Weather-resistant finish for use in all manner of conditions
Fuss-free operation
Distortion at extreme focal lengths
Weather-resistant finish for use in all manner of conditions
Fuss-free operation
Distortion at extreme focal lengths
The Pentax SMC DA 18-135mm F/3.5-5.6 ED AL (IF) DC WR lens ($529.95 direct) is a weather sealed zoom lens that is compatible with Pentax D-SLRs and the K-01 ($899.95, 4 stars) compact interchangeable lens camera.
Weather resistant, compact, sporting the new DC motor and all in a very compact package, this new Pentax lens is very appealing. Braving the English rain, we shall see if its performance lives up to its potential.
With the widest zoom range of any current Pentax lens (7.5X), the new 18–135mm f/3.5–5.6 ($500, street) is the closest it has today to an all-in-one zoom. A 27–202.5mm full-frame equivalent, this is also one of the few lenses in its class with a weather-resistant (WR) O-ring on the lensmount.
John Riley reviews the SMC Pentax-DA 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 ED AL [IF] DC, a weather resistant, compact lens.
Superb handling; Weather resistance; Silent DC motor; Close focusing; Quick Shift manual focus; Visually appealing images
High distortion levels; High CA levels; Low fine resolution at longer focal lengths; High price
The Pentax lens features an internal "direct current" (DC) motor for focusing which is reasonably fast combined with low noise emissions. The focus accuracy of our test sample was very good. "Quick Shift" - manual focusing in single-shot AF - is supported.
Really sturdy, practical lens with an ideal (for me) zoom range. If you've never had a lens with a DC motor, it will astound you how silent it is. The biggest issue is zoom creep, which happens any time I walk around with it. Too bad they didn't include a lock button.
Practicality; build quality; weather sealing
Zoom creep; lack of distance scale
I could not get a sharp picture with this lens, even though it was brand new. Out of the first 200 photos, I got probably 1 genuinely sharp photo. I was using Pentax k-1 camera mounted on a tripod. Both still-life and people portraits were generally less sharp than my iphone 1.
I had visions of this lens being my day to day lens and saving the 50-135 for important shoots. Gotto say the images were never 'great', always ok but never great. After about 2 months I put my previous day to dya lens on for one special occasion (18-250) - and wow the photos of my kids at a school...
Well built; fast focus; weather resistant
Dissapointing shots
I was looking for a 16-50mm since I already have the 55-200mm lens; however, I decided that this lens would serve a greater overall purpose for a variety of situations. It's light, quick to connect, and the auto focus is flawless--smooth and quiet. I'm delighted that I chose to go with this lens.
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