| Author: | | Veteran Member Registered: January, 2007 Location: Newcastle Australia Posts: 5,284 | | Review Date: September 28, 2011 | Recommended
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Good in most aspects, sharpness color, bokeh. | | Cons: | light build. Looseness in construction in some models | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 6
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 8
New or Used: Used
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I found this lens to be a good lens for its price. It takes "good" photos without being "great". I sold it only in order to replace with a DA*16-50.
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| | | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: June, 2010 Posts: 753 | | Review Date: July 1, 2011 | Recommended
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | constant aperture, nice standard zoom ratio, cheap | | Cons: | chromatic aberation | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 6
Bokeh: 5
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 9
New or Used: Used
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I used to own this lens for some time along with K18, FA35 and A50/1.7. I eventually decided to sell it because I found combo of three mentioned primes much more better. On the other hand DA16-45 was much better value and for the price its performance was pretty decent although not as good as the primes. Quite useful as walkaround lens.
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: February, 2011 Location: Hoek van Holland Posts: 1,393 | | Review Date: June 25, 2011 | Recommended
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | very good sharpness, good close focus | | Cons: | very long at 16mm | |
When I got My K-7 I got this lens with it instead of the standard kit lens. And I was very pleased I did. The sharpness excelent, the AF is quick. And Even though I have replaced it by the DA35 2.4 as my daily walkaround lens, it does sit in the camera back as back up, because of the fantastic close-focus abillities. There for I don't always have to carry the macro lens around aswell.
It is just one great lens.
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: February, 2010 Location: Eerbeek Posts: 1,857 | | Review Date: June 24, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $240.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | good IQ; great rendition; cheap | | Cons: | built quality; length; a tad too short in tele | |
I'm still amazed at the sharpness and rendition of this lens. I use it on my K-x, and did not expect the excellent results it gives. Sharpness is great, colour rendition excellent, bokeh good enough for a general purpose lens. And did I say it is cheap? It really is for the quality you get, although of course is has the old autofocus screw style system. I don't care too much.
On the negative side, the built quality is nowhere near the old metal/glass lenses, or limited series. Obviously, you get what you pay for in this respect. It is also long, and sometimes I wish it went up to 55mm to become a true portrait lens.
Having said that, I find 16mm very useful, and AF fast enough (except in low light when it falters).
| | | | | | | Pentaxian Registered: May, 2010 Location: now 1 hour north of PDX Posts: 3,897
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 19, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $240.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | 16mm, fixed f/4, relatively light | | Cons: | stops at 45mm, extending lens may bug you | |
The longer I play the lens-swap game the more I find that, for me, the "right" lens is strongly tied to the body. I sold this when I had the heavier K-7, but with the k-x I prefer it to the bulkier but equally-talented 17-70 Sigma (1st generation). This lens will disappoint those who use flash indoors when the extended barrel will interfere with flash - the k-x will use flash less often with its more versatile sensor.
As long as you can deal with it stopping at 45mm you'll find it to be a fine lens, especially for the going prices. Like the Sigma its close-focus skills are independent of focal length, it can get just as close at 16mm as at 45; this provides for some great wide-field effects. Bokeh is quite good even at those extremes. A very fun lens.
 | | | | | Senior Member Registered: August, 2010 Location: Leeds Posts: 152 | | Review Date: May 25, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $320.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | wide, low distortion, good quality | | Cons: | Lens can block flash | | New or Used: New
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Just to add to the other reviews, some things that I particularly like about this lens. (Many of these also apply to the 16-50, but that's much more expensive.)
It is the widest lens that is also reasonably okay for portraits.
It is (I think) the widest lens that is also compatible with cokin p filters without vignetting.
It is lighter than the pentax 17-70. (I didn't think the difference would be significant, but I do prefer the 16-45 for this reason.) It is also lighter than the 16-50.
As such, the longer end, and ability to use cokin filters, makes it preferable to a 10-20 in most cases (for me, that is) and the wider end (and weight) make it preferable to the 17-70 (for me).
Regarding the cokin filters, I can even use it with a screw in polariser and the cokin filter holder on top of that. With a normal holder, I need to keep the holder straight to avoid vignetting. With the wide holder, however, I don't even need to worry about keeping it straight.
My most used lens.
