[Mike.P®]

Just checked my facts and you are right they have not been as recent as I thought, in doing my homework on what I was remembering they were actually found in threads I had searched, but still multiple accounts of the SDM failing on that lens, with typical behavior like working fine until 8 months and then failing. Definitely not as many problems as with the other 2 zooms, but this zoom is bought a lot less than those zooms. I really think it is a prime vs zoom thing based off the reports.

Could you point me to a few of these multiple accounts of 60-250mm SDM failure posts ?

According to THIS there has been one .. on DPR

Thanks.

[dankoBanana]

to me, the lens seems very interesting ... I wanted a 55-300 WR, but this will do also
it seems, considering the new patents, that Pentax doesn't intend to make the 55-300 and the 12-24 WR, but introduce WR substitutes ...
maybe the 55-300 design doesn't allow for WR, but this lens seems to be designed with WR in mind
certainly, if the lens is better than the 55-300 and isn't too heavy, I wouln't mind shelling out 800 $ for it ... maybe even 1000 $ ... it scratches an itch
I think that this lens, if done good, could bring in a lot of people to Pentax

[dankoBanana]

hmmm the only similar lenses I could find are:

Canon EF 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS USM Lens (although it's really a full frame lens)

Sigma 50-500mm f/4.5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM SLD Ultra (also full frame)


the Canon one costs 2500 $ (DAMN!!!) and Bigma costs 1500 (introduction price 2400 $)
consider that both are full frame lenses and also that the Canon lens has IS
what would you guys expect for this pentax lens to cost given the DA* prefix and its APS-C image circle? 1500 $, reduced to 1000 $ after some time?

[dankoBanana]

2011_8234_fig02.png?????????????So-net???

can anyone make sense of these diagrams?

[Loren E]

Could you point me to a few of these multiple accounts of 60-250mm SDM failure posts ?

According to THIS there has been one .. on DPR

Thanks.

Here are the first few and I have come across others recently about this lens being sent back for SDM, one specifically said after 8 months of perfect working order. No doubting less have been sent back than the other two zooms (not sure if this is a factor of less being sold) but seems like this lens has had some AF issues unlike the primes.

an older one from DPREVIEW

Re: 60-250mm SDM failure? Yes but Amazon & Pentax save the day [SIMILAR]
wolfone - 9/2/2009 I got one of the first 60-250s from Amazon for a photo shoot that was scheduled the following week. Two days later the lens would no longer focus with either my K10 or K20. My 16-50 worked fine on both bodies. Immediately called Pentax and explained the situation and they said to send to send it to them and they would fix it (but it would take some time) or, if possible, return it to Amazon and get a replacement. I had also immediately e-mailed Amazon about the problem. Got back to Amazon and told them what Pentax said about Pentax agreeing to fix it and Amazon agreed to take the lens back and replace it---and they would pay the shipping both ways! (Now that is customer service!) Second 60-250 has been chugging away fine all over the country with no problems. By the way, both lenses were/are optically superb.



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06-24-10, 07:15 PM #1 (permalink) Clinton
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Pentax DA* 60-250 SDM Fail. SN 9224360
I picked this lens up through Amazon Warehouse deals. The SDM on this one is working spotty (right out of the box). I'm returning it back to Amazon.

I told Amazon they need to send this lens in to be repaired, and I'm including the information about how it has failed in the box.

If you've got this specific SN of this lens, I encourage you to test it's auto focus a bunch to confirm it's been repaired. the AF will sometimes jam and not move at all, or it will focus extremely slowly, as in 10 seconds slowly. It's tricky though because once it "warms up" it works fine.

This isn't a criticism of Amazon Warehouse Deals, they usually work out great. This lens just has issues. Amazon is happily paying the shipping back and giving me a refund.

[Clinton]

It's true. But it's not like my 16-50 that had the SDM fail. This thing just didn't work right. Since it was warehouse deals, who knows what happened to this poor lens. For all I know someone may have dropped it.

Picture this. Wolfone returns lens to amazon. They test it briefly, and it seems to work so they put it up on warehouse deals. I buy it and it still doesn't work right. Plausible I'd say.