Pentax DA* 60-250mm - my first impressions

David&karen · 11-05-2013, 05:48 PM

I disagree. I bought my wife the 18-135 DC lens one month after it was released. The motor in it failed exactly 13 months after buying it. The symptoms were identical to the SDM failures I read about on here. It was out of factory warranty, but I had purchased a B&H extended warranty on it and since United Camera had to send it back to Pentax Japan to fix it(they could not do it in house) the warranty refunded the purchase price. Now one failure is very small, but this is the only DC lens except for the 560mm(I think it is DC anyway) and there are thousands of SDM lenses out there. I just don't think there are that many 18-135 lenses out there at all so I would not assume that DC all that.

David

Erd§ · 11-05-2013, 07:39 PM

Originally posted by David&karen

I disagree.

Wait...so because your 18-135's DC motor failed, then as a whole, the 18-135 DC motors are as unreliable as the SDM's? That's laughable.

twitch · 11-05-2013, 07:47 PM

DC failures seem to happen at a much lower rate than SDM failures, that's my conclusion anyway and a view shared by many here.

David&karen · 11-05-2013, 07:58 PM

I did not say that, so don't put words in my mouth ERD, it's rude. What I said is that one motor failed in a very low production lens compared to SDM. What is there 100 times the lenses with SDM out there, spread over how many years. Yes there is a problem with some SDM lenses, but I have a low production DC lens that did fail. I am not going to assume anything on a DC lens.

David

bwDraco · 11-05-2013, 09:16 PM

Originally posted by David&karen

I did not say that, so don't put words in my mouth ERD, it's rude. What I said is that one motor failed in a very low production lens compared to SDM. What is there 100 times the lenses with SDM out there, spread over how many years. Yes there is a problem with some SDM lenses, but I have a low production DC lens that did fail. I am not going to assume anything on a DC lens.

David

Hate to step in, but the 18-135mm lens is not a low-production lens. It costs significantly less than any DA* lens and is a very popular choice as a multipurpose zoom lens. Yes, many more SDM lenses were produced over the years than DA 18-135mm lenses. However, the forums are rife with SDM failure reports, yet I have never heard of a single DC motor failure until now.

See also: SDM Reliability Survey Results - PentaxForums.com

--DragonLord

Erd§ · 11-05-2013, 09:28 PM

Originally posted by David&karen

I did not say that, so don't put words in my mouth ERD, it's rude.

I did no such thing. Have a look at the simple statement you disagreed with (last post, previous page).

Originally posted by DragonLord

Hate to step in,

By all means, step in. It's your thread regarding the 60-250, and I apologise for hijacking it, in a sense.

Alizarine · 11-05-2013, 11:22 PM

Originally posted by DragonLord

The lens comes back in worse shape than before!

The focus plane is tilted, with the right side focusing closer than the left side, causing either side of the image to become very soft. I am sending it in again, asking C.R.I.S. to replace the entire lens if possible.

--DragonLord

Sorry to hear about your SDM issue, this is pre-Ricoh stock right? Have you asked if CRIS can replace it with new stock this year? I bought my DA*50-135 earlier this January. Can't remember if it was pre-Ricoh stock too, but I'm sure it's from a late 2012 batch as figures from the serial number indicates. The SDM is still working perfectly so far. But I'll test again later.

Hopefully yours will be replaced entirely with a 2013-made one.

David&karen · 11-06-2013, 07:10 AM

Erd, my apoligies, i did not.read far enough back, I eat crow on this one. Dragonlord my apoligies also, tbat lens issue was just the pits and the service subpar. And I really was excited to see your review on this lens.

David

Erd§ · 11-06-2013, 05:11 PM

Originally posted by David&karen

Erd, my apoligies, i did not.read far enough back,

Not a problem. Forget it.

Bad luck is bad luck. No lens is failure-proof and one, or a small few, doesn't make it failure-prone. Of the 5 Pentax zooms with AF motors built in, The least likely to fail, by a clear margin is the 18-135. The second least likely being the 60-250.

David, yes, you were the unlucky one whose 18-135 died, but at least you got 13 months use out of your lens and then a full refund. I feel for Dragonlord who forked out probably 1300 or 1400 bucks for a brand new lens in, what, early July(?), only to have had virtually zero use from it in the subsequent 4 months up to this point. That's really unfortunate and quite frankly ridiculous.

Dragonlord: You mentioned that with the latest lens the SDM was fine. Did you choose to have the decentering repaired rather than have the lens replaced because you didn't want to risk a fourth lens having the SDM issue?

David&karen · 11-06-2013, 08:44 PM

The really weird thing is the 60-250 seems like a really tough well built lens. I rented one from lensrentals that was around 3 years old that was just great, so much so that I was thinking of buying one. Then this horror story. Thats why I asked how the WR 55-300 is panning out for people, though giving up quiet focusing and one f stop is hard. I would hope that a Ricoh built one would stop this nonsence.

