| Author: | | New Member Registered: January, 2014 Posts: 11 | | Review Date: August 12, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $82.78
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | small in size, built-in motor, quiet focusing, rather cheap prize | | Cons: | no for the prize | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 7
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-30
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What an awesome kit lens. It's portable and well made. The noise is almost zero(compared with those screw driven lenses). I use it as a wide angle lens only, so I'm not sure about the 35mm and 50mm parts, but I'm very satisfied with the 18mm part. The fact is all other wide angle lenses are far more expensive than this one, no matter prime or zoom.
My copy seems to backfocus somewhat on my K-30, so may be I'm not able to release its full power, but in my case, the Chromatic Aberration is kind of severe, rather visible at the edge between high contrast zones. Apart from that, I would say the sharpness can be better, but I'm comparing it with da35/2.4. When stand among other 18-55 lenses, there's no problem at all.
So, after all I would definitely recommend this lens, if you can get it at a reasonable price. Please look at pictures for real performance.
| | | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: January, 2013 Location: Kansas City, KS Posts: 1,612
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 4, 2016 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Lightweight, quickshift, WR, sharp, nice zoom range | | Cons: | Fiddly to retract, slow aperture | |
I got this lens brand new, bundled with my Stone Gray K-S2, from B&H. It took me a long time to get around to using the lens extensively, partially because I prefer manual focus lenses, and partially because I've been conditioned to think that "kit lens" is a bad word and there's nothing good that can come out of them. Clearly that's wrong.
I really really love how lightweight the lens is. Yeah, I like a nice heavy metal lens as much as the next gal, but I have a lot of heavy metal lenses and using this plastic-constructed lens for my (more or less) month-long experiment was a real joy. I had no issues with the quality of the materials, not even the plastic mount. (Don't be afraid!)
There's no getting around it: Yes, the retraction is a bit of a hassle. But it does make the lens extremely compact. I did not have any issues with the retraction mechanism at all - it ain't rocket science - but it was another step that had to be taken before I could make an exposure.
The quick-shift focus is cool and handy, and I wish I had it on my only other auto-focus lens, the DA 50/1.8. Auto-focus on the 18-50 seemed fast and accurate enough for me, although I did have one instance of it struggling in low light. However, switching to MF and using live view was simple and very effective. The auto-focus is SIGNIFICANTLY more quiet than I remember from my past experience with AF lenses. Very impressive! I didn't have any issues with front- or back-focusing that I noticed.
The zoom range is pretty much ideal for me. More and more I realize that I like wide angle lenses, and I loved the FoV at 18mm, and 50mm got me as close as I ever needed to be.
At 18mm, the eddges were a little soft and slightly muddy, but it was a mild defect. There was some CA/fringing in all high-contrast situations, but Lightroom cured those ills easily and it was never a problem.
There was a pretty significant amount of distortion at 18mm, but if you thought there wouldn't be, then I don't know what to tell you... Distortion correction took away most of it in Lightroom, but there were some images that I couldn't totally remove the "bulge" from. I got over it.
My main gripe with the lens is that f/4 is pretty dang slow. It's forgivable at 18mm, because I like DoF, but by the time you zoom to 50mm and are stuck with f/5.6 you might be feelin' blue (like I was). But, for the convenience of the zoom range, the lightweight build and the very decent IQ it produces, I was able to overlook the slow aperture MOST of the time.
I think it's a pretty poor lens for indoor shots and dim lighting, but as a casual daytime walk around, especially when you're going to be carrying your camera all day and weight is an issue, it's hard to beat. I'm glad I took the time to get to know it a little better.
Here's my Flickr Album with images from the DAL 18-50/4-5.6 DC WR RE: CLICK HERE | | | | | Forum Member Registered: November, 2008 Location: Winsum, the Netherlands Posts: 86 | | Review Date: February 3, 2016 | Recommended
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | light, retractable, sharp,compact, Quiet Focus, DC | | Cons: | weak construction, no lenshood supplied, Wobbly, stucking retraction mechanism | | Sharpness: 7
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 5
Value: 7
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-S2
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I have the SMC version kit lens . It has the same optical quality as the HD version. Only the coating of the HD version is better.
The optics are good, although I don't see a spectacular difference versus the 18 - 55 II lens.
I like the lens AF wise. It has a silent DC motor. Its build is compact. It focuses very fast.
But what i don't like : the construction of this lens (may be just the one I have ?) is very wobbly. When I push the button to get the lens to full extend than it only works well when the lens is oriented horizontally. When you point it down it will nearly refuse to get out.
Also the inner tube is not fitted very firm in the outer tube. When yoy change the zoom position you see the whole scene in the viewfinder moves a bit sidewise. It looks as if the constuction seeks his real route to move first. It repositions and than the view is clear.
I wonder if other users lenses have the same behaviour. I compared it with my 18 - 55 II lens. This type has not the strange behaviour . No wobbling and seeking position when you zoom in or out.
I would like the others users to test this and give some reviews about this specific point. So give your feedback !
I also don't like the absence of a (cheap plasitic) hood supplied with the kit version.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: July, 2013 Posts: 389 | | Review Date: October 23, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $140.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | extremely fast AF, lightweight, compact, QuickShift, retractable, wide-angle | | Cons: | none so far, 18-50 is 18-50... :) | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-3
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I bought the lens for a a bargain from a user that jumped ship to m43ds.
First i have to say that he didn't send the hood with it. So i can not say how it would perform with the original pentax hood on.
When used in harsh light and at 18mm, pictures tend to get a bit soft from the stray light... i guess the hood would do very good compensation here.
Stopping down 2-3 steps helps you out here.
I would not like to use it on its extremes(18 or 50mm) wide open, but the same applies to every other lens IMHO.
