| Author: | | 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
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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.
| | | | | | | Site Supporter Registered: April, 2013 Location: Bucharest Posts: 4,625
13 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 8, 2020 | Recommended | Price: $990.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Flexibility, sharpness, WR | | Cons: | Size, weight | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 7
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-1
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Shortly after switching to full-frame (from K5IIs to K-1), I found myself in need of a wide-angle lens, since I mostly shoot landscapes. For a while I have been using the DA 15mm in crop mode, but one does not get the K-1 to use it with DA 15. I couldn't find a second hand FA 20mm and the only FA* 24mm that I could find was way too expensive so in the end I chose to buy this lens new. I was a bit skeptical about this lens being a Tamron design, I am not exactly sure how much of the lens is Tamron and how much is Pentax. Most likely it's Tamron optical design with some Pentax elements added, coatings and maybe even the glass is Pentax (although I was not able to confirm this). In the end, the genuine Tamron version had good reviews so I went on with it.
Build quality and handling
Out of the box, first things that I've noticed were the size and weight. The biggest lenses that I used were the DA 16-45mm and the Sigma 35mm Art. This lens is more than twice the weight of DA 16-45, a bit bigger and heavier than Sigma and a true behemoth compared to DA 15, which is to be expected from a f/2.8 full-frame zoom with a lot of glass. Still, it balances pretty well on the K-1 and I had no problems using it on my old tripod. The lens is entirely made of plastic but the build quality is very good, no unwanted movements or wobbling. There is even a zoom lock at 24mm which I engage all the time lens is in the camera bag. The zoom ring is quite large and located towards the far away end of the lens which I like as it's easier to balance the lens when using it. The amount of friction is just right and it seems to be well-dampened, so the ring is easy to operate with just two fingers. Focus ring is much smaller and does not rotate when using AF. There is a focus distance window with markings in meters and feet, and the white text on a black background gives good contrast and is easy to read. Lens mount is solid metal. Overall I was happy with the build quality and handling, it feels nice and solid, the only thing which I don't like it's the hood because I think it's too narrow, but I guess this is in order to accommodate the wide field of view at 24mm. WR also does its job well, I have used this lens in rain and snow with no problems at all.
Focus and Autofocus The AF speed is impressive as compared to all the lenses that I have used before and AF is completely silent with no hunting. However when it comes to precision, I'm a bit confused. Using single point select, I had a lot of failures during daytime in good light conditions, the focus seemed to be just a little bit off. However, when shooting low-light events like concerts and such which should be more challenging by nature, I had almost no failures at all so I don't know what to make of it. I should mention that I did not bother to calibrate the lens. Landscapes are not a problem since I use contrast AF in live view.
Image quality and sharpness Central sharpness is decent wide open and I don't really care if the corners are not that sharp when shooting portraits. For landscapes I tend to stop down to f/8-f/11 and then this lens gets very sharp edge-to-edge, quite a bit sharper as compared to my DA15 so I was very happy. It has nice contrast and beautiful colors resulting in very good image quality with minimal processing work.
Bokeh Long story short, I don't like the bokeh of this lens. I know this is kinda subjective, but I think it's just too busy for my taste. It's not atrocious but it's definitively no FA 77 either. However I didn't buy this lens for its bokeh and it's definitively usable for casual shots, so I'll just move on with it.
Vignetting, distortion, fringing and flare resistance
There is considerable amount of vignetting when using this lens wide open on a full frame sensor, especially at the wide end. This is not a problem for me, because for portraits again I don't care and for landscapes I will most likely stop down beyond f/5.6 and the problem disappears. There is however a considerable amount of barrel distortion at the wide end, but I was able to manage that in post-processing. So far I haven't seen any purple fringing. Flare resistance was a pleasant surprise - I was expecting this lens to do much worse considering the amount of glass that it has. Shooting straight into the sun with this lens is not advisable, but if the sun is partially obscured by something, the lens does not flare that much and the resulted starburst is quite nice.
Filters So far I haven't used any filters on this lens so I can't really comment on it. Although the lens hood has no removal window, it's quite narrow so you should be able to spin a polarizing filter.
Overall I'm very satisfied, I think this is a reliable workhorse which does its job very well and then some, as long as you don't have unreasonable expectations. Below I have added some of my favorite pictures taken with this lens.
| | | | | 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
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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: September, 2014 Location: Singapore Posts: 106
6 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 11, 2017 | Recommended
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Sharp, faster focus, weather sealed. | | Cons: | Heavy, focus hunting at low light, vignetting. | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 7
Handling: 7
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: Pentax K-1
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Its a re-badged Tamron 24-70 f/2.8 for Pentax mount.
It gains:
a. Weather sealing instead of moisture resistance.
b. Proprietary Pentax HD coatings.
It loses:
a. Image stabilization (Not needed as Pentax has IBIS)
b. Price advantage.
c. 1 year limited warranty compared to 6- year warranty on Nikon/Canon/Sony mounts.
Positives:
1. Sharp enough for Pentax K-1.
2. Weather sealed, so no need to worry when going on a hike.
3. Decently fast focusing.
4. Very useful all general purpose range of 24-70.
Negatives:
1. Heavy, makes for a heavy kit with Pentax K-1.
2. Flimsy lens hood compared to Sigma ART.
3. Zoom rings focus rings not as sooth as Sigma ART.
4. Cheap quality lens cover. Sigma ART ships with high quality lens cover.
Scope of improvement:
1. Pentax can learn from Sigma ART and ship good quality hood and lens cover.
2. Zoom and Focus ring smoothness can definitely be improved.
3. Could be priced lower. It doesn't have Image stabilization and 6 years warranty but still ends up being more expensive than native Tamron for other mounts.
 | | | | | | | New Member Registered: May, 2017 Location: Kiev Posts: 12
4 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 27, 2021 | Recommended | Price: $1,200.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Convenient lens focal lengths. Beautiful bokeh. Splash protection. Good balance in weight and dimensions on K1. | | Cons: | There is no excellent sharpness at a focal length of 24mm, with an aperture of f2.8 (at other apertures and focal lengths, everything is fine with the lens's sharpness). | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: К1
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This lens, like many others, interested me after reading a review about it on this site. I also read about this lens on other sites. And I often noticed that many of the photos that I like on flickr were photographed with this lens. Only it was not clear to me why the overall assessment of this lens is not large enough here.
Now about the lens itself. At first it seemed to me too large in size and heavy in weight. But everything is learned by comparison. And if you want to know what a heavy lens is, then hold in your hands the new 70-200 * star. And my first impression about 24-70 was wrong. This lens is not that heavy. And if you spend the whole day carrying a camera with 24-70, then this delivers less inconvenience than, for example, with the Fa100 f2.8 macro. And the dimensions of the photo lens 24-70 are actually quite handy when wearing the K-1. Together they look beautiful and are perfectly balanced.
I really liked the 24-70 focal length range at K-1! It is a very convenient and versatile lens. And for most of my photo lens needs, it fits perfectly. An excellent option for use as a standard lens. Autofocus is quite fast and accurate (on the K-1).
Also, pictures from 24-70 have beautiful and rich colors. And good sharpness and resolution. As for the sharpness, it may not be very sharp only at 24mm + f 2.8. If you change the focal length to any other, then the sharpness is excellent even at wide open aperture.
the hood of this lens is small and not deep. It does not increase the overall length of the lens when worn. As do deep hoods on many other lenses.
Back at 24-70, I love the fact that it's all weather and waterproof.
I read in the 24-70 reviews that some people don't like its bokeh. And I was afraid that I, too, might not like the bokeh of this lens. But my fears were in vain. Because actually his bokeh is very good and pleasant! Of course, not as flawless as the bokeh from top-end Pentax prime lenses. But with bokeh everything is great! I like! So I gave 24-70 10 points. He deserves it.
The small drawbacks of this lens, I find minor. And overall I really liked it! And I advise everyone to get this lens for whom its focal length is suitable.
In general, I can say that all the lenses of the D-fa series from Pentax are very good in quality and give an excellent picture.
 | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: January, 2011 Location: Paris, France Posts: 3,217
4 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 10, 2020 | Recommended | Price: $1,200.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | fast focusing, sharp, silent, WR | | Cons: | weight | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 8
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-1
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Overall : All the reviews said is true : the lens is fast to focus, silent, very sharp from wide open to stopped down, color rendition is very good and stable as you stop down, BUT the lens is a bit heavy.
On the weight side : basicaly a K1+24-70 very much feels like a bigger k3II + 16-50.
Details :
- Sharpness : the lens is sharp. At f2.8 be it 24mm, 40, 50, 70, if you take a portrait, you'll see the skin port of the subject.
wide open : The sharpness is very good on the 2/3 of the frame, with a transition to less sharp for the corner. To be honest, i'm a bit picky with this kind of thing, and the lens does a very good job. transition is very subtle.
stopped down : it's really sharp, but then every lens is good at f8 nowadays.
-Aberration : coming from the 16-50, i have to say the 24-70 is another league. No aberrations so far. And i shot in high contrast scene most of the time : outdoor wth sun and shade in the frame almost every time.
- Bokeh : This one is smooth, good transition from sharp to blur. Very different from the Sigma's one for instance. Pretty much in the style of the DA*55.
- Autofocus : It's fast. and i don't mean "quick" i really mean fast. Nothing to envy to the Canon or Nikon world for instance. It's even better on the K-1 II. Compared to the 16-50 i can say it's really faster. Day and night. Faster and more precise than the Tamron 70-200/2.8 that is quite fast.
I shoot rock climbing wich implies lots and lots of micro-movements from climbers, and now i don't have the problem of misfocused frame between small moves, or during big movements, swings and stuff like that.
- Handling : Handling is normal. nothing special to say. The lens is well balanced on the K1, no front or back heavy when mounted.
I like the "Lock" switch for transport.
When reversed, the hood prevents you from using the lens, so i mount it every time.
- Value : If you need a workhorse, something that does the job well, is reliable, with no quirks or suprises, that will last 10 years, that's the lens you need. it's a workhorse, plain and simple.
There is cheaper alternatives, of course, and if you're not confortable spending 1K $ (new) or 700$ (second hand), that's perfectly fine, take another lens. If you're Ok with the idea of spending that much, and just want something that will work for a long time, then, that's the lens you need.
| | | | | 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
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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: October, 2016 Posts: 4
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 30, 2020 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Fast AF, Accurate AF, Nice Colours | | Cons: | Zoom is not internal | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 8
Value: 8
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-1 K-3
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My workhorse lens, great all rounder.
Build quality is not as good as a * lens and it's a bit overpriced compared to the Tamron original
My full review is a video at https://youtu.be/CGwGJX4IxYw | | | | | New Member Registered: May, 2019 Location: Roma Posts: 10
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: October 2, 2019 | Not Recommended | Price: $850.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Colori splendidi senza Flare ottimo contrasto | | Cons: | <il peso | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: <pentax K1
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E' IL MIO OBIETTIVO MIGLIORE, E' FAVOLOSO IN OGNI SITUAZIONE E COMBINATO CON LA k1 E' EFFICACE ANCHE A TEMPI MOLTO BASSI CON OTTIMA RISOLUZIONE
| | | | | Junior Member Registered: July, 2014 Location: Tenryu Posts: 29
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 18, 2017 | Recommended | Price: $1,200.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | detail, sharpness | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-3
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I've shot a wedding, night concert, conferences, and now a graduation with this lens. I can say that when the image is in focus, it's extremely sharp. For the graduation photos here in Japan, I had to tone down the clarity in Lightroom because I got every single pore and skin flaw every girl had. The night photos came out great and had very nice character to them. For the conference photos, I've been torn between this lens and my Sigma Art 18-35. The Art has a 1.8 aperture and renders beautiful image quality, but is in need of calibration for front and back focusing. The Pentax has a more accurate autofocus plus the longer reach so it tens to be on my camera more often.
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: January, 2014 Location: St Petersburg Posts: 402
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 15, 2017 | Recommended | Price: $1,100.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Handling, Sats, No Backfocus, Qshift, No Wobble | | Cons: | Wish it was an IF | |
Extensively tested with LensCal and Yves' calibrators. At both ends of zoom range and using LensCal stand offs and Yves' lengths, and a close up test, all were dead zero +- .3. Tight and crisp. Unexpectedly good. My DA* 16-35 wasn't even close, in performance at same Focal lengths and especially not in build...
Colors, sats, MF in the field also Exceptional, nearly as good as the 16-50 (which was stellar). For my hands, handles better than DA*16-50 in size and smoothness...
Nicely Done Tamron .... OOPS Pentax contractor !
| | | | | 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
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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).
| | | | | 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
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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: February, 2021 Location: Gard France Posts: 15
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 18, 2021 | Recommended | Price: $890.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp, luminous, cheaper as other brands, silent, quick | | Cons: | Heavy, AFS wavering (I shoot AFC though) | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 7
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 9
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: Pentax K1
| |
Very good lens that I love to use all the day.
The biggest cons for me is hesitating AF in AFS that gives some shots for more a second... Though I shoot AFC and that's fine.
a great all to do lens !! | | |
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