Additional note: it also seems to be pretty resistant to flare.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: May, 2009 Location: Lithuania Posts: 344 | | Review Date: May 21, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $300.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharpness, 16mm, close focus, positive AF | | Cons: | Build quality still like 18-55mm | |
Few days ago I bought this lens along with old buddy IST-DL.
The build quality is okay, but nothink to rave about it. It's more or less the same as pentax kit lens. At 16mm the front wobbles a bit.
AF speed is ok with k200d, also very same with kit lens . Focussing is accurate. It's also capable to focus very closely to subject, really unexpected feature. Nice.
Image quality however is absolutely stunning. It's such a sharp lens, really really sharp. Even at 16mm and f/4 the corners are still almost on the par with center. At 45mm it's also stunning. Hard to touch, hard to beat.
16m gives a bit more wide angle which is welcome.
Overall, it is highly recommended lens without faults. The only complaint might be it's build quality which should be a bit higher than a lot cheaper kit lens. It's not bad at all, all material are well made, but still, for the money you run, yuo want a bit more.
IQ is absolutely amazing.
| | | | | Junior Member Registered: June, 2009 Location: Trondheim, Norway Posts: 35 | | Review Date: May 17, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $602.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Sharp, nice color rendering | | Cons: | A little CA | |
My most used walkaround lens. Good for architecture, landscapes and streetviews.
Match perfectly with my Da 55-300.  | | | | | Junior Member Registered: January, 2010 Location: Md Posts: 33 | | Review Date: May 17, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $250.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | wide angle, sharp, very good contrast and color, close focus, value | | Cons: | none | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
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Highly recommended. I'm a semi-pro and have used this lens for a couple of weddings, birthday parties, and general photography etc over the past year and a half. After renting twice, I decided to buy. It excels indoors where my 50mm is too tight and the DA 18-55mm II lags. It also pairs well with my DA 55-300mm.
In good light, it's about a step above the 18-55 with less distortion at the short end. In low light, it's about two steps above with a constant aperture. That's important when you're shooting manual, focused on capturing the moment/scene, and switching between the wide and short ends.
I'd love to own a bag of Pentax limited primes - 15, 21, 35, and 40 - and in time I may. For now, I have the next best thing for the money and I don't have to change lenses to cover that range.
Here's a recent shot that has been post processed a little.
 | | | | | Senior Member Registered: January, 2009 Location: Varaždin, Croatia, Europe Posts: 295 | | Review Date: May 14, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $280.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | goes pretty wide, sharp, good colors | | Cons: | 45mm sometimes too short, big for an f/4 zoom | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 7
Value: 9
New or Used: Used
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It was a tough call between Sigma 17-70/2.8-4.5, Tamron 17-50/2.8 and DA16-45. I was buying used. QC issues put me off the Tamron 17-50 and I found this selling localy, so I bought it. When I put +5 AF adjust on my K-7, it focused (and still does) perfectly.
So, it's sharp at f/4 at all focal lenghts. Maybe less so as you go wider, but if you stop it down to f/5.6 it becomes perfectly acceptable for me. At f/8 - wonderful! It also has typical Pentax colors - a plus. Focuses quickly and accurately, no problem there.
I like the 16mm, that's wide enough for me now, although I've tried the Sigma 10-20 and the 16mm may not be wide enough anymore 45mm may be too short sometimes, but rarely. With 14mpix on the K-7 I can always crop a bit.
The few things that are not bad but are weird is the reverse zoom and the size. It's pretty big for an f/4 zoom and extends at 16mm. The latter is good for candid shots when people think you are aiming at something in the distance and not at them, but they're actually in your frame
Bought mine without the lid on the hood. A hole in the lens hood is annoying.
My most used lens since I got it 
Edit - lowered score because the lens isn't built that good. I'm afraid it'll get very loose with a few years of usage...