Overall i got to say, it performs like a charm. With this lens mounted on a K-3 in green mode, you feel like having the fastest and best Point'n'Shoot ever in your Hands.
The lens is light and the lens is fast when it comes to AF. Just a few days ago i tried a canon, and compared its SDM AF, to our Screw-Drive with a very fast lens on, and i had to admit the Canon was way faster...(But hey, no wonder. Screw-Drive though F:2.8)
BUT WITH THIS LENS the PENTAX K - 3 BEATS the sh.. out of Canons DSLRs... its just like you could just push the shutter release button. No wait... Aim, press ... Voila!
i was blown away. Really!
Yes it may feel cheap. maybe the construction didnt cost that much, it doesnt feel massive like DA* lenses or maybe a fat'n'fast Tokina would, but man this is indeed a performer.
only minus on this plastic sister is distortion due to the construction... but it is not that bad.
BANG for the BUCK? ----> 99,9% I give it: all thumbs up.
Use a hood!
| | | | | | | New Member Registered: March, 2012 Posts: 6
4 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 26, 2015 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | lightweight, inexpensive, zoom range, weather sealed | | Cons: | clunky operation, plasticky, no lens hood included | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 7
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: KS-2
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I recently purchased a KS-2 with the 18-50 DA-L WR DC included as part of the kit. I am a modestly experienced Pentax owner (first camera was a K100D Super in 2007) but wanted the lens for its compactness, zoom, light weight, and WR qualities. I specify a price of ~$60 as this was the difference between the kit and a body only version. I consider this an excellent value.
I preface this review by saying that I am a casual photographer. I take pictures for fun and my own personal enjoyment and collection. I am not a professional and while I do a bit of pixel peeping, my expectations are generally fairly modest. I tend to prioritize sharpness and colour rendition over other features. I am not interested in post-processing so 100% of my pictures are straight OOTC JPG. Given the level of my expertise and expectations, you may want to scale your own scoring of the lens accordingly. I.e., if you are very exacting, then you should probably revise my scores down.
With that out of the way, on to the review, with a few sample pictures of some flowers. Flowers are generally a good test for what I'm interested in since I can check focusing, sharpness, colour, and to some extent, bokeh. They are not great for wide shot performance so I didn't do a very good or thorough evaluation of the wide angle performance.
Sharpness
I am quite pleased with the sharpness of these photos. I did some serious pixel peeping on these images and I was definitely satisfied with the detail in the images. The bee image is a good example. I know the composition is poor but it was mostly taken to check how detailed the bee was among complicated surrounding objects. Borders of all the different flower parts look quite distinct to my eye. Overall, very happy.
Aberrations
I didn't test wide angle in these images but went out later to shoot some walls and other angular objects. Performance is about what I expect and what other more comprehensive reviews have reported. That is, good not great for distortions. I am generally satisfied and it suits my purposes fine. In other words, nothing that really offends my sensibilities.
I did not see too much purple fringing but then again, conditions were probably not such to generate too much of that kind of problem.
Bokeh
Bokeh is a particularly subjective evaluation and to my untrained eye, I admit to not being great at distinguishing "harsh" bokeh from "pleasing" bokeh. To me, I suppose the question is "is the bokeh distracting or not?" Looking at photo 4 and 5 in particular, I am pretty happy with that. Given that those were taken at f/5.6 (smallest aperture at 50mm) it's satisfactory.
Autofocus
I was very pleased with the autofocus. Admittedly it's nearly perfect conditions, since it was bright and sunny with very distinct colours, but I found the AF very fast and near silent. I have a few screw drive AF lenses still so hearing the slightest hum from the DC motor was certainly a nice change to wrrrrr...wrrrr...thunk. Thinking back, I was actually super pleased with how quick it was. I'd find a subject, compose it, and then bzz...ding...snap in seconds. For reference, I consider the old Sigma 70-300 the absolute worst in AF speed and sound.
Handling
Handling is one area that I was pretty disappointed in. I had been warned about this in other reviews but I found the lock and zoom mechanism very clunky to use. The lens in fully collapsed mode needs to be unlocked with a button while you rotate the ring counter-clockwise. Once it hits 18mm then it freely rotates between 18-50. You cannot collapse the lens (past 18) until you push the button again. I found out though that on my copy at least, if you are holding the button down while you rotate clockwise past 18mm towards closed, the mechanism sort of seizes up. I was quite alarmed at first to notice that it didn't seem to retract. I much later found out that (on my copy) you need to push the button to get past 18, release it, and then it will collapse without issue. In other words, don't keep the button depressed as you collapse the barrel. I found all this quite cumbersome and annoying. I get that it's a property of the design but I didn't like it.
Also, while it is very lightweight, it feels very flimsy and plasticky. There is a slight wobble in the focal length ring and definitely in the focus ring, which feels particularly loose. While I am very much an AF person anyway, this wobbliness really deters me from doing any manual focusing. I guess I am spoiled by the smoothness of my DA 15 and DA 100 WR Macro.
Value
Despite my concerns about handling, overall I would rate this lens very highly for value, especially given that I paid about $60 for it. I think I'd probably be a lot more hesitant at $299 for the HD version, but even at up to $150 I think I'd be pretty satisfied. For what it does and for the weather sealing (will need it in humid SE Asia in a few months), I think it's very nice indeed. I am disappointed the lens hood was not included though.
Overall
Overall, I am very happy with this lens. When I need to travel or have weather sealing, it will be my go to lens on my KS-2. It will also have a home on my K-01 for sure (even more compact). But without a doubt, if size and weight aren't an issue, I'll probably be using my Sigma 24-70 instead. That being said, for my purposes this lens is terrific.
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