| Review of: SMC Pentax-DA* 50-135mm F2.8 ED [IF] SDM by mario.abcunha on Wed April 13, 2016 | Rating: 8 | View more reviews | |
Views: 551113
Reviews: 154
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I found a great deal for this lens when buying a K3 II for my partner, after all done I have paid 150 euros for the lens new!!! I wanted to buy it for a long time but I was not willing to pay what it costs new nowadays.
I don't have the lens for a very long but so far I have been impressed with the image quality at all focal lengths from wide open! The autofocus is a bit slow but I use it mainly for landscapes or wildlife scenes where I don't need tracking or extremely fast focus, so for me it has been working ok! However I have been shooting it for less than a month therefore I can't say to much about it. But for now I would recommend this lens to anyone looking for something on this range. I will update the review in the near future.
happy shooting.
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| Review of: HD Pentax-DA 16-85mm F3.5-5.6 ED DC WR by mario.abcunha on Thu October 22, 2015 | Rating: 7 | View more reviews | |
Views: 294697
Reviews: 43
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UPDATE 04/04/2016
Up to this Saturday this lens autofocus was almost flawless. I bought a K3 II as a gift to my partner and when we were going around to check the camera I gave her mine 16-85. Surprise surprise... DC motor is not focusing correctly!!! I need to press the AF button approximately 5 times for it to lock focus if it locks at all. Very disappointing.. I wasn't extremely happy with some small things on this lens (not very relevant) but this is not acceptable.. I have to send it in I suppose.
UPDATE 02/03/2016
After my trip to Australia and testing this lens in all possible scenarios from extremely humid and rainy environments to blowing sand, one thing is for sure, this lens is weather sealed! Honestly I was surprised because with the zooming in and out with sand I was thinking... ok... one way trip for this lens.. but no! It came out in one piece. Perfect weather sealing!
Image quality wise I found it sharp from 20 to 45/50mm almost from wide open and from corner to corner, very good indeed! It is perfectly usable from 16mm, don't get me wrong, its very very good! However when you go above 50mm I just can't stand the pictures I took with it at those focal lengths! Maybe I am just being picky.. it's possible! But as I stated before I wasn't expecting this from a premium priced lens, 35mm of its range is very bad in comparison to the rest! For the price I am not sure if the DA*16-50 wouldn't be a better option, but unfortunately i've never had the opportunity to use that lens so.. anyway from 16-50with this lens its perfect!
I was afraid I would miss the faster aperture when I bought this lens... and indeed.. many times I found myself exchanging lens to my 35mm f2.8 if I was walking around at night. But that you know to begin with :).
Some sample pictures below (they don't mean much with the extreme compression they have here but anyway):
https://scontent-arn2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtl1/t31.0-8/12716027_10206979920388905_1854824345055546434_o.jpg https://scontent-arn2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xft1/t31.0-8/12593469_10206874549474698_5344862306561390597_o.jpg
PREVIOUS REVIEW:
Positive points:
Overall I have to say it is a good lens. It might be a bit soft wide-open but when stopped down its very sharp across the frame and beyond any kit lens. Meaning that if you are looking for an upgrade from your kit lens (18-55 WR) this can be an option. I won't talk about the 18-135 because I never shot with one.Its a super lens to take to take with you on vacations due to its versatile zoom range, weather resistant (still to be tested), and for landscape is awesome with its 16mm and sharpness stopped down, with extremely good color contrast.
Some examples here:
EXIF: 21mm, f8, 1/80, ISO100
https://scontent-cdg2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t31.0-8/11223863_10206293675513212_7889633000490977124_o.jpg
EXIF: 21mm, f11, 13sec, ISO100
https://scontent-cdg2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t31.0-8/12109967_10206281422646898_6551205131977452927_o.jpg
Downside:
I don't understand why any of my pentax lenses have no stop on the focus ring, it keeps going after the limit... why? is that good for any reason? When I bought it I thought that wide open this would be ok and I could even shot some casual portraits with it but it doesn't seem to be the case, forget it. This stems both from the fact that the lens is soft wide open and even softer if wide-open at 85mm. Anyway, the worst of it all is the price, I was expecting that the negative points I pointing out here wouldn't exist. Almost 700 euros... its not cheap or reasonably priced, its expensive.
I haven't shot that much wide-open, so it might be just my fault so far (I hope so). Nevertheless, not from experience but from what I've read in the forum, if you have the money go for the 16-50 DA*. I could have done it and I didn't.. I don't know why until today.
Conclusion:
I have this lens for a very short time therefore, as I always do, I will update my review as I did with my 300mm DA* (amazing lens, BUY IT)! I will put this DA 16-85 to test on my next trip to Australia this summer (south hemisphere summer), after which I will come back with more and definitive news.
To this moment in time, and for the price, I can't recommend this lens.
Have fun and happy shooting
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| Review of: SMC Pentax-DA* 300mm F4 ED [IF] SDM by mario.abcunha on Wed April 8, 2015 | Rating: 9 | View more reviews | |
