[ide508]

Hi there !

After a looooong time trying to decide myself and a loooong time waiting for it, (the store didn't have one) since yesterday I've got my copy of the 18 135
Small review of it will follow, but in the mean time some photos !

I must say that I am very pleased with that lens and I hope that it will get better with time when I'll master the beast best setting.
It's fast, sharp, never will replace a prime lens but seems more than enough good.

Very good walk away lens to my humble opinions with my 1:1;4/ 50 A lens...

You're thoughts ?
Cheers
Bernard








Crop 50%

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Last edited by ide508; 03-12-2011 at 09:35 AM.

[the swede]

Hi there !

After a looooong time trying to decide myself and a loooong time waiting for it, (the store didn't have one) since yesterday I've got my copy of the 18 135
Small review of it will follow, but in the mean time some photos !

I must say that I am very pleased with that lens and I hope that it will get better with time when I'll master the beast best setting.
It's fast, sharp, never will replace a prime lens but seems more than enough good.

Very good walk away lens to my humble opinions with my 1:1;4/ 50 A lens...

You're thoughts ?
Cheers
Bernard

Good of you to contribute to the thread! And good you are happy

My thoughts?

Well..... here is my thoughts at the moment

[Chex]

Yum yum! Makes the Angel food cake w/coolwhip icing me and my daughter made today look not so tasty, but it was. Love the clarity! I've been messing around with a Raynox 2X TC for P&S's and vid cams, I revers mounted it on my 43mm Ltd and was doing "product shots" but I'm having a few issues with it.. I'll post some later in the FA Ltd club if some turn out.

[Chex]

Well my 18-135 finally arrived, I've been too busy to take real time with it yet... but today I fired off some quick shots in hopes to see what it can do. I don't know if its just my copy, but the AF sure seems to back focus a fair amount. I haven't messed around with my AF fine tune for this lens yet hopefully that will clear it up. If not maybe I'll send it in or return it and put the $ towards a Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 macro... but I'm sure I would miss the WR... maybe a 100mm WR macro!
I guess I could also be spoiled by my only other lens being the FA 43mm Ltd.. comparing IQ between these lenses is an apples to oranges affair for sure.

[Vylen]

Well... my copy would sometimes focus on things behind my target in really dark sitatuions.

[Chex]

Yeah indoor shooting was definitely back focusing a fair amount. But even outside in the daylight the lens just doesn't have that tack sharpness I was hoping for.

[the swede]

Well my 18-135 finally arrived, I've been too busy to take real time with it yet... but today I fired off some quick shots in hopes to see what it can do. I don't know if its just my copy, but the AF sure seems to back focus a fair amount. I haven't messed around with my AF fine tune for this lens yet hopefully that will clear it up.

Yeah indoor shooting was definitely back focusing a fair amount. But even outside in the daylight the lens just doesn't have that tack sharpness I was hoping for.

I found the lens is very sharp in its DOF. However, in its 135mm and F/5,6 position the DOF is long enough to hide small focus issues att normal distances.

Mina also has a back focus issue. On the test chart the DOF start at the black focus line. This is in fact quite heavy back focus. But its harder to see at normal distances. I tested the lens at its near limit on all focal lengths and had a consistent back focus. +10 on AF adjust didnt help enough.

Send mine in on monday and got a mail today, on its way back to me now, so i hope they adjusted it!

Im a litle dissapointed, but will not give up on it. Its a great lens.

[Chex]

Yeah I think I'll be taking my lens in this afternoon to the shop where I bought it from and let him deal with it. I want a nice WR lens, so hopefully this can be fixed up. If not that 100 Macro WR looks really tempting.

[jeffshaddix]

Yeah I think I'll be taking my lens in this afternoon to the shop where I bought it from and let him deal with it. I want a nice WR lens, so hopefully this can be fixed up. If not that 100 Macro WR looks really tempting.

Not to distract from the 18-135mm discussion, but to feed your 100mm WR Macro LBA, this review was just posted today on lenstip:

Pentax smc D FA 100 mm f/2.8 Macro WR review - Introduction - Lenstip.com

Looks pretty fantastic!

[Vylen]

Took this shot today with the 18-135:



88mm, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/180

I'd say it's fairly sharp at at least 88mm... I had to take this photo with one hand (obviously). Not an easy thing to do.

[Mike.P®]

Just had this one accepted in the PPG .. takens with 18-135mm and K-5

[noel]

Nice one, Mike ! Congrats!


Here's my bokeh contri to this thread.

68mm f/7.1




135mm f/8

[Chex]

So I started messing around with some of our first outings with the 18-135mm, I still am not impressed with it's sharpness and I was wondering if I could get some fully unedited shots at any focal lengths, so I can then take some to post/compare and decide if I need to send mine in for servicing or just get something like the 100 WR or Tamron 28-75 f2.8 Macro.
We went for a walk looking for some Bald Eagles around our area, we found them but the 135mm just doesn't have the range for it.

[Chex]

Just had this one accepted in the PPG .. takens with 18-135mm and K-5

I have been messing around trying to get that crisp of a shot (even using PP) out of this lens and its driving me nuts! After we shot with the 18-135mm I put the 43mm ltd back on and told my wife that if the 18-135mm shots were what I was expecting then we need some shots with the 43Ltd or the drive out and walk about shots would be a waste of time.

Last shot of the outing taken with the 18-135mm.

[the swede]

Just had this one accepted in the PPG .. takens with 18-135mm and K-5

Thats a great pic! Congrats!

Here's my bokeh contri to this thread.

Very nice!

I still am not impressed with it's sharpness and I was wondering if I could get some fully unedited shots at any focal lengths, so I can then take some to post/compare and decide if I need to send mine in for servicing or just get something like the 100 WR or Tamron 28-75 f2.8 Macro.

I have been messing around trying to get that crisp of a shot (even using PP) out of this lens and its driving me nuts! After we shot with the 18-135mm I put the 43mm ltd back on and told my wife that if the 18-135mm shots were what I was expecting then we need some shots with the 43Ltd or the drive out and walk about shots would be a waste of time.

I think your expectations are set very high based on your other lenses. Now, theres nothing wrong with that. You're used to very high IQ. There is a possibility that your copy might have a slight focus issue. If you suspect that, do as i, send it in and they'll have it checked on warranty. I havent got mine back yet, but the shop said they callibrated both my camera and 18-135.

This is a allround zoom, and i believe this lens has the best IQ its design allows it to have.

Based on my prior experiences with zooms, this lens is not better than the 16-45 but significantly better than the 18-55.

And based on my primes (DA15, 40 and D-FA 100 macro WR) the 18-135 is no way near, but comparing it to the primes is useless, its not a prime.

The D-FA 100 WR will give you very high IQ compared to 18-135.

I really dont want to be rude and hope you dont missunderstand this but: I think you'll have to look at the 18-135 for what it is. For the same price you can get the D-FA 100 WR, but thats a different kind of lens.

BTW: That portrait of you doughter is really good looking!

I hope you find the soloution that fits you the best, i know how it feels to not be content. I've my self gone through many lenses and lost a good deal of cash changing them for others.