Customer Reviews

Pentax DA 50-200mm f/4-5.6 ED Lens for Pentax and Samsung DSLR Cameras

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you have the 18-55mm kit lens, then you'll find that the 50-200mm feels just about the same. This lens is slightly heavier and slightly longer than the 18-55mm, but still very easy to handle. