| Author: | | Pentaxian Registered: November, 2007 Location: Helsinki, Finland Posts: 597 | | Review Date: December 28, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $1,300.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | IQ in the center | | Cons: | IQ in the edges | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 7
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-1
| |
Have been using this lens on the K-1 for some 8 months now. Build quality still appears good, no signs of wear or problems so far. Solid construction. AF very quiet, locks focus promptly and reasonably fast. Image quality is a bit of a mixed bag. In the center rendering and sharpness are very good already wide open. Stopped down excellent. However, edges remain softer even stopped down. There is also a fair amount of vignetting at large apertures. This can of course be corrected in pp but having to do it all too often is definitely an annoyance. Occasionally there has been a bit of purple fringing in the corners in the wide end at large apertures.
With better sharpness in the edges I would have rated this for a 10.
| | | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: June, 2013 Location: Nevada, USA Posts: 3,348
4 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: November 16, 2016 | Recommended
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Almost prime-like IQ esp. in the center, fast focusing | | Cons: | Huge and heavy. | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 6
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 8
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-1
| |
I have been photographing my kid's Walk-A-Thon fundraiser at school for the past few years. Most of the shots were action oriented, like kids running towards me and hamming it up for the camera by doing cartwheels. I also photographed stationary kids just posing in groups or with their friends. Making a photo album takes me about a month. The album is mostly filled with 4" x 6" prints but it also has a healthy amount of 6" x 8", 8" x 10", 8" x 12", 16" x 9", and a few murals/posters that have a 24" edge. My biggest print was 65" x 24" of the entire school.
In 2016 I photographed the event with this lens mounted on a K-1. Focusing mode was set to AF-C and the focus points was set to SEL9. The lens focused very quickly when commanded by the K-1. I did not experience too much difficulty with the K-1 locking onto a kid running toward me. Sometimes the K-1 would get confused and focus on a neighboring kid about to pass my subject but I think any camera would experience the same difficulty in this case. Focusing on stationary subjects is easy-peasy for this lens. Focus noise is very low. It's like a breathy whisper.
I needed some depth of field so I shot at f/6.3 for the most part. Sometimes I opened to f/4 and sometimes I closed down to f/8. Image quality in the center is excellent and I would even say the quality is prime-like to borrow a phrase from the forum. The corners and edges start to soften up a bit, even at f/8, but it is only evident in big prints. The school shot I mentioned earlier that was printed at 65" x 24" is a good example. A print that big really stressed the lens. Softness was is evident but it's not horrible. It's noticeable when examining the image at 6" to 8" viewing distance - just like pixel peeping. I took the shot at 27mm and f/8. Perhaps I could have zoomed out to 24mm and crop more. The 36 MP sensor would still have plenty of resolution. Prints like 8" x 12" are no problem for this lens. I would say a bigger 16" x 24" is also excellent especially if you are taking portraits. The edges and corners should be filled with soft creamy bokeh so corner sharpness is less critical.
Colors from this lens on a K-1 are punchy, saturated, and vivid. This is a huge difference compared to the sterile rendering I get with my u4/3 lenses. Those images need to be livened up.
Ergonomics of this lens are very good. I mean, there's only a zoom ring to worry about.  What can go wrong? The lens is huge which is a blessing and a curse. Big lenses make for easy grabbing but they are heavy. A K-1 with a battery grip, an external flash, and this lens is ridiculously heavy. Mount this lens on a tiny K-S2 and the result is a cartoonish looking setup. I think this is pretty typical for any 24-70mm f/2.8 lens.
The WR seals work well. I have taken my K-1 with this lens to the local hot springs. The lens was splashed on and splattered with water. Water did not leak into the lens.
I don't think you can call this lens a stack of primes. Pixel peeping the edges will quickly tell you have a zoom lens ... a damn good one though. If you had a choice between buying some FA Limited lenses and this zoom then get this zoom for the versatility. My only wish is that it could be lighter - not necessarily smaller. Walking around with this beast can wear you out.
This lens definitely borders on excellent.
| | | | | New Member Registered: January, 2016 Location: between Toulouse and Pyrenees Mountains Posts: 2
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 23, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $1,473.36
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | sharp et fast | | Cons: | a backfocus | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: k-3
| |
After k200d > k-5 and k-3 I will buy the k-1 next year, but I bought this lens to use it with the k-3 in the interval.
This lens would be used on the two cameras
24-70 on k-1
and 36-105 on k-3
it's a great lens on the k-3, my best zoom in anyway.
just a big backfocus (corrected by a +7 ) and after that it's my new walkaround/portrait lens
Edit: Just an other negative point : the flower shaped hood doesn't get strongly attached to the lens, take care of it if you walk a lot
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: July, 2008 Location: Cleveland, OH, USA Posts: 292
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 1, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $1,297.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharp, color, bokeh | | Cons: | Big and heavy | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-1
| |
First, let me dispense with the negatives. Yes, it's huge and heavy. I don't know much about lens design but I thought that even with F2.8 it could be made a little bit smaller and lighter. OTOH, you get used to it (especially right after changing from DFA 70-200  )
This lens has quite a few positives: it's sharp, it's bright, color transmission is very good, very good bokeh, didn't notice any CA.
AF is fast and quiet.
This lens has a very useful feature - zoom lock; I didn't notice any zoom creep, though.
Mechanically it feels very solid.
The location of the zoom ring is a bit confusing but you get used to it pretty soon.
Another detail to be aware of is a bit of vignetting when using a regular (vs low profile) filter.
Overall, I'm very happy with the lens and highly recommend to anyone with K-1 (haven't used it on any other camera).
| | | | | | | Forum Member Registered: September, 2006 Location: Central Plains of North America Posts: 50
9 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 1, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $1,296.95
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Seriously sharp, bright, and silent. | | Cons: | It's freaking ginormous! And doesn't feel entirely Pentaxy. | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 8
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-1
| |
First, props to Ricoh for arranging for a best of breed wide-angle to short tele zoom to be in place and awaiting the release of the full frame K-1 DSLR. It doesn’t seem that there’s any debate about its sharpness and there’s no doubt it will become a workhorse for Pentaxians who need a sharp, fast full frame lens that covers the mid-range focal lengths. It has performed very well for me for the short amount of time I’ve had it. It’s sharp, has pleasing bokeh, and is fairly close-focusing. The auto focus is fast and very quiet.
However, anyone who is used to Pentax equipment is used to items that are for the most part fairly light and compact, and this lens is anything but. As one who has bought Pentax equipment sight unseen for 40 years via mail order and the internet, I can say without reservation that this is the first time I’ve ever been taken aback when opening the box when it arrived. It’s a big and heavy lens. Rondec does an excellent job describing and illustrating its size in his review but I didn’t fully appreciate the information he provided until the lens was in my physical possession. Mounted, it feels a bit like a pickle jar has been screwed into the front of the camera. By way of comparison, the K-1/24-70 combo weighs in at a little over 4 lbs in contrast to the bit more than 2-1/2 lbs of the K-5/16-45 combo. I may have to engage in some extra 12 oz curls to prepare for the next all-day shoot.
Ok, enough about the size. It’s not a significant enough issue to keep me from using the lens, but it could be more important for some folks. If a lens of the same focal length range and quality was designed and produced with a max aperture of f/4, a third or half less bulk, and a price tag under $1,000, there would probably be a decent demand for it. At the bottom of this post, I’ve included a picture showing the lens next to an FA 77 f/1.8 Limited (maybe not fair, but I was amused). Also included is a picture showing from left to right, a(n) *ist Ds w/DA 18-55, a K-5 w/DA 16-45, and a K-1 w/DFA 24-70.
As others have noted, the zoom ring is at the front of the lens. This isn’t especially noteworthy, except for a dirty little secret of mine that I’d appreciate you keeping to yourself (highlight to see): I sometimes take pictures with the lens hood in the stowed position. As a result of this character flaw, it can be very awkward at times for me to grip and turn the zoom ring, a simple act that is not a problem with the other Pentax zooms I own.
In the miscellaneous items department, the lens comes with the standard Pentax center pinch lens cap which is next to useless for me as a center pinch cap due to the lack of texture on the pinch grips. It’s nothing new, but it would be nice if Ricoh decided to make a few cents worth of modification on this item they supply with a lens they charge $1,300 for. I’ll be pulling out the Dremel again to add some grooves to the grips.
Also, I’d be very curious to know if anyone has been able to test this lens against the version with the VR guts to see if there’s any improvement in the optical performance with them removed.
In the Wide Angle Advantage of Full Frame thread, I posted some photos showing a qualitative comparison of the center resolution for APS-C and full frame wide angle lenses with similar fields of view on the K-1 in crop and full frame mode respectively. To provide more content to this review, I repeated the test with the target at the frame edge and added the DFA 24-70mm to the mix. The images are at the bottom of this post, and the APS-C crops have been upsampled to display at the same size as the full frame crops. The result is unscientific and unquantitative, but provides a sense of the difference in a qualitative sense. I’d like to point out that the APS-C lenses started out at a disadvantage in the center resolution comparison due to the pixel pitch of the sensor, but the DFA 24-70 stresses the resolution of the sensor even at the edge of the frame. The pictures were taken with the same camera (K-1) mounted on a tripod in the same place. Distance was a little over 4 ft, aperture was f/5.6, 2 second timer, manual focus using live view at 16x magnification. YMMV.
To conclude, the DFA 24-70mm f/2.8 lens is a fine addition to any lens collection. I look forward to capturing many fine images with it, and I fully expect its performance will outweigh the disadvantages posed by its size in most situations I expect to find myself in.
    | | | | | Senior Member Registered: June, 2016 Location: Paris Posts: 124
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 26, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $1,250.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | sharp & fast | | Cons: | WR is bad | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-1
| |
Ok, so i bought this lens for 2 reasons:
i) i didn't like my FA* 28-70mm 2.8 not being IF ( the rotating front element bothered me)
ii) i wanted something better than my almost 3 year old screwdriven excellent Sigma EX DG Macro 24-70mm 2.8, with pentax WR and better coating, as my sigma seemed to blow highlights wide open.
But:
It's not sharper than the Sigma. It's not AF faster either. They're equal. It's only better for highlights.
And i am deceived by the WR after 2 months of usage. It has dust particle inside the rear element. And a tiny something 0.5cm white hair-like thing under the front element.
The Sigma, not WR rated, survived tropical rains, salted ocean & sea water splashes, very dusty and sandy environnements and even oil paint splashes, and is today intact.
But I may have a rare bad copy of the Pentax and a rare good copy of the Sigma, so i still rate the Pentax 10 all over.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: December, 2007 Location: Prague Posts: 1,199
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 25, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $1,300.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Relibably stunning IQ | | Cons: | Heavy, large 82mm filter | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 8
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-1
| |
One must love this lens. It delivers superb IQ all across the zoom, all across the frame. No exception. If you don't like the picture taken with this lens in combination with the K-1, it is probably because the photographer failed. The gear is as close to flawless as it gets.
All that said I prefer the construction and handling of the old Canon 24-70, the reverse zoom. But that lens just can't deliver the sharpness as well. I love the contrast and bokeh of this Pentax "kit lens".
| | | | | New Member Registered: May, 2016 Posts: 1 | | Review Date: May 21, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $1,300.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | IQ,Build, Flexibility, | | Cons: | it's big | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 8
New or Used: New
Camera Used: k1
| |
This is a very good lens, and easily rivals the Canon and Nikon professional zooms. Pentax is coming out the gate strong with their full frame lens support. It may render a bit warmer then FA lenses from the film days.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: April, 2011 Location: San José, Costa Rica Posts: 794 | | Review Date: February 16, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $1,300.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharpness, WR, fast, Build Construction, Silent | | Cons: | nothing to complain | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K3
| |
I love this lens, since you take it out of the box you can tell that this is something "real". Well build, big glass, smooth controls.. image quality, colors, sharpness is great.. This is a most have lens for any FF body or even APS-C.
Filter size is 82mm so it is big, and a little heavy if you compare it with another Pentax lenses.. but it is totally worth it.
| | | | | Loyal Site Supporter Registered: March, 2009 Location: Gladys, Virginia Posts: 27,652
22 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 5, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $1,300.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Quite sharp, fast/silent auto focus | | Cons: | Very large, 82mm filter size, some flare | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 8
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K5 II, K3
| |
The DFA 24-70 is, by all accounts, a Tamron lens that has been adjusted per Pentax specifications. What exactly that means and whether the coatings used are Pentax's own, is a little unclear to me, but this lens was designed with a full frame camera in mind. Unfortunately, that camera does not exist at this point and so testing was done on a K5 II and K3.
