Customer Reviews

Pentax DA 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 ED AL IF Lens for Pentax and Samsung Digital SLR Cameras

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I received the 18-250 prior to Christmas and used it throughout the Holidays - taking about 500 snapshots, both with and without flash. What a workhorse this is! All the way from ultra-wide to fully extended, it was a consistently excellent performer. My K10d focused quickly and sharply starting with photo number one. Although I'm no professional, I do have a stable of pretty nice glass including the DA 21mm Limited pancake, the DA 16-45, & the FA 50mm 1.4 prime. (Also owned the DA 18-55mm and the DA 55-200mm zoom which I've already sold). The clarity and sharpness of the 18-250 rivals the 16-45 (beats the 55-200 hands down) and -to my eyes- comes close (but not quite) to the excellent primes, though obviously not as fast. Alas, my 16-45 is now completely redundant and I put it on Ebay today. When you consider the excellent performance of this lens all along the length of its tele range, I believe that it truly could become a do-it-all replacement for most of your medium range zooms while doing a very respecable job at the 18mm wide angle. This lens surpassed all of my expectations and I give Kudos to Pentax for offering this in their digital lineup. Wish it had been there earlier and I could have avoided the expensive migration. I've heard comments that it is a bit pricey - I don't think so. It represents great value in a high quality optic that can cover a wide range of photographic opportunities. My prints and slide shows resulting from the 18-250 mounted to my K10d are vivid, sharp, and colorful and have made my photography hobby more joyful and enjoyable than ever. People are impressed with how consistently beautiful & clear my photos are. And isn't that really why we shutterbugs enjoy making memories with photos? If you can get one, try it. . I think you'll love it. It really deepens my appreciation for the reasons I chucked the point-and-shoot digitals for the flexibility and superiority of the DSLR. Cheers.

This is a good all-around lens: it's relatively fast (all depending on perspective, of course), exhibits good bokeh, and is of reasonable cost. It works well with the K10d. The only thing I object to performance-wise, is the amount of vignetting that is visible on some shots. It's more noticable if you are using a polarizing filter.

This lens is nearly identical to the Tamron 18-250mm F/3.5-6.3 AF Di-II LD Aspherical (IF) Macro Lens for Pentax and Samsung Digital SLR Cameras.

They've put the "fun" back into photography, for me! In the first week with my Pentax K10D 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera with Shake Reduction (Body Only) and this lens I've taken some of the most beautiful photos I've ever taken in my life! The colors are brilliant, and the detail is great. I love that the wide angle produces brilliant detail with both close and far objects in focus. I take mostly landscape and wild life shots, so wide angle and zoom are important to me. I've had a difficult time finding a camera that could take satisfying pictures of the Kansas Flint Hills. (This is a "VAST" expanse of hilly grassland where you can see a very long distance and in the past, with my Minolta 35mm film camera, it had been very difficult to do it justice with only 2 dimensions.) But, this lens and the K10D can do it time and tima again, with less effort and beautiful results. It also does great out of focus background shots which make the in-focus object "pop" off the printed page. I'm not a professional photographer. I just do it as a hobby. But, in the past couple of weeks I've taken some excellent photos that would not be out of place beside those from a pro, using the K10D and this lens. Yeah, it does have a loose barrel, so you have to either lock it, hold it, or use it at right angles, to keep it from sliding. But, the sharpness and brilliant colors you get are absolutely amazing! So, that's only a small annoyance that you can quickly get used to.

Just received this lens. It is a quality product and when you have the ability to go from 18 mm to 250 mm with all excellent photos you may not need another lens in your bag. Pentax has produced one fine camera in the K10D and now has coupled it with a terrific lens for both amateur and professional photographers. Auto focus works extremely well and even with the flash the picture quality is excellent. Highly recommended.

This appears to be a very well made lens for Pentax. For what it is selling for,it gives you a lot of bang for the buck in this focal range. The Pentax lenses, with their name on it usually have a better optical coating coating than some of the after market lens.
My only beef with this, and it is the second lens like this, is that the lens needs more friction damping to keep the barrel of the lens from not just creeping, but sliding all the way out, with a thunk.
It does have a barrel lock that I have gotten used to putting on automaticly when ever I'm done using it. Come on, how hard is this to engineer some more friction in the barrel ring? This is the only flaw in the lens that I found, with the way I use it.

I'm just seconding some of the commentary already made, but . . . the versatility of the focal length on this lens is terrific. One lens fits so many situations. Combined with the K10D it becomes heavy after awhile, and I recommend a tripod, especially if you anticipate zooming all the way in. Roger Watts is right on with his "lens creep" critique. Sometimes if you're pointing down, you have to hold the zoom ring to keep the lens from extending during the shot! Still, highly recommended, esp. at this price.

This is the one lens you need. It is a good enough lens with an amazing 14 to 1 range. It is in practice a real one lens for everything solution for your Pentax or Samsung DSLR. It is both wide enough and long enough when zoomed for way over 95% of what most people will ever shoot. I think it is optically better than the Pentax 18-55 I got with my camera.

I print mainly medium sized 8X10 or 11X14 prints and they look consistently good if I'm careful to attend to camera settings. If I just depend on Auto, point and shoot, it is possible that I will get more than a few shots that just aren't sharp.

It has an annoying habit of extending full length when pointed down due to the low resistance to turning the zoom ring and the relentless effects of gravity. I find myself walking around with on finger pressed on the zoom ring to keep it from getting an erection.

I'd buy this again. I might wish I could have found an even better K mount zoom with this same zoom range, but I could not.

Pentax DA 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 ED AL IF Lens for Pentax and Samsung Digital SLR Cameras
This is the ONE lens you need for almost all shooting - The Auto focus does not perform quite as well at the 250mm setting, however the 18mm angle to 200mm is so good we still give it FIVE stars - We highly recommend this lens for all around shooting. It will produce excellent picture quality and at an affordable price for amateur photo shooting - We paid $429.00 through Amazon from Willoughbly's for this lens - Pentax got this one just right!

I sent my first 18-250 back to Amazon for replacement due to dust behind the front lens element. They promptly sent me another, and it was fine for a few months, but now it has dust specks in the same place. The lens has never been used or stored in a dusty environment. Its maximum aperture makes it a slow lens for low light use, so any dust is reducing the amount of needed light.

It is a very sharp lens with minimal chromatic abberation, but it does have a pincushion problem that can be managed with good photo editing software.

Zoom creep is another problem, and it is so loose that I'm supposing the dust is entering there.

The lens could be a joy to use, but the price is very steep for the for the quality.

We've had this lens for a few weeks now and it cannot be beat for it's all-around versatility! Produces sharp shots and surprisingly good macro results. If you shoot mostly outdoors with ample natural light this is pretty much the lens to get if you want a quality lens with a good price to performance ratio. Tamron makes an 'identical' model, and Pentax model may even be made by Tamron but with the Pentax coatings; however, the Pentax version has thus far been the most attractively priced.