Originally posted by UnknownVT I have nothing against the 16-45 in fact all I said was that they are both good lenses and the difference is not night and day - of course one is going to disagree with any site that does not reflect one's opinion......
how about another review not associated with dpReview then -
- is this one unreliable as well?
Popular Photography tested both the
original 18-55 (as the Samsung clone) and the more current 18-55 AL II versions -
this is the very useful SQF (Subjective Quality Factor) chart - from their review of the Pentax DA 18-55 AL II -
note the wide open scores - it kind of reflects the other review........
I dont know where you got the SQF chart, since the link you provided didn't show one at all. it was the Xenon variant and it didn't state that it's the ver II of the Pentax (I would assume it's the ver I). also, it would had helped if you could had showed a review and an SQF chart of the 16-45 as well. inorder to see such consistency in difference of two lenses, not just one. therefore, this would be inconclusive as the 16-45 could be higher therefore contradiction the dpreview charts, unless you could provide the numbers that says otherwise that it is consistent. if the SQF chart of the 16-45 plays along the line of what dpreview says (slightly inferior to the 18-55), then that would had helped. anyway, I'm still unimpressed by the images that I got from the 18-55 WR. I'm not saying that I wasn't able to produce very good results, I'm saying that I'm unimpressed (not blown away). if I were to summarize what I didn't like about it, these would be the ff:
1. not wide enough.
2. not as sharp and contrasty as my other lenses which I would have liked.
3. resolution and detail is not as snappy or intricate as that of my other lenses. (midrange - infinity).
4. underexposes by half stop.
5. 50mm-55mm is soft. (even my retired M50/2 blows it away)
6. slow aperture and poor rendering under lowlight. this lens has failed me already.
7. limited use (due to underwhelming performance) at some of the focal lengths which decreases the versatility of the lens.
ultimately, there are several instances and situations that I would already hesitate to use the lens or find it short-handed. it doesn't cut out on those instances and I find it a burden, that's why I'm not that as really impressed.