First of all, with regard to build, the lens is a very large lens with an 82mm filter size. It handles fairly well with the grip installed, but is a little unwieldy without. The internal barrel zooms out smoothly, but the motion is tight enough that I have not experienced any zoom creep. There is a zoom lock, but I have not felt it necessary to use that. Of note is that the zoom and focus rings are swapped around from all of the Pentax zooms I have used, with the zoom ring being more distant from the camera body and the focus ring closer. One last thing is that there is no removal window in the lens hood with which you can spin a polarizer filter.
The lens has good sharpness at f2.8 and excellent sharpness from f4 and onward. I have not found any areas within the zoom range that are particularly weaker or stronger. Contrast is good and colors seem comparable to the DA * lenses -- a little cooler than with the FA limiteds. The real test of this lens will be when there is a full frame camera available. As of right now, I see basically no vignetting throughout the range either.
Auto focus is a strong point of this lens. While the lens motor is listed as "SDM," this is Tamron's motor and it is quite a bit faster than Pentax's SDM lenses. Auto focus is silent and tracking is quite a bit better with this lens, as compared to either the DA *16-50 or DA *50-135 lenses. Manual focus is OK, but not great. The focus ring is small and isn't particularly damped down but, I have used it some with Live View and it is definitely usable.
Flare is something that is definitely an issue with this lens. When shooting straight into the sun, the lens does flare and this is worsened considerably when zoomed in. I don't feel like it is much different than the DA *16-50 and is probably to be expected when using a lens with this much glass in it.
Chromatic aberrations are really well controlled with this lens and I have seen basically no purple fringing with it, which is a pleasant surprise since all of my previous Pentax lenses have fringed a lot.
Overall, it is a very nice lens that I would recommend if someone really wants this zoom range or if they are looking at a full frame camera in the future. If you are planning to stay with APS-C, the DA *16-50 is quite a bit smaller and has similar sharpness/performance to this lens, albeit with somewhat slower auto focus.
Here are some random shots with the lens:
43mm f8
 Patoka Lake by Vincent1825, on Flickr
70mm f4
 Bokeh Test by Vincent1825, on Flickr
70mm f2.8
 Elliot by Vincent1825, on Flickr
43mm f5.6
 Barn by Vincent1825, on Flickr
24mm f8
 Sunset by Vincent1825, on Flickr
Here are a couple of photos for lens size comparison:
 24-70 lens comparison by Vincent1825, on Flickr
 24-70 lens comparison by Vincent1825, on Flickr
For those interested, I have created a thread with more photos and real world shots from this lens here: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/10-pentax-slr-lens-discussion/306371-new-...70-f2-8-a.html.
Edit:
I wanted to update this review with some thoughts about this lens on a K-1. Most of the things from the K3 are the same -- auto focus is till really good, build is obviously the same, and chromatic aberration is still pretty much absent -- so I will not rehash those things.
Biggest difference is that there is quite a bit more vignetting on a full frame sensor versus the K3. This is most apparent at 24mm and f2.8. There is also a little bit of border softness that I see at f2.8. It isn't bad, but definitely there. By the time you get to f3.5, these have basically resolved. Truthfully, this is not an issue for me, as f2.8 isn't very useful for landscapes due to insufficient depth of field and for portraits, you don't often need brutally sharp borders.
Here are some various images shot with the DFA 24-70 on a K-1 (full size of all images should be on Flickr).
This is at f3.2 and 24mm. The vignetting in this image is pretty obvious. It is easily fixable in lightroom, but I chose not to for the purposes of this review.
 Tree and Lane by Vincent1825, on Flickr
This is shot at 33mm and f3.2.
 Sunset by Vincent1825, on Flickr
70mm f3.5 (mainly included for the purpose of bokeh).
 Elliot by Vincent1825, on Flickr
24mm f2.8 -- this is a shot that is in pretty low light -- f2.8/1/13 second/iso 6400 and so it is pretty noisy up close, but definitely usable.
 Reading on the Steps by Vincent1825, on Flickr
This is a shot at f16 using pixel shift. The detail on the full image is pretty amazing.
 Tucker Lake at Dawn by Vincent1825, on Flickr
Overall, the experience using this lens on a K-1 is very pleasing. The vignetting is easily dealt with and I tend to use the Lightroom correction for the Tamron 24-70 which seems to work quite well for this lens.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: March, 2009 Location: Lithuania Posts: 1,203
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 4, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $1,192.71
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Fast, sharp, WR, fast focusing | | Cons: | waits a ton! | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K5
| |
This one big lens! So much glass! Sharp, focus fast. Must get lens if you getting ready for FF.
| | |
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