David

stormtech · 11-06-2013, 09:03 PM

While I feel for DragonLord's terrible experience here, I've read of very few failures with this lens. I've had my 60-250 for almost 3 years now and it never ceases to amaze me. When I bought mine, I sold my DA 55-300 to help finance it. Since then I did buy another copy of the 55-300 only to sell it off again quickly - once you shoot with a lens like this here is no going back.

bwDraco · 11-08-2013, 10:22 AM

The lens reached the service center yesterday, and C.R.I.S. agreed to handle this as a rush repair (since the lens previously sat in the service center for so long). It is currently being assessed by a repair technician.

--DragonLord

yorik · 11-08-2013, 02:41 PM

Considering everything that they've put you through, Pentax/Ricoh should improve the lens a little before shipping it back to you - perhaps by attaching a K3 to the end?

Alizarine · 11-09-2013, 12:54 AM

Originally posted by yorik

Pentax/Ricoh should improve the lens a little before shipping it back to you - perhaps by attaching a K3 to the end?

that would make a nice rear lens cap~

Joojoo2010 · 11-09-2013, 10:15 AM

Tnx for sharing these here. Its clear that screw drive af is much more reliable than ultrasound motor and also little faster af. If not need silence af maybe better stay away from all ultrasound af lenses...on the other hand maybe there will be need for silence af someday...probably yes.

After having 2 new sigma hsm lenses i have decided to stay with screw drive if possible. My first sigma 17-70 hsm af did not work in low light cos bad hsm motor. I did get other new lens to replace that one and now lens works fine, i do use it only when silent af is needed. Other hsm lens is sigma 8-16 but af in that lens is not quiet but nousy, af makes loud click sounds when moving, i have been told that its cos manufacturing tolerances are big its little loose and makes sound and thats normal for sigma wideangles, i hope this would be screw drive lens cos its even more nousy than my other lenses.

I think pentax and sdm/dc/usm lens is not very good combination in long term if not ready to spend extra for replace costs...

11-05-2013, 09:16 PM	#50
bwDraco Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: New York Photos: Albums Posts: 1,071 Original Poster	Originally posted by David&karen I did not say that, so don't put words in my mouth ERD, it's rude. What I said is that one motor failed in a very low production lens compared to SDM. What is there 100 times the lenses with SDM out there, spread over how many years. Yes there is a problem with some SDM lenses, but I have a low production DC lens that did fail. I am not going to assume anything on a DC lens. David Hate to step in, but the 18-135mm lens is not a low-production lens. It costs significantly less than any DA* lens and is a very popular choice as a multipurpose zoom lens. Yes, many more SDM lenses were produced over the years than DA 18-135mm lenses. However, the forums are rife with SDM failure reports, yet I have never heard of a single DC motor failure until now. See also: SDM Reliability Survey Results - PentaxForums.com --DragonLord Last edited by bwDraco; 11-06-2013 at 11:01 AM.

11-05-2013, 09:28 PM	#51
Erd§ Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: SEQ Posts: 323	Originally posted by David&karen I did not say that, so don't put words in my mouth ERD, it's rude. I did no such thing. Have a look at the simple statement you disagreed with (last post, previous page). Originally posted by DragonLord Hate to step in, By all means, step in. It's your thread regarding the 60-250, and I apologise for hijacking it, in a sense. Last edited by Erd§; 11-05-2013 at 09:33 PM.

11-08-2013, 10:22 AM	#57
bwDraco Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: New York Photos: Albums Posts: 1,071 Original Poster	The lens reached the service center yesterday, and C.R.I.S. agreed to handle this as a rush repair (since the lens previously sat in the service center for so long). It is currently being assessed by a repair technician. --DragonLord Last edited by bwDraco; 11-08-2013 at 01:01 PM.

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11-05-2013, 05:48 PM	#46
David&karen Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 327	I disagree. I bought my wife the 18-135 DC lens one month after it was released. The motor in it failed exactly 13 months after buying it. The symptoms were identical to the SDM failures I read about on here. It was out of factory warranty, but I had purchased a B&H extended warranty on it and since United Camera had to send it back to Pentax Japan to fix it(they could not do it in house) the warranty refunded the purchase price. Now one failure is very small, but this is the only DC lens except for the 560mm(I think it is DC anyway) and there are thousands of SDM lenses out there. I just don't think there are that many 18-135 lenses out there at all so I would not assume that DC all that. David

11-05-2013, 07:39 PM	#47
Erd§ Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: SEQ Posts: 323	Originally posted by David&karen I disagree. Wait...so because your 18-135's DC motor failed, then as a whole, the 18-135 DC motors are as unreliable as the SDM's? That's laughable.