A few shots:
 | | | | | New Member Registered: April, 2011 Location: Dorset , UK Posts: 6 | | Review Date: April 11, 2011 | Recommended
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | overall sharpness and focal lengths | | Cons: | needs stopping down but don`t use f16/f22 | |
Considering the relativ low price,constant f4/bright viewing and going as wide as 24mm (in old money) this is a very good lens indeed ! At 16mm it needs stopping down to f8 and f11 but at 45mm its fine at f5.6 ! I have no problems with it am glad I bought it !
optically (f5.6 - f11) =8
build = 6
zoom range = 9 | | | | | Senior Member Registered: January, 2008 Location: Flower Mound, Texas Posts: 120 | | Review Date: March 9, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $235.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Very sharp at 5.6, Great colors and bohek, great for closeup photography | | Cons: | Blocks flas at wider agnles | |
I just bought this lens from a forum member that was listed in the marketplace and I'm pleasantly surprised with the image quality. This lens is a real step up from the two kit lenses I have.
After getting this lens I immediately did comparison testing with my other lenses in this zooms focal range. When this lens is stopped down to 5.6 it nearly matches the image quality of my FA50 1.4, FA28 f2.8 and the DA40 f2.8. When it is stopped down to f8 it is hard to discern which lens was used. Even wide open it is very impressive and will be a good partner with my 50-135 when I want to keep my kit two to zooms..
I haven't used it to much but my initial results shows that this lens is very good. I really like the close up ability of this lens and I was just outside taking pictures of the blossoms on the trees and I was very impressed with the results. It focuses down to 11" and will be a good lens for shooting flowers.
The build quality is a step up from kit lens but slightly lower than my two DA* lenses. There is a slight wobble when the lens is stretched out to the 16mm position but not enough to effect the images.
The only thing that is bothersome about this lens is that it blocks the flash at wide angle but the on board flash is really only wide enough to cover a 28mm lens. So I'll use my AF360 for any flash photography.
Overall I'd rate this lens a solid 8.5 and I have no regrets buying this lens - especially buying a used one in good condition.
| | | | | New Member Registered: December, 2010 Location: Skopje Posts: 18 | | Review Date: March 9, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $225.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Great image quality, lightweight, solid build quality | | Cons: | onboard flash unusable, awkward front cap | |
I will start with the obvious observations with this lens: It renders the onboard flash unusable (who cares ), no profile in LR3.3 (user created available on pentaxforums.com), noisy and ok speed with AF, almost macro capable 28cm – total lens to object ~15cm.
I bought this very cheap from Greece and with tax return it came around $225 new with warranty. The first thing I noticed was the reverse zoom (doesn’t bother me, maybe people around me are intimidated by the size zoomed out). It’s only a margin heavier than the DAL 18-55. The manual focus is nice, not much travel, the marking near infinity is 7m and then infinity, which is a little awkward. Also it feels very well and solid built. The zoom is snappy and no zoom creep. I was a little disappointed in the front cap which is not like the DAL18-55, and when you have the hood on you can’t remove the cap or put it on because of the design of the squeeze cap which is on the outside of the cap. But remove or reverse the hood and the problem is non-existent.
When I saw the colors and resolution on this lens I was amazed that I can get this quality for the price.
| | | | | New Member Registered: October, 2010 Location: Perth Posts: 6 | | Review Date: December 27, 2010 | Recommended
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Versatility, sharpness, colour rendition | | Cons: | Barrel distortion, slow | |
1. This is my most used lens and they have taken most of my favourite pictures. It's best friends with my tripod too.
2. I seem to disregard this lens for some uncanny reason. I guess I would've liked it better if it was slightly longer.
3. Takes rather impressive up-close shots for a non-macro!
4. Some samples from my *ist DS:
 | | | | | New Member Registered: December, 2010 Location: Galway, Ireland Posts: 6 | | Review Date: December 22, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $380.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Very sharp, Constant aperture, Very cheap | | Cons: | Not f/2.8, 'Reverse zoom' makes flash difficult | |
Very very impressed with this lens - It's very cheap and has pentax's solid build quality.
Very sharp, Especially at f/8. It extends as you zoom out (to 16) which makes using a flash very difficult, Especially with the hood on. I have the AF-360FGZ and at 16 with direct flash you get a black circle at the bottom of the image from the lens. It would also be nice if it was f/2.8 or even 2.8-4... But I guess that's why they make the DA* 16-50 f/2.8... There is also some red/blue CA when shooting wide open but that's easily corrected in software - And the K-7's CA correction can even catch most of it.
All in all, Highly recommended. And in my opinion a huge step up from the DA 18-55
Here's a sample shot.
f/8, 13sec, ISO 200, 31mm - Shot on K-7
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