[Annabelle]

Just went shooting with this lens - brand new - with my K-3. Good conditions, lots of sunlight. All firmware updated. Mounted on a tripod. Fast shutter speed for motion control. Not impressed with the lens at f4 - softer than I expected. Overall, not impressed with the first round. Any thoughts?

[Parallax]

Have you checked to see if you need a focus adjustment?
Was SR turned off?

[jatrax]

My go to lens. It should be quite sharp at f/4. You might run a focus test to see if you are calibrated correctly. And as Parallax noted make sure SR is off when on a tripod, that will cause noticeable softness.

[normhead]

A recent comaprison, the DA*60-250 based on everything I've done with it, including testing against the Tarmon 90 and Sigma 70, two of the sharpest lenses available, show it to be almost prime quality. There's always the possibility you got a bad copy, if you can't adjust it, send it back.

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/10-pentax-slr-lens-discussion/301360-70mm...out-prime.html

[cali92rs]

I have never been disappointed with the IQ of the 60-250mm, from f4 on. It consistently was one of my sharpest lenses when I had it.
My only complaint was the focusing speed, but never sharpness.
Maybe you can post a sample?

[Na Horuk]

Any thoughts?

Would be great if you could do a sharpness test with the same setup as you already mentioned, and use live view with focus peaking to manually focus on a clear, obvious subject. Then upload that photo somewhere, with the exif data (aperture, ISO, shutter,..). Bonus points if you use 2 second timer (and/or remote trigger), shoot raw (but don't PP the shot, just export it to jpeg).
A good subject is a magazine or book that you tilt at 45 degrees to the sensor plane. It should be well-lit, and not too far from the camera (not at minimum focus distance, but not too far from it, either).
If you can do this at 60mm and 250mm. From the photos I've seen taken with that lens, they are all pretty good. You can look at the photos in User reviews section or the sample photo gallery.

[Hattifnatt]

Bonus points if you use 2 second timer

Using the 2 second timer should automatically turn off SR, I believe.

[cali92rs]

Using the 2 second timer should automatically turn off SR, I believe.

That is correct...and you would not want SR on when mounted on a tripod anyway.

[Hattifnatt]

Also, as Na Horuk said, you can focus manually in Live View using zoom in function for the sharpness test.

[rboe]

For years conventional wisdom said that for best results; use primes. For me, the 60-250mm has been a huge disappointment in that regard as I tend to use it 90% of the time as a 250mm prime. At agility trials I do get the opportunity to use the shorter focal lengths and as long as I do my part to get a proper shutter speed to freeze the action it is quite sharp. I do prefer my 300mm telephoto, but with dog trials, the 300 can be too long too often.

I did have to adjust the focus of one lens in the camera; but I can't recall if it was the 60-250 or a different one - I suspect it was the zoom.

I have the 50-135mm and the 60-250mm has pretty much made the 50-135 the best lens I don't use now. There are a few times where I need/want 50mm, the F2.8, the lighter weight etc. so I do use the 50-135, but the 60-260 pretty much kicks its' butt.

[Nicolas06]

A recent comaprison, the DA*60-250 based on everything I've done with it, including testing against the Tarmon 90 and Sigma 70, two of the sharpest lenses available, show it to be almost prime quality. There's always the possibility you got a bad copy, if you can't adjust it, send it back.

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/10-pentax-slr-lens-discussion/301360-70mm...out-prime.html

For me most of the 60-250 users look quite satisfied and when I look at 60-250 images, they tend to look quite great.

Still the e-photozine review for example is not not that great and ready only that I would not buy it for sure.

I know that there sample variation and so maybe it was a bad sample ? Decentered maybe?

I know that at least DxO use several sample for their qualibration and testing. Don't think that e-photozine does that.

[normhead]

Tested at photozone... it's hard to find a zoom lens that's better, or any lens that's better. This is a lens for which people have Pentax gear, just for this lens.

Pentax SMC DA* 60-250mm f/4 ED [IF] SDM - Review / Test Report - Analysis

Even the e-photozine report is mostly positive. It's just odd how different their test results are.

[MJSfoto1956]

My first copy was slightly decentered (tested against a star-field).
I sent it back to Adorama for exchange.
My 2nd copy has been a great performer.
One of my favorite lenses of all time from any manufacturer.

YMMV

Michael

[Nicolas06]

For years conventional wisdom said that for best results; use primes. For me, the 60-250mm has been a huge disappointment in that regard as I tend to use it 90% of the time as a 250mm prime. At agility trials I do get the opportunity to use the shorter focal lengths and as long as I do my part to get a proper shutter speed to freeze the action it is quite sharp. I do prefer my 300mm telephoto, but with dog trials, the 300 can be too long too often.

I did have to adjust the focus of one lens in the camera; but I can't recall if it was the 60-250 or a different one - I suspect it was the zoom.

I have the 50-135mm and the 60-250mm has pretty much made the 50-135 the best lens I don't use now. There are a few times where I need/want 50mm, the F2.8, the lighter weight etc. so I do use the 50-135, but the 60-260 pretty much kicks its' butt.

Well if you really use it at a prime, maybe you should have considered a DA*300. But even a prime will not be perfect.

More to that, th performance of most long tele, prime or not will not match the performance you can get in more common range. Pass 200mm there more compromize in the design to mitigate price and weight/size.

maybe the 150-450 perform better at 250mm but that twice the price here and twice the weight. And likely the DA*300 is bit better at f/4, but you loose the zoom capability then...

And remember the 10% case maybe justified completely the zoom case as you didn't want to buy and put in the bad both zoom and prime.

Anyway, I don't think that a non defective 60-250 would show any issue even at f/4 if you don't crop significantly you shoot or look at 100%. Maybe it's not perfect, but is sure good enough for a 250mm framing... Maybe not if you try to crop to a 400-500mm framing through.

[normhead]

Well if you really use it at a prime, maybe you should have considered a DA*300. But even a prime will not be perfect.

^ what he said. My one disappointment with the 60-250 is trying to use it as a 250mm prime. At close range it's more like an old 135mm prime. And how often do you shoot 250mm at infinity? And as mentioned, focus is disappointing for a lens of this cost. SDM was a total failure in my opinion.


But it does this,


And this...


And this


And this


And this...


And this


How much can you ask of one lens?

I've taken many hikes with my DA 18-135 and DA* 60-250, and nothing else.

Something is wrong with your lens.

Slide show here...