11-05-2013, 07:47 PM	#48
twitch Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 4,571	DC failures seem to happen at a much lower rate than SDM failures, that's my conclusion anyway and a view shared by many here.

11-05-2013, 07:58 PM	#49
David&karen Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 327	I did not say that, so don't put words in my mouth ERD, it's rude. What I said is that one motor failed in a very low production lens compared to SDM. What is there 100 times the lenses with SDM out there, spread over how many years. Yes there is a problem with some SDM lenses, but I have a low production DC lens that did fail. I am not going to assume anything on a DC lens. David

11-05-2013, 11:22 PM	#52
Alizarine Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Manila Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,185	Originally posted by DragonLord The lens comes back in worse shape than before! The focus plane is tilted, with the right side focusing closer than the left side, causing either side of the image to become very soft. I am sending it in again, asking C.R.I.S. to replace the entire lens if possible. --DragonLord Sorry to hear about your SDM issue, this is pre-Ricoh stock right? Have you asked if CRIS can replace it with new stock this year? I bought my DA*50-135 earlier this January. Can't remember if it was pre-Ricoh stock too, but I'm sure it's from a late 2012 batch as figures from the serial number indicates. The SDM is still working perfectly so far. But I'll test again later. Hopefully yours will be replaced entirely with a 2013-made one.

11-06-2013, 07:10 AM	#53
David&karen Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 327	Erd, my apoligies, i did not.read far enough back, I eat crow on this one. Dragonlord my apoligies also, tbat lens issue was just the pits and the service subpar. And I really was excited to see your review on this lens. David

11-06-2013, 05:11 PM	#54
Erd§ Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: SEQ Posts: 323	Originally posted by David&karen Erd, my apoligies, i did not.read far enough back, Not a problem. Forget it. Bad luck is bad luck. No lens is failure-proof and one, or a small few, doesn't make it failure-prone. Of the 5 Pentax zooms with AF motors built in, The least likely to fail, by a clear margin is the 18-135. The second least likely being the 60-250. David, yes, you were the unlucky one whose 18-135 died, but at least you got 13 months use out of your lens and then a full refund. I feel for Dragonlord who forked out probably 1300 or 1400 bucks for a brand new lens in, what, early July(?), only to have had virtually zero use from it in the subsequent 4 months up to this point. That's really unfortunate and quite frankly ridiculous. Dragonlord: You mentioned that with the latest lens the SDM was fine. Did you choose to have the decentering repaired rather than have the lens replaced because you didn't want to risk a fourth lens having the SDM issue?

11-06-2013, 08:44 PM	#55
David&karen Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 327	The really weird thing is the 60-250 seems like a really tough well built lens. I rented one from lensrentals that was around 3 years old that was just great, so much so that I was thinking of buying one. Then this horror story. Thats why I asked how the WR 55-300 is panning out for people, though giving up quiet focusing and one f stop is hard. I would hope that a Ricoh built one would stop this nonsence. David

11-06-2013, 09:03 PM	#56
stormtech Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: In the boonies (NW Penna) Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 5,744	While I feel for DragonLord's terrible experience here, I've read of very few failures with this lens. I've had my 60-250 for almost 3 years now and it never ceases to amaze me. When I bought mine, I sold my DA 55-300 to help finance it. Since then I did buy another copy of the 55-300 only to sell it off again quickly - once you shoot with a lens like this here is no going back.

11-08-2013, 02:41 PM	#58
yorik Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Scotts Valley, CA Photos: Gallery Posts: 991	Considering everything that they've put you through, Pentax/Ricoh should improve the lens a little before shipping it back to you - perhaps by attaching a K3 to the end?

11-09-2013, 12:54 AM	#59
Alizarine Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Manila Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,185	Originally posted by yorik Pentax/Ricoh should improve the lens a little before shipping it back to you - perhaps by attaching a K3 to the end? that would make a nice rear lens cap~

11-09-2013, 10:15 AM	#60
Joojoo2010 Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Posts: 306	Tnx for sharing these here. Its clear that screw drive af is much more reliable than ultrasound motor and also little faster af. If not need silence af maybe better stay away from all ultrasound af lenses...on the other hand maybe there will be need for silence af someday...probably yes. After having 2 new sigma hsm lenses i have decided to stay with screw drive if possible. My first sigma 17-70 hsm af did not work in low light cos bad hsm motor. I did get other new lens to replace that one and now lens works fine, i do use it only when silent af is needed. Other hsm lens is sigma 8-16 but af in that lens is not quiet but nousy, af makes loud click sounds when moving, i have been told that its cos manufacturing tolerances are big its little loose and makes sound and thats normal for sigma wideangles, i hope this would be screw drive lens cos its even more nousy than my other lenses. I think pentax and sdm/dc/usm lens is not very good combination in long term if not ready to spend extra for replace costs...