[indyj40]

Has anyone purchased this lens and if so, how good is it? I shoot a lot of people pics, and don't want to waste my money! The K10d is a fantastic camera - I nearly upgraded my Canon 10D for the 30D,sooooo glad I didn't !

[roscot]

Has anyone purchased this lens and if so, how good is it? I shoot a lot of people pics, and don't want to waste my money! The K10d is a fantastic camera - I nearly upgraded my Canon 10D for the 30D,sooooo glad I didn't !

I don't own it as I'm not interested in that focal range, but here is the review from PhotoZone

Pentax SMC-DA* 50-135mm f/2.8 ED [IF] SDM - Photozone Review / Test Report

[ZaphodB]

Same here... I'm not personally interested since I want something a bit longer and preferably one that works on my 35mm film cameras too. Which is a shame because it really looks like a great lens, judging by the samples. Optically the only flaw I can really see judging by that and other reviews is the usual one of chromatic aberrations... which is not really a problem if you shoot RAW (which I do 99.9% of the time).

Considering that it also has SDM and weather sealing, I'd say it's an ideal lens for taking those people shots with your K10d. I say definitely give it a try.

[creampuff]

Hmm, I'm surprised why this lens isn't getting the attention it deserves. This lens is the crop factor equivalent and replacement of the popular 70-210mm/80-200mm tele zoom in 35mm film format.

Having had a brief tryout, to me it is a fantastic lens, I dare say even better than its DA* 16-50mm counterpart. The benefits of the SDM is even more apparent on this lens than on the wide angle DA*. The lens isn't heavy and very well balanced plus it is weatherproofed. SDM is the way to go for long teles and tele zooms. Focusing is way better in terms of speed and quietness compared to screw drive AF. Images come out very sharp and show great contrast, perhaps better than the traditional 70-210mm/80-200mm f/2.8 tele zooms as it is optimised for digital.

The traditional 70-210mm/80-200mm range is really too long with the 1.5x crop factor (approx. 100-300mm in 35mm format equivalent). Even in 35mm film format days, most camera companies and third party lens makers didn't sell very many 100-300mm zooms compared to the popular 70-210mm/80-200mm zooms. And most 100-300mm zooms maxed out at f/4 (like the Tokina AT-X), not f/2.8.

My only grouse is the pricing of this excellent DA* lens. Here in Singapore, the Tokina 50-135mm equivalent for Canon & Nikon mounts sells for almost half what the Pentax is going for.

[SupremeMoFo]

The traditional 70-210mm/80-200mm range is really too long with the 1.5x crop factor (approx. 100-300mm in 35mm format equivalent).

Is it? I disagree Shame the 28-70 f2.8 I have sucks though...

Besides, chuck a 1.4x TC on a 70-200 f2.8 and you've got a 98-280 f4 (147-392 f4). Need to get me one of those Sigma TCs...

[and]

Its gonna be interesting to see what the Tamron 70-200 is like...... Too bad it seems like it wont be available for Pentax anytime soon.

[volosong]

I posted several LBA images a couple days ago taken with this lens. See the third post in this thread:

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/post-your-photos/13250-lba-images-da-8-img-600kb-each.html

I really like this lens. I have a feeling a bunch of my older lenses are not going to be used very often anymore.

Here's one from that small batch. A heavy crop out of the full-frame image. The young lady was standing on top of a parade float, and was about 30-35 feet away from where I was standing at the time.

1/500s, f/8, ISO 125, AV, 0.00 EV, CW weighted avg, 135mm focal length

[dbh]

Nice.
She's looking right at that lens and thinking "My goodness, I'd like one of those!"
--
dbh - just look at her...