| Author: | |
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: October 10, 2012 | Recommended
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Color, clarity, size, price | | Cons: | noisy focus sound | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 7
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K5
| |
I'm rating this lens highly based on what you get for the price. It's great value.
The colors are vibrant, and just as important, the contrast is strong which gives photos nice depth and clarity.
I prefer the term clarity vs sharpness, which to me is a word that gets bludgeoned to death like nothing else matters with a lens. I'd say this lens has some character to it, and the photos are clear. The bokeh is pleasing when it's used for close-ups. I've gotten some lovely macro-type shots from it.
Be careful of the long end. It's really great up to about 240mm. I've now compared it to the 60-250 and can say that it is quite competitive even at its wider apertures. I'd suggest shooting at 240mm max and cropping rather than trying to shoot anything at distance at 300mm. You'll get a cleaner photo in the long run with a lot more resolution.
Pentax Ricoh: please make a Mark II model with WR and a DC motor. You'll sell lots of them. I'd pay a premium for that.
A real bonus of this lens is that it's actually quite fast: f4 up to and past 100mm, and f4.5 all the way to 190mm. This allows for some good control of depth of focus.
I can't disagree too much with what others say. It's of basic build, the autofocus is noisy (which may be not an issue for you), but it's good enough. What you get out of it is where it counts: good image quality.
The DA55-300 is pretty easy to throw in the camera bag compared to heavy, large 60-250 or 70-200. A step-up ring for shared filters makes it a nice complement to the DA16-45. Both are humble, screw-driven lenses with no WR, but with interesting zoom ranges, lightweight construction, and high quality glass. I'm starting to rethink my kit around such lenses.
Here are a few shots taken with it:
 | | | | | | | New Member Registered: August, 2008 Location: virginia Posts: 12 | | Review Date: August 13, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $285.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | sharpness, range, color | | Cons: | speed, focus | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 7
Autofocus: 7
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: k-5
| |
I go to this lens often; when ever the subject is moving around, like kids at a b-day party or on the beach, this lens is the only tool that can do the job with respectable results. The focus is a bit tricky, you need to get it close by hand then use AF (only when zoomed in over 250). The picture quality will blow you away when the light is used right.
beside one of Pentax's limited there is no zoom that compares. along side such a prime this lens would be an 8, but I look at all the reviews of lenses I have used on this forum and in that light this lens is a 9.5. I've owned at leaste 10 other zooms and this one is better than them all. shorter zooms are not any more crisp, faster lenses have worse aberations, this lens is in my opinion the best of all worlds. I sold my tamron 28-75 F/2.8, pentax 50-200, and sigma 18-250... they are dogs by comparison and more over the tamron which I wanted for low light would disapoint so often that I had to laugh. the 55-300 was crisper with a higher ISO than the tamron wide open. I lost so many good pics with the tamron that I wanted to throw it against a wall... The 55-300 never let's me down.
| | | | | New Member Registered: April, 2012 Posts: 13
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 27, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $416.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | price,IQ,light | | Cons: | litle slow focus ( optioal ) | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: k5
| |
.nfm.
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: December, 2008 Location: Perth, Australia Posts: 1,549 | | Review Date: July 15, 2012 | Recommended
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Image quality | | Cons: | Auto focus | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 6
Handling: 9
Value: 8
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-7
| |
A bit hit and miss to focus with my K-7, particularly if focus has to move from far to near. However, the quick shift focus can save the day.
The sharpness of this lens is really, really impressive and it's good wide open and it stays sharp to the edge of the frame. As a nice bonus, it's F4.5 at 190mm and very compact - about the size of a soft drink can.
All in all, a really useful lens with no major negatives. Great value.
 | | | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: September, 2010 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 2,653
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 16, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $350.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Good contrast and colour | | Cons: | Size, weight, no WR | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 7
Handling: 5
Value: 8
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-7, K-5ii
| |
I must live in a different world from some of the other reviewers. I also have the 50-200mm WR so I can't help but compare the two.
