| Author: | | New Member Registered: June, 2014 Posts: 2 | | Review Date: June 26, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $540.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Balanced, sharp shots | | Cons: | It doesn't bounce!!! | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-30
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     Bought the K-30 body and this lens separately only in April of this year. Total beginner with DSLRs but had good Pentax film cameras previously.
Liked this lens at least from a beginner's point of view and was just getting the hang of it when I dropped it on holiday in Salzburg, Austria - end on. It doesn't bounce, believe me!! Looking to replace it from the insurance cheque but wondered whether to go for the 55-300. Heading to New Zealand at the end of the year and wanted to be proficient with the camera by the time I visit my daughter out there. However, after reading through this forum, I keep coming back to the 18-135 as my first choice. I don't have any other shots to compare it with but think the results are quite sharp. I used it for one or two landscape shots, and then mainly in and around Salzburg city on holiday and then experiemented with some close-ups of flowers to see how it performed. I attached a few shots here for anyone to critique but wondered whether I should replace with another 18-135 or move on to a 55-300. Any advice/comments would be most welcome Thank you.
| | | | | | | Pentaxian Registered: July, 2013 Posts: 1,248
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 24, 2014 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | WR, Silent and quick AF, Great range, Quickshift | | Cons: | Low light performance | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-50
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Chose this lens to bundle with my K-50 and havent regretted it. Its a compact and sharp lens and acts great as a walkaround especially if you're on holiday. AF is very accurate (in good light). Found sharpness to be decent across the whole zoom range and is very very sharp around F8. Ok maybe some softness in the corners at the long end of the zoom but nothing dramatic. Only real downside for me is the low light performance, where it was struggling to lock focus. CA's can appear sometimes in high contrasts but nothing that a bit of PP wont fix. Besides ive seen $1000 lenses with worst CA's so this isnt really an issue for me.
Its always in my bag, and some of my best shots were taken with this lens. Definitely recommend it!!
 | | | | | Pentaxian Registered: November, 2007 Location: Western Canada Posts: 12,342 | | Review Date: June 18, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $400.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp, versatile zoom range, weather resistant | | Cons: | none | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-5, K10D, K-m
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I just bought my copy, new a month ago. I'm very impressed with it's excellent zoom range from moderate wide angle to moderate telephoto.
I have taken some photographs that are pinpoint sharp and although I have read some criticism of this lens, I've wondered after my positive experience if the criticism is fair..
Since I've bought this lens it's rarely left the mount of my K-5....and I've got 10 digital Pentax lenses and one Sigma. It's quickly become my favoured daily lens and I think if I had bought it a number of years ago, I may not of bought so many other lenses .
As you can see, I'm impressed with the versatility, sharpness and general performance of this excellent lens. The fact that it's a WR lens....makes it even more of a deal.
I highly recommend it.
| | | | | New Member Registered: December, 2013 Location: UNION NEW JERSEY Posts: 15 | | Review Date: June 17, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $550.00
| Rating: 6 |
| Pros: | WR and quick auto focus | | Cons: | I CAN SEE THE BUTTER AT 70-135MM.EXPENSIVE | | Sharpness: 6
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 4
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K5-IIS
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 | | | | | | | Senior Member Registered: February, 2014 Posts: 241
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 9, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $320.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Quiet and very fast focus. Very good sharpness | | Cons: | Vignetting in some cases | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 9
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-50
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I was originally attracted to this lens because of the sharpness. I take photos at camps-for neglected and abused foster kids and in the past the 18-55 lens was just a bit short in some cases. This lens has enough telephoto that I should be able cover everything without having to change the lens.
When I'm doing my own thing I enjoy photographing birds, flowers and to a lesser degree landscapes. This lens is not only very fast to focus but also works quite well in low light. The photo of the flying Red Winged Blackbird below was captured just after the sun had set. The fact I was able to get some detail on a blackbird after sunset impressed me.
The close up capabilities are quite impressive too. The picture of the bee was the second photo I ever took with this lens. The fact white flower is blown out that is on me. I wasn't looking for this photo. Just glanced down, saw the bee and pointed the camera in his direction.
If you want a one-lens-fits (almost) all walk around lens I highly recommend the 18-135.
 IMGP3465 by tw0759, on Flickr
 IMGP3891 by tw0759, on Flickr
 IMGP3517 by tw0759, on Flickr
 IMGP3770 by tw0759, on Flickr
 IMGP3979 by tw0759, on Flickr
 IMGP3685 - Version 2 by tw0759, on Flickr
 IMGP3918 by tw0759, on Flickr
 IMGP3954 by tw0759, on Flickr
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: February, 2012 Location: Albuquerque, NM Posts: 464
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 8, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $300.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | DC, WR, overall build, nice image | | Cons: | So far everything is okey. | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K5,K7,K10D
| |
Finally a lens that I don't want to sell.
For this FL i'v used many zoomed lenses. DA1855 (both II and WR), DA 1645, and DA16-50.
Compare with these three (four actually), this lens is finally a "modern lens" reminds me my friends' Canikon.
I'v owned this for only 3 weeks. And here are my thoughts:
DC: it's not SDM, however it provideds similar feeling. Compare with other DA zooms, DC is sooooooooo quiet and relatively accurate. As a Pentax user, it is so painful to use screw motors, so loud and so annoying. It's not as vulnerable as SDM (i only ranted DA1650 for couple days and I felt very panic about the SDM), and hopefully it has a longer life-span.
WR: working horse. in my city (Albuquerque) you don't have to worry rains but sand storm might be a little problem. WR should be good.
Build: Way better than DA1645. I love DA1645 but i really can't stand its build and quality. This one is almost perfect. I hope it can have a larger filter size to make it look "cool", hoever 62mm is okey.
Focus length: 18-135. Not as wide as DA15 or DA1645, but I can live with it. It provides balanced IM. many said it's corner is not good at 18mm but for me after lightroom it seems fine.
So far that's it. I'll update more thoughts later.
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: February, 2011 Location: Niagara Posts: 3,907
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 19, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $400.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | very usable range, quite compact, Almost Macro capability, WR! | | Cons: | Yes, it is heavy, can be soft at long end, "focus ring in wrong spot" ;) | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 8
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K5 IIs
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I used to shoot a Kr, I bought a K5IIs body only, and sold the Kr, including the 18-55 kit. I normally shoot primes, but was seriously anxious about a trip to Disney with out a wide/Normal zoom. Having the 55-135 bit as an extra bonus was worth the money i spent on the lens.
To start, I am STUNNED at the amazing close focus results of this lens. It performs well in this capacity, and I am pleased with the results.
All shots shot handheld and in RAW, and processed in LR4 - some exposure adjustments as required.
ƒ5.6 and ƒ16 respectively
 
ƒ5.6 and ƒ11 respectively
 
It's plenty sharp for landscape photography, but I'd recommend not racking it to most wide, or most tele end, as sharpness seems to be best mid range. In my copy, I have experienced excellent centre sharpness at 135mm but particularly the left edge gets soft.
ƒ8 @ 28mm
ƒ8 @ 60mm
ƒ8 @ 18mm
I used to walk with DA 21 Ltd, and DA 50-200 in my pocket.. Now I just use the 18-135.
PS: it did a fine job at Disney 
 | | | | | Pentaxian Registered: March, 2014 Location: Sydney Posts: 912 | | Review Date: May 13, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $360.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Colours, autofocus, focal length range | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 8
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K5
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Because of some negative reviews I wasn't too keen on this lens. However I came across a camera store ex demo for a bargain price: irresistible for an LBA sufferer. I had low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. Yes it can be a little soft in the corners but I have my primes for those situations. What's important is centre sharpness which is very good. It also gets you those gorgeous Pentax colours. For what it is I'm really happy with it. If all I was going to photograph was charts, brick walls and cats I might have been disappointed. But for a walk around lens for kids, dogs and travel it's brilliant.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: January, 2012 Posts: 103
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 28, 2014 | Not Recommended | Price: $410.00
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | Handling | | Cons: | Not sharp | | Sharpness: 5
Aberrations: 6
Bokeh: 7
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 6
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-01, K-30
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I should have listened to the reviews saying this lens isn't sharp. I had to see for myself I guess. It really isn't very sharp at all, especially considering the relatively high cost of this lens. Image-wise, I'd compare it quite closely to the kit 18-55mm. That is to say, contrast and color are nice, distortion is average, but sharpness and CA control are mediocre at best. I compared it to a range of lenses, including the 18-55, several old primes, and my Tamron 70-300mm F4-5.6 AF Di LD Macro. Every single one of these lenses beat out the DA 18-135 by a significant margin. Granted, some of them were primes, but I'm talking bargain bin old cheap primes, not DA Limiteds! And the Tamron 70-300 handily smoked the DA 18-135 also, in both sharpness and CA control. What's more, the Tammy has significantly more pleasant bokeh and a much narrower depth of field at a given aperture. Side note, I've never quite understood why or how different lenses have wider depth of field than others. We all know that stopping down will expand the DOF, but you'd think different lenses would be roughly the same if they are at the same aperture, right? Not so. This is a perfect example of that phenomenon... The Tammy has a much narrower DOF than the Pentax at the same focal length and aperture. This makes the Tammy a better portrait lens (and arguably makes the Pentax better suited to landscapes, although you wouldn't want to use it as a landscape lens anyway because of the poor resolution).
Handling is great - it is a pleasure to use. The size and weight are modest and it balances nicely on my K-30. The DC autofocus is smooth, though I really don't think it's any faster than screw drive, and may in fact be a little slower. The fit and finish are nice. Everything fits together well and operates smoothly.
