| Author: | | Veteran Member Registered: November, 2011 Location: ON, RH Posts: 2,181
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 17, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $100.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Good price, light, good IQ, nice bokeh, decent macro lens | | Cons: | Lens creep when AF is off, long when extended with hood | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 7
Value: 9
Autofocus: 7
New Or Used: New
| |
A great lens for a beginner that wants to upgrade from the kit lens.
It has a very good reach, it does decent macro (1:2) and IQ is very good considering the price.
The only annoying things that I find about it is the lens creep when using in MF and that is quite long once you zoom in all the way and add the hood on.
At 300mm you can still get very good results if you keep the lens hood on and put the camera on tripod (disable SR).
Personally, I really like this lens and still have my copy.
I don't use it as much nowadays, but I still think is a great lens and yes, I would recommend it.
| | | | | | | Senior Member Registered: May, 2012 Location: Mission, B.C. Posts: 166
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 20, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $190.00
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | Decent macro, good working distance, decently sharp from f/8, decent IQ at lower focal lengths, decent manual focus,price | | Cons: | Soft at the long end, soft when not stopped down, loud and very forceful auto focus | | Sharpness: 7
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 8
Value: 9
Autofocus: 6
New Or Used: New
| |
This lens is overall decent. Decent sharpness (from about 70-250mm) Decent IQ (when stopped down), decent bokeh and autofocus (though the lens feels like it's knocking the camera around when it hunts, which it doesn't do as often as you would think). My favourite point about this camera is actually that it's quite nice to focus manually. That and the price. For what you pay, if you don't need pro quality IQ and are looking for longer focal lengths, this lens is a winner. The 1:2 macro is nice to have as well, it's enough for larger insects like dragonflies and butterflies, and the working distance is pretty good as well.
 | | | | | New Member Registered: August, 2011 Posts: 1
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 29, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $250.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | excellent in price class | | Cons: | switching off the macro slightly difficult for a new user | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Autofocus: 9
| |
I bought this lens yrs ago and I steel like it
It's excellent lens in price class. If you want to buy a better one, you must pay more,
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: March, 2009 Location: Ohio, USA/ India Posts: 478
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 15, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $220.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Great IQ, light, | | Cons: | slow | |
This lens was my first telephoto purchase. The IQ is stunning. My first PPG acceptance was an image from this lens. It is very sharp on my K20 D. It is true that I have not used the lens in almost a year every since I got the sigma 70-200 2.8, but I would not hesitate to take the lens if I need the reach and want to travel light. The only negative is a slow variable aperture.  | | | | | | | New Member Registered: August, 2008 Location: bremerton, wash. Posts: 6
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 24, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $230.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Very sharp on a TRIPOD. VERY TOUGH BODY. LOVE THE COATINGS | | Cons: | I would of liked a 3.5 opening for indoors. | |
I have used it for about 2 years. I have had to take it in for cleaning when i worked some sage brush up around Steam Boat Rock in North washington State. Zooming in and out sucked in sage brush dust. Other wise i use it alot. When pointed down there is NO LENS CREEP. I do all out door photo work and it has been good for me. Up around salt water in storms I have no trouble with it. It is a tough lens. The Macro is really sharp. A mono pod is best with this lens to cut out some motion. It is very sensitive to shakey hands. Rather, if you climb up a hill and am out of breath and your 65 year old heart is hammering, rest a bit or use a pod of sorts. Boka is nice with a UV lens or better a neutral gray lens. I have the 120-400 Sigma and the 70-300 is 1/2 the weight and size. The 120-400 is super quiet and a bit sharper than the 70-300 but a beast to carry. The 70-300 is a bit noisey on focus but easier to carry around. I am so used to reaching for it i would buy it again in a heart beat. I swear i would prefer to support Pentax but none of their 70-300 have Macro. Oh, ok, if i see a good deal on a Pentax 55-300 F4 i would get it and my conscience would feel better. But then i would have to get my Pentax 100mm 2.8 back that i gave to my son as i would need a macro for travel. I don't get it. Why doesn't Pentax put more Macro on their lenses? I do think the DA 35 Macro 2.8 is a "have to have lens". But that is a "wana have" for me now................ KEEP LOOKIN FOR BEAUTY....................
| | | | | Junior Member Registered: June, 2010 Location: Wiltshire Posts: 32
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 24, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $250.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Value for money, flexibility, performance | | Cons: | For the price - too few to mention | |
In my view this lens is often unfairly maligned, especially for its so called 'poor performance' at 300mm. Whilst it may not bear comparison with a lens costing 10 - 20x as much, IMHO its very good for the price. The close focus facility and working distance are an added bonus, especially when photographing insects, as I hope you will agree these images captured with the lens show (originals can be seen in my album):
   | | | | | New Member Registered: March, 2007 Location: San Jose Posts: 17
1 user found this helpful
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: March, 2007 Location: Ankara, Turkey Posts: 401
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 28, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $250.00
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | Low price, fine performance | | Cons: | Almost nothing (see text) | |
It is for bright light; you have to live with that. Its resolution and color is just fine as long as you don't expect miracles. The contrast is not great; you have to play with, when necessary, during post processing.
It has a wide grip for manual focusing and the barrel rotates about a 1/4 turn from 1.5 m to infinity.
Between 200-300m it has a macro function (1:3), which is very useful. The rotation of the barrel is about 180 degress for macro focusing, which helps while doing it manually. No aperture ring is present.
The closest focus distance for normal use is 1.5 meters. (For macro, it is 95cm). So, theoretically it can be used as a portrait lens if you are satisfied with f/4. I tend to use the 17-70mm for portraits even though it is slightly slower at 70mm. Maybe I am too lazy to replace it with this one.
The verdict: This is a lens with a comparatively low price tag. You certainly have alternatives which cost more than two times the price, providing better image quality and better low-light performance. However, for an amateur who only occasionally uses a tele zoom, I cannot see anything wrong with this lens.
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: January, 2007 Location: Yorkshire, England Posts: 80
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 16, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $220.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | good range, macro switch, price | | Cons: | soft focus esp. at 300mm, slow | |
I like this lens, the soft focus can be used to good effect, especially when shooting macro at 300mm.
I have also found it useful for shooting candid portraits outdoors, once again the soft focus at the edges enhances this.
Biggest down side is that the lens is no good for indoor work.
Overall a good lens for the money.
After 2 years of good use I've upped my rating of this lens - I have taken on some of the comments made below and with the use of a tripod and manual settings I am getting much sharper images, the softer edges only occur really below F8. It has been bashed about and goes everywhere with me and is still performing like new.
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: November, 2016 Location: Prague Posts: 124 | | Review Date: January 13, 2024 | Recommended | Price: $260.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Sharpness at 70-135mm, colours, macro ability, weight, build | | Cons: | General sharpness at 300mm, wierd macro switch, slow AF | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-x, K-70
Autofocus: 6
New Or Used: New
| |
I own this lens for 15 years, took a lot of pictures in different situations (animals - especially birds and insects, action, planes, nature etc.). I bought it as a new lens for 260 USD and was using it with the K-x and then with K-70.
I love the versatility of the lens, you can use 70mm on landscape photography and switch it in one second to wildlife lens and use 300mm. Another great advantage is the macro ability (1:2 ratio).
The sharpness is excellent from 70mm to 135mm, very good to 200mm and good in the center area at 300mm, all at f8 - f11 (corners are weak at 300mm). The colors and contrast are excellent. The main disadvantage of the lens is the autofocus. It is very slow and loud so you need to have a lot of patience when taking photos of fast subjects, however this is not a problem for the non-moving subjects.
After 15 years of usage the zoom ring is very stiff and non-accurate (the repair would be more expensive than the lens itself), but the focus ring is OK (mostly for macro). Therefore I decided to buy the Pentax 55-300mm PLM as a replacement, hope I will be happy with it the same way as I was with this lens.
