HD Pentax-DA 55-300mm F4-5.8 ED WR Review

Starbursts vs DA* 60-250

Along similar lines as bokeh, starbursts produced by the closing down of the iris are a very subjective matter not easily quantifiable, unlike magnification or sharpness. Below, we'll do our best to objectively analyze the final component of our image quality comparison between the HD 55-300 WR and the DA* 60-250.

Comparison One - Christmas Tree Light Wall

Using the same array of lights used for the bokeh comparison on the previous page, this time we aligned the focus so the light sources were pin points rather than bokeh.

We didn't feel the need to include every aperture value possible as we did before, however we covered the vast majority of the aperture range. Clicking on any of the below images will allow for an enlargement.

	HD 55-300	DA* 60-250
F8.0
F10
F13
F16
F20
F25
F32

Below is the HD 55-300 at 300mm and F32:

Comparison Two - Bridge Street Lamp Lighting

Much more common than the above 'real-world comparison' are street lamps at night. Taken from a parallel bridge approximately 125m away, here we take a look at how the two lenses fared. For this comparison, the below settings were set for both lenses on the K-3:

Again, there wasn't a need to include every aperture value possible as we did before, however we covered the vast majority of the aperture range. Clicking on any of the below images will allow for an enlargement.

	HD 55-300	DA* 60-250
F8.0
F10
F13
F16
F20
F22
F25	N/A
F32	N/A

Verdict

The DA* 60-250 did much worse than we thought it would. Not because the starbursts are unattractive from a technical standpoint - all the lines are clean, sharp, and very thin. Conversely the HD 55-300 produces some very 'thick' starbursts that are rather unappealing, especially at its wider apertures. The DA*, however, just has too many aperture blades to consistently produce attractive point bursts, it seems.

With very large (as in, large due to magnification) light sources, such as a near street lamp or the sun, the six-bladed consumer zoom does a very poor job of rendering the star bursts in a pleasing manner. In fact they are downright unattractive. The same applies to in-focus light sources shot at wider apertures. Only after closing down well past the point diffraction kicks in do the stars become appealing. The same applies for the DA* lens as well because the burst lines become more spread out and less 'busy.'

To us, when creating very attractive starbursts is critical, neither lens should be heavily considered as it will not consistently satisfy this requirement.

There's just one more image quality comparison between these two zoom before you get to the autofocus tests. Our vignetting comparison is next.