Originally posted by volosong
Uugh! SDM Fixed by C.R.I.S. three years ago, minus a month. SDM failed again. If the optical quality of this lens wasn't so great, I'd sell the stupid thing.
I'm not really happy with Pentax DA lenses. I have a DA 17-70 which is great except that it hunts for focus unless I put my finger on the focus ring - it can be really annoying when you're trying to get a shot. I also have a DA*60-250 and have had a couple of scary instances when the SDM system would not move as if the motor was weak. I figured it needed prodding so I exercised the focus ring manually until finally the thing would start working. So now every time I take it out, I exercise the focus ring manually, then using autofocus near-far-near-far etc. Then it works as expected.
Now I've just seen a video about a budget pro camera system and the guy recommended the K5iis (before K3 release) but no pentax lenses. He recommended all Tamron F2.8 lenses.
However, I have a couple of screw drive FA lenses and they are un-categoricly great lenses.