The 55-300 feels bulky, heavy and since fully extended with the hood on it hits some 23cm in length it also feels long. Not being into birding, this matters to me - it is hard not to be conspicuous with this lens on your camera.
AF can be noisy and slow but that is the price you pay for a long spin on the focus ring which actually makes it possible to accurately focus manually (no damping of course because of the AF). Performance-wise it is good but not significantly better than the 50-200mm. There is little CA or vignetting and very little purple fringing - what CA there is does vary with focal length, becoming quite noticeable at the long end. Bokeh is very pleasant and sharpness is good, as is contrast and colour.
Manufacturing quality control is abysmal - my first sample was badly de-centered. So if you get one and aren't happy with it throw it back at whoever sold it to you, the replacement might be better. However, do set up the fine AF correction properly, preferably at infinity, it does make a difference.
I like to travel light and hence I still prefer the 50-200 to this one.
Some pics :
  
  
  
 | | | | | Forum Member Registered: April, 2012 Location: Belgium Posts: 72 | | Review Date: May 18, 2012 | Not Recommended | Price: $400.00
| Rating: 5 |
| Pros: | Not expensive | | Cons: | soft @300mm, AF hunt in low light, AF noisy | | Sharpness: 5
Aberrations: 6
Bokeh: 6
Autofocus: 5
Handling: 7
Value: 5
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K5
| |
Maybe i had a bad copy but i was not satisfied with this lens for the main reason AF was so noisy!
AF is not quick and hunt in low light.
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: April, 2011 Location: Lost in translation ... Posts: 18,076
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 28, 2012 | Recommended
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Sharp, zoom range, Quickshift, colors ... | | Cons: | Slow-ish AF, would love to see a "WR" version ... | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 7
Autofocus: 7
Handling: 9
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-r, K-5, K110D
| |
Bonjour,
I got this lens over a year ago after being disappointed by the top end sharpness of my Sigma DG 70-300 APO lens. Pentax is much better at the upper FL's than this Sigma IMHO.
This lens is now glued to the K-r which my wife uses for her backyard "birding" shots ... shot the bird, ID it and then document sighting on the local French"LPO" website ("Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux").
Not much to add because all has been pretty much been said in previous posts ... Below is a photo or two that I took with the K-r and the DA 55-300 with an "el cheapo" 2x tele-converter on an over-cast day ... just goofing around one day and a meager contribution.
[B][I]Allez et prenez des belles photos - Salut, [COLOR=DarkOliveGreen]John le Frog
(Non working links deleted)
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: October, 2006 Location: North Face of Mount Shasta Posts: 120
4 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 31, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $265.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharpness, Build, Handling, Versatility, Contrast, Color Rendition | | Cons: | Auto focus a little slow, but accurate | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: New
| |
I purchased this lens the same time I purchased my K20d 4 years ago. This has been my goto lens since that time. I have used it for portraits, floral, butterflies & dragonflies, sports and just about everything else. I trust the lens from wide open and at all focal lengths. Sure it could focus a little faster, be a tad quieter, be all metal construction and maybe even a tiny bit sharper ... but not for this price. Pentax has truly hit a home run with this lens. If there is a consumer lens in this focal range that can touch this lens in handling, sharpness or build quality, I surely don't know what it is.
If you want a lens that can produce images that you can be proud of and can't afford a months salary to purchase it, give this lens a close look.
A couple of my examples;
California Spreadwing (Archilestes californicus)
Two-tailed Swallowtail (Papilio multicaudata)
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: January, 2011 Location: Skåne, Sweden Posts: 482
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 20, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $265.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Affordable, no major weakness | | Cons: | Nothing extraordinary, not "fun" | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 7
Autofocus: 7
Handling: 7
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-5
| |
PROS- No major weakness
- Great value
CONS- Not "fun"
- Wish it was weather sealed
I have some mixed feelings about this lens. For what it is (long range, low price) it is a pretty decent performer, probably the best choice out there. It has no major weaknesses. However, it doesn't really excel in any aspects either.
Image quality is overall satisfying. It is reasonably sharp, but needs to be stopped down when possible. This is especially important the closer to 300mm you get, and at 300mm and ~F8 or so you usually need to start raising the ISO even in daylight. I never experienced any problem with aberrations, but I always shoot RAW and process with the lens profile in Lightroom. Bokeh, especially in transition areas, can be a bit nervous at times.
The lens is not that heavy, but pretty large. Weight is pretty far out when at tele end, getting a bit clumsy (I like the limiteds...). Autofocus can hunt sometimes, and is pretty noisy.
Even though it is great value, and has no major weakness really, I usually leave this lens at home. It just lacks that something extra to consistently make it into the camera bag. It is not super-sharp, it is not small, it is not fast (in terms of both aperture and autofocus). I used the DA-L 50-200mm quite a bit when I was new to Pentax, and this is like the big brother to that, a little better in most aspects, but I have somewhat the same feeling for both of these lenses.
6-7km distance to ship, F11, tripod ("ideal conditions")
 | | | | | Forum Member Registered: August, 2010 Location: Edinburgh Posts: 91
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 2, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $300.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Great zoom range, great image quality in the right conditions | | Cons: | Autofocus, need to stop down for top quality | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 7
Autofocus: 5
Handling: 8
Value: 8
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: k-5
| |
The 55-300 is a reasonable in nearly every respect. It provides reasonable quality, it is a reasonable size and weight and offers a reasonable (if slightly unusual) maximum aperture of f4-5.8 at a reasonable price (can be very reasonable if bought used, now that this lens is a few years old).
However, the autofocus is too loud and slow for me. I often miss the moment when trying to focus on a piece of action (in nature photography) and the noise means you can’t sneak up on an animal. Without quick shift it would be unusable and highly annoying as it starts to whir its way through the range– so I wouldn’t go for the DA-L version which lacks quick shift. I haven’t tried action/sports with this, but would expect similar sloth from it.
On the other hand, in some circumstances the image quality is more than reasonable – it’s great. When I first got this lens I was disappointed with the quality, but as I got to understand it better I realised that the results are never going to be sharp at 300mm at f5.8, whereas at, say, 250mm at f7.1 the quality shoots up. For this though you are going to need good light, particularly for handheld as even with SR I find I don’t get super-sharp shake free shots until I’m at or above 1/200s.
Here are a couple of shots at those settings.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinthebarbarian/6733314945/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinthebarbarian/6733315401/in/photostream
Overall though, taking the autofocus and maximum aperture limitations into account, you can get some great results from this lens over a very flexible range. To upgrade to a faster autofocus/wider max aperture would take you to the DA* 60-250mm f4, which is a significantly more expensive lens.
*edit 22/06/12*
Having now used this lens more, and having now used the DA* 50-135 f2.8 too, I am increasingly impressed with the performance of the more modestly priced 55-300mm. I have become accustomed to performing the initial focusing myself then letting the camera fine tune it, and so I now find the slow and noisy autofocus less irritating and faster when combined with my own efforts.
Although often forced to use ISOs of 800 or 1600 on overcast days to get sharp shots, this lens has produced some optically brilliant results for me with very pleasant blurring of the out of focus areas. It’s able to produce sharp, colourful photographs. Here are some more examples with those sweet spot settings (not wide open aperture, not zoomed all the way to 300mm) – of a Sea Eagle at Blair Drummond safari park – f6.7 at 210mm, ISO 800.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinthebarbarian/7381492028/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinthebarbarian/7381500318/in/photostream/
And a lion cub and lioness, 300mm at f6.7 and ISO 560, on the same day:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinthebarbarian/7381575136/in/photostream
| | | | | Inactive Account Registered: January, 2012 Posts: 2 | | Review Date: January 11, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $194.99
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | light, good range, cheap | | Cons: | doesn't feel good quality | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
| |
Good lens all round
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: July, 2007 Location: North West UK Posts: 390
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: November 27, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $277.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Light, pretty sharp, cheap, good bokeh, far superior to the Tamron/Sigma versions. | | Cons: | Not fast, sharpness degrades when shooting long distance subjects, can't be used on film bodies. | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
| |
This is a great lens, but not perfect.
The contrast is good, as is the sharpness overall. However, sharpness does reduce at subjects a distance away. (we are talking about 400m+ away).
But when it comes to closer subjects, like getting birds etc, it is perfectly fine, with a nice bokeh too. CA is well controlled, and the lens itself is nice and small considering what it can do.
If you compare it to the third party (Sigma and Tamron) 70-300 lenses, it wipes the floor with them, this lens is far superior. Just a shame you can't use it on film bodies.
Overall this lens is a bargain. very useful, but don't expect pin sharp distance shots.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: November, 2011 Location: Homer, Alaska Posts: 101
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: November 16, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $350.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Size, build, optics | | Cons: | Slow AF, noisy, not WR | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 7
Handling: 9
Value: 8
New or Used: New
| |
First I was surprised how small and compact this lens was, having just shed my Nikon gear for Pentax. As far as I know this is the only tele zoom made by anyone that is actually pretty sharp at 300mm., based on results I have obtained using the lens. There is still lots of detail in the background that is uually mush on the Nikon (70-300mm VR). I have used the recent Nikon and Sony lenses and have found them pretty soft at 300, so Pentax really got the optics down right on this one.
I use the lens in a marine environment and have no problem with the speed of AF or the noise for that matter. You might if you are trying to shoot dancers on stage or birds in flight, but for average use this isn't as big a deal as some seem to make of it. Lightroom corrects what my K5 can't as far as lens distortions or abberations.
Price wise it is about the same cost as the Nikon 55-300mm VR, which has AFS and VR included.
My big decision was buying this or the 60-250mm, but I really needed the extra reach so went with the "consumer" version. Wish I had a better choice from Pentax, maybe someday.
I would have raised this lens to a 9 or better if it had WR and a DC motor like the 18-135mm, and would have happily paid a little more for it. Hopefully Pentax will realize that it's niche in the DSLR market is the WR bodies and lenses, as well as the nice limited range.
I would not hesitate to recommend the lens optics to anyone.
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: September, 2007 Location: Washington, D.C. Posts: 3,327
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: October 21, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $250.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | sharp @ 300mm, useful zoom range, small & light, DA includes quick-shift and hood | | Cons: | noisy AF | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 6
Handling: 8
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
| |
There's a reason this lens is so popular; it delivers the goods for very little cost!
Bought mine used after enjoying a DA 18-250mm and realizing that most shots with that lens were @ 250, and soft. The 55-300 @300 is acceptable when wide open (f5.8), but can cut you at f8!
CON: There's a bit of PF in extreme highlights, and it can hunt a bit in AF (on a K-5) making a noisy whir.
PRO: It goes for $250 used, and it's modern, well-built, comes with quick-shift for manually pre-focusing or correcting focus (very helpful at 300mm), and for a zoom lens of this range and quality, it is extremely compact and light!
Example:
And here's 100% crop:
 | | | | | Senior Member Registered: January, 2010 Location: Gothenburg, aka Göteborg Posts: 234
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 21, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $500.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Light weight, small, and great colours, plus great price! | | Cons: | Noisy AF, slow, and no macro | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 4
Handling: 8
Value: 10
| |
Lately the wife got herself a DA55-300, and that lens is surprisingly good, considering its low price. Very amateur comparisons by me, side by side with Tamron's 70-200/2.8 (I just love that lens), and the Sigma 120-400, and the Sigma 150-500, using the same aperature, and focal lengths, show that as long as you don't need a good OIS (a.k.a. VR, or RS), the far lighter, and far cheaper, DA55-300 is not bad at all! As good colours as the Tamron, at a fraction of the weight! The other lenses are FF, but as Pentax doesn't make a FF DSLR I don't exactly need it  !
So, well worth the money, and while not super sharp, very impressive!
| | |
;)
;)
