pentaxie
Registered: May 2007
Posts: 74
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Review Date: Mon, 14 May 2007
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 8
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Positive aspects of the product (pros):
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Ease of use, fast response
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Cons:
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None
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Kit zooms normally tend to be crappy but Pentax has actually done a good job here. Although the outer construction is based on plastics but its quality is quite fine with relatively tight gap tolerances and there is even a metal mount. Unlike most kit lenses from other manufacturers the DA 18-55mm AL features a dedicated focus ring. Both the zoom and focus ring operated smoothly.
Typical for many kit zooms this lense produces barrel distortions at 18mm changing to slight pincushion distortions when zooming at 55mm. But at 35mm the lense is basically distortion-free.
Vignetting occurs at 18mm at f/3.5. Stopping down reduces the problem slightly but not to a really desirable degree leading to a conclusion that the front element of lense could be too small. At 35mm the vignetting is still strong at wide-open aperture but from f/5.6 it is not an issue.
The Pentax SMC DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL is a surprisingly good kit zoom although it has its weaknesses. The build quality is good for a kit zoom as compared with the Canon EF 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 or Nikkor AF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ED. For the price, it is highly recommended although there are better lenses out there but with a much higher price tag.
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Heathglen
Registered: May 2007
Posts: 17
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Review Date: Mon, 14 May 2007
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: USD50.00
| Rating: 7
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Positive aspects of the product (pros):
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Cheap, Light, Focuses easily, Good range
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Cons:
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No aperture ring, Does not work on older Pentaxes
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It's a good buy for the price.
Not my sharpest lens, but respectable.
The absence of an aperture ring makes little difference since it is designed as digital only lens.
Cheapest way to get a decently wide angle perspective (after the 1.5 multiplier) zoom lens for a Pentax DSLR.
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Review Date: Wed, 16 May 2007
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: USD70.00
| Rating: 8
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Positive aspects of the product (pros):
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Works quite well for a kit lens. Good build quality
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Cons:
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Distortion at 18mm
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A very well made kit lens. Set it on 35mm to 45mm at F/8.0 and it performs nearly as well as a prime lens.
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Review Date: Sun, 10 June 2007
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 7
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Positive aspects of the product (pros):
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Size, focus ring, build quality
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Cons:
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Kit lens
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Kit lens...
Does the job. As said before, I like to stop down to around 8.0 and shooting in the 35mm range produces the best results.
Even though it is plastic it still feels solid . I don't care for the included lens hood.
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aslondon
Registered: July 2007
Location: Monticello, Florida
Posts: 20
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Review Date: Wed, 4 July 2007
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 9
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Positive aspects of the product (pros):
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included in kit, fit and finish, image quality, size
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Cons:
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none that intrude
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This lens is a bargain. It certainly holds it's own against either the Nikon or Canon kit lenses. In my opinion, it far exceeds both (and the Nikkor is pretty good) in image quality, smoothness of use, crispness of focus.
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fiish
Registered: July 2007
Location: Cambridge, UK
Posts: 116
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Review Date: Sat, 7 July 2007
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 8
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Positive aspects of the product (pros):
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Included in Kit, Build Quality, Size, Image quality, Lens Hood included, Allows Manual Focus Override
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Cons:
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A bit on the slow side, some distortion and vignetting wide open
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From samples and my own photos, Pentax's offering more than competes with the Canon and Nikon 18-55 offerings. The image quality is at least on par with them, and the Pentax is much more solid than the Nikkor. Mechanically I like it a lot, nothing obviously loose, and the dedicated focusing ring is a nice touch. The front barrel does not rotate when focusing or zooming, good if you're using polarizers or graduated filters.
A bonus with the K100D is that it becomes an IS lens as well, not a biggie at these lengths but gives me 1-2 more stops for indoor/low-light shooting.
This lens has manual focus override, quite handy if you need to make adjustments after the AF has done its work. With this I think this lens allows more flexibility in shooting technique than the competition's kit lenses.
If you have the money the 16-45 is likely a better purchase but if you're strapped for cash this lens will not let you down.
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K20D; K100D; SMCP-DA 18-55/3.5-5.6; SMCP-FA 28-70/4; SMCP-DA 50-200/4-5.6; SMCP-A 50/1.7; SMCP-A 28/2.8; SMCP-M 100/4 Macro; SMCP-DA 35/2.8 Macro Limited
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fiish
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wtay0001
Registered: December 2006
Location: Simpant Ampat, Penang, Malaysia
Posts: 144
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Review Date: Thu, 2 August 2007
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 7
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Positive aspects of the product (pros):
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Wide enough for landscape and day to day use.
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Cons:
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Soft corners. Vignet. A bit more telephoto will be apprecaited.
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I sold my Sigma 18-50 DC which with my DL and replace it with DA 18-55 since I found the earlier one have too much CA and color on the cool side. The improvement btw these two lenses are significant.
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William Tay
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rei_vilo
Registered: June 2007
Location: Paris, France
Posts: 201
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Review Date: Sun, 16 September 2007
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 7
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Positive aspects of the product (pros):
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Value and image quality
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Cons:
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Vignetting and some distorsion
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Provided as standard kit, the lens provides above average quality. However, be careful with vignetting. With the K10D, I recommend setting the Program mode (P) on MTF.
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rei_vilo
K-5 + BG4 + DA* 16-50 + DA* 50-135 + DA* 60-250 + AF-540FGZ
sites.google.com/site/vilorei/photography
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Review Date: Tue, 18 December 2007
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 8
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Positive aspects of the product (pros):
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Price/Quality ratio, Wide-angle, Quality built
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Cons:
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Vignetting
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If you look at the price range this lens is in, it is real good value. It is significatly better than the Canon EF-S 18-55 kit lens, and can easily match up to the Nikon AF-S 18-55 kit lens, even though that one has a Silent Wave Motor. I really enjoy taking pictures with it.
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