Originally posted by Pablom I think the biggest issue photozone point out is the high cost of the lens, which is extremely over priced
Quite true. The issue is that the "headline features" of the lens are not compelling enough for the price being asked, if this test is indicative of an average example of this lens.
Solid construction, a DC motor and simplified weather sealing are great, but any lens is an optical instrument first, so it should be judged on optical qualities (sharpness, zoom range, max aperture, CA, etc.) above all the rest. Seems like Pentax put these second, at least in the copy that PZ tested.
Won't be getting rid of my zoom-creeping, screw-driven, unsealed DA 18-250 any time soon...