18-135mm is such a nice range of focal lengths. It covers about 90% of everyday shooting for about 90% of all photographers. It's really a shame that this lens can't deliver the optical performance we've come to expect from Pentax. If it cost closer to $200 I'd give it a pass, as it would make a nice alternative to the 18-55 in a kit. But at over $400 I expect more.
| | | | | New Member Registered: January, 2014 Posts: 2
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 6, 2014 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | sharp, quick shift | | Cons: | autofocus in low light situations | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 7
Autofocus: 6
Handling: 8
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K30
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this was a first lens upgrade for a new k30 made after searching the internet for any and all information and used this forum to balance out the varying views and opinions.
from information gathered here i purchased the lens some 2 months ago and have been more than pleased with the results.
so far i find that it has decent sharpness across all f stops improving as you dial down and i find the better results come from f 6.3 on,
it has the ability to just nail it with a shot or a grouping of shots that really stands out with excellent sharpness and good bokeh.
the only real drawback to the lens is the auto focus system which does perform admirably in good to decent light situations falling of after that to needing to manual focus for most low light or high contrast requirements,
all is not lost however as the quick shift has a nice travel distance ( just a tad to long though ) and it quickly becomes second nature to focus manually when required but you will need both hands to manual focus with this lens.
the lens does have some weight about and although it feels good and easy to use you do notice the weight accumulate as time go buy so some sort of neck strap arrangement is required to carry it around all day,
aberration can sometimes be a small issue on some photos but generally i found is no problem for the majority of shots
all in all a lens worth having as it has many combinations of sweet spots at all its different focal lengths ,so like many of the reviewers here this lens is always on my camera as its versatility is useful in situations when you need to just grab a camera quickly and take a shot.
Zoo bird at 135mm f6.3, ISO 320, 1/125
Research center at 18mm f 7.1, ISO 400, 1/500
 | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: September, 2011 Location: Vaasa Posts: 818 | | Review Date: March 31, 2014 | Recommended
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Compact, feels good to handle | | Cons: | Low light performance. | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-30
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I have been meaning to review this lens and give my very short opinion of it.
I really like this lens. It is compact and light. Good for a walk around.
Its is very silent when focusing. Sometimes I am not sure if it has focused.
I have to move it and and focus again to be sure  .
But I am getting used to it.
The only problem I have with it is the low light performance. This lens is extremely slow focusing in low light.
I have tried shooting portraits with it but it keeps slowing me down.
Surprisingly I have used my Tamron 70-300mm for portrait in low light and it has been breeze.
In any case this lens is always on my camera so that tells you something.
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: April, 2012 Location: Belgium Posts: 72 | | Review Date: March 28, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $400.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Solid,WR,range,silent AF | | Cons: | sharpness in corners | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 8
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K5
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I had some AF issues with my 18-55mm kit lenses and wanted to get a better zoom for my street shots and reportages.
I payed the extra cost for this model undervalued by photozone (?).
First impression is the solid construction and an amazing AF!
Second good surprise is the sharpness quality across all the range (a little weak @18-24mm) specially @135mm (wide open).
https://www.flickr.com/photos/freelock7/13421426264/in/photostream/ | | | | | Junior Member Registered: December, 2012 Posts: 33 | | Review Date: March 27, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $397.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Fast and reliable focusing. Quiet. Good image quality | | Cons: | Soft at long end. | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 7
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 8
Value: 6
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K01
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I purchased this lens because the Pentax kit zooms that came with my K01 had me missing shots from trying to switch them out. I looked at a lot of lenses, and finally chose this one due to it's auto-focus reliability.
I feel like this lens is overpriced when you consider that it has such a moderate zoom range, and is soft at the extremes. I feel like it could have been done better.
That said, It is almost perfect for my shooting style and camera. With the K01's focusing system, auto-focus is a bit problematic. With the kit zooms, I was never impressed with auto-focus, and preferred to manually focus. With this lens, I almost exclusively use auto-focus. I do love the quick-shift feature and how quiet the lens is. I would have been much happier with this lens if it were around $300.
I treat this lens as a superb 28-70mm zoom, with the ability to go longer or shorter if I really need it too. If I find myself really needing a longer lens often, I will probably buy another lens. For now though, this and a Sigma 8-16mm are my carry lenses.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: December, 2012 Location: Kristiansand S Posts: 250
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 27, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $600.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Best universal lens, WR, Fast AF, Quick Shift Fokus | | Cons: | Maybe the price.... | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: Pentax K-30
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I was realy surprised when i started to use this lens. I had heard some negative comments on this, but all of the negative aspects don't show up. I get more and more impressed every time i use it. Take good sharp photos, fast AF and easy to use with quick shift focus. Even good in low light with my K-30. WR is another positive aspect. 
Updated, my best lens overall. Find it excellent for portraits, sharp in the middle and nice bokeh.
 | | | | | New Member Registered: February, 2014 Posts: 5 | | Review Date: February 25, 2014 | Recommended
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | nice colors, nice bokeh, AF is very quiet and fast | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 8
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-500
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I use this lens recently with my K-500. I can not compare it with a Canon 18-135 mm and I think this lens is much better. Feels good and quality workmanship. Gives very nice colors, sharp in its entire range, has nice bokeh, compact AF is very quiet and fast.
I recommend it as a lens for every day.
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