Recommended for the beginners or people who do not need to take photos of the moving subjects as flying birds. This is a very good lens for the price!
 | | | | | New Member Registered: May, 2023 Posts: 22 | | Review Date: June 16, 2023 | Recommended | Price: $90.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Light,very cheap and sharp lens | | Cons: | Lack of stabilization | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: Pentax K1
Autofocus: 7
New Or Used: Used
| |
For the price of 90$,you can't beat this lens...70-300 range,very compact and sharp with good colors !I use it on K1,the images that deliver and crisp and with very nice contrast,i love it !
| | | | | New Member Registered: November, 2013 Posts: 14 | | Review Date: August 18, 2022 | Recommended | Price: $50.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | very sharp lens - very well corrected | | Cons: | nothing besides AF function in macro mode | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: pentax k-5 k-x k200 k-s1 Fuji x-t100 x-e1
Autofocus: 8
New Or Used: Used
| |
I've got the gold ring version , not the red ring version 
+++ the correction of CAs between 70 and 135 mm is perfect - no purple fringing visible between f 8-13
++/+ between 200 and 300 mm some very few CAs in the corners
+++ excellent sharpness between 70 and 135 mm 
++ very good sharpness between 200 and 300 mm
++ neutral color rendition and high contrast
*********************** EXCELLENT MACRO MODE **************************
++ even between 200 and 300 mm with f 11 - f 22 very sharp macro photos of butterflies possible
this lens is much more better corrected than the Sigma 3.5-4.5/70-210 APO MACRO with unfortunately some visible CAs
9.5 points totally because of perfect correction between 70 and 135 mm (3 or 4 points would be an underrating of this precious lens - excepted damaged examplaries)
| | | | | Inactive Account Registered: June, 2011 Location: kentucky Posts: 21 | | Review Date: November 27, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $239.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | well built, good value, great in good light | | Cons: | noisey | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 6
Handling: 8
Value: 9
Autofocus: 7
New Or Used: New
| |
if you are on a budget and cant afford the Pentax da lens of this focal length, Then this is the lens for you! it is well worth the cost even if ya buy it new! I have tried many lenses in the 300mm range from pentax, quantaray, tamron,sigma,tokina etc etc and this one is second only to the DA/DAL pentax! This lens can produce some outstanding photos in good lighting conditions. Go to my flickr page to see some nice examples.http://flicikr/p/aKn5z6 | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: June, 2011 Location: Chester Posts: 719 | | Review Date: August 22, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $200.00
| Rating: 6 |
| Pros: | Range Price Optics at long range Bokeh | | Cons: | Poor macro Stiff zoom ring Feels cheap | | Sharpness: 7
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 3
Value: 7
Autofocus: 5
| |
A decent lens for a reasonable price. It feels horrible to use though. I've had old manual focus lenses and brand new DA* lenses. Compared to these, this lens feels like you got it at McDonald's. But if you can get over the way it feels, it's actually a decent performer. Don't be fooled my the macro though. It can focus close, but the quality drops rapidly.
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: April, 2011 Location: Lost in translation ... Posts: 18,076 | | Review Date: July 16, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $250.00
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | Overall bang for the buck (or Euro, in my case), Ap ring | | Cons: | No zoom lock + creep, clunky hood, difficult "macro" shift button | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 8
Value: 8
Autofocus: 7
New Or Used: New
| |
Bonjour,
I am relatively happy with this lens, except that the top end (+ 200mm) is rather soft. The pseudo "macro" function is nice to play with, but the shift buttom on my copy is getting harder and harder to manipulate recently. Cons: AF can be slow, hunt, noisy ... and there's lots of other possible complaints, but what do you want from a lens at this price point? (DA* IQ, speed, etc.?) In comparison, I prefer the DA 55-300 that I purchased after this lens, somewhere around 50%+ more cost, but worth the additional investment, especially for the top end focal range. Hopefully, someday I will be able to compare these two lenses to a DA* zoom ... pocketbook willing, of course.
| | |
;)
;)
;)
;)
