So it's time for the obligatory review, eh?
This was my first ever Single In challenge, and I enjoyed it immensely! Sure there were busy days when it was a bit tough to get a shot, and days where inspiration was lacking, but who doesn't have those days? If they're my tallest woes I'm doing very well indeed!
The lens of choice was the DA* 16-50mm f/2.8, which is rather new to me. It certainly gets mixed reviews and some would stay right away based on that... indeed some of the reviews are downright scathing. Build quality is superb... I'm sure I could hammer nails in with this puppy, and handling on the K-5 is very nice thank you (not quite as well balanced on the K-r or the K-01). Zoom ring is a little stiff, but as it's new that might settle down some; focus ring is just right. AF performance was very good, and I was surprised to see AF operational in some extremely dark conditions.
Optical performance? I'm sorry I'm not much of a pixel peeper... my philosophy tends to be that if a lens looks good at human sized images, it just looks good... plain and simple!
I did find the lens to be versatile, with an extremely useful focal length. Great wide at 16mm (I like 16 so much better than 18!), and a nice short portrait length at 50mm (I would like a *touch* more reach... 16-70mm f/2.8 would be my idea of lens nirvana!). Of particular note I LOVE the lens' ultra close focusing distance!!!
Bokeh can be downright dreamy when shot wide open, and the colour rendition is lovely. I found it to be quite sharp indeed. I didn't notice any significant issues with sharpness (caused by the lens!), even when wide open. Mostly when I'm shooting wide open I'm looking for a sharp central(-ish) subject and creamy bokeh anyway, so edge sharpness in that context is something of a moot point. I did notice a little chromatic aberration kicking in in high contrast situations, and I think this would be this lens' major weak point if I had to pick one, but none were entirely objectionable, or unfixable. There's a little distortion wide, which is noticeable in the right situations, but I think you'd need to be a real-estate or architectural photographer for this to be a major headache.
I was having some reservations about this lens going into the challenge, but now that we've come out the other side still together I'm very happy with it indeed. A keeper for sure.
Now to see if I can withstand the woeful close focusing distance of the otherwise lovely SMC DA 70 for a whole month (particularly as it's Bokecember!).