-2008, 07:59 AM

Hi.. I hate to say it, but I got my 55-300 yesterday and did some test shots comparing it to my 50-200.. I shot the same picture on both lenses at the 200 mm focal length.. I did a flash photo of newsprint for resolution.. Blowing each picture up then to the same size.. the 50-200 was sharp and showed true black and white.. the new 55-300 was less sharp and had a pale green ghost along the left edge of each black font of the newsprint.. I did other tests, it failed them all. I am sending it back.. I hope it was just a bad lens I got.. but I will wait until I see other reviews before I will consider trying another one. I am real dissapointed, and this is rocked my faith in Pentax a bit. I just assumed it was Pentax, thus it had to be good.
BOB

*John Kovarik* · 06-11-2008, 08:43 AM

Pelham, my first instinct was to return it also, but I elected not to do so. I have used it on a fairly regular basis in the last couple of weeks, mostly on the K100 but also on the K20. I keep going back to the T 18-250. Even if IQs were equal, which they aren't, the 18 is more useful for me than the 300................

Sorry your experience was negative.........

praxxis · 06-11-2008, 08:47 AM

i read about those issues regarding the lens hunting... are there really some issues on this lens?

or probably there's some bad batch/dud copies that roam around?

*Michaelina2* · 06-11-2008, 12:39 PM

PELHAM: got my 55-300 yesterday and did some test shots comparing it to my 50-200.. I shot the same picture on both lenses at the 200 mm focal length.. I did a flash photo of newsprint for resolution.. Blowing each picture up then to the same size.. the 50-200 was sharp and showed true black and white.. the new 55-300 was less sharp and had a pale green ghost along the left edge of each black font of the newsprint.. I did other tests, it failed them all. I am sending it back..

Interesting 'test-tube' evaluation protocol...

Maybe I'm old school, but I try to suspend judgment until I've experienced a real-world setting.

BTW: My setup reflects the outing's objective: to catch birds in flight. This nervous little creature came into the scene, caught my eye and I quickly took the shot.

K20D DA55-300: TVa 1/2000 F5.6 iso640 Hand-held AF@300mm Picasa 3.0 (slight crop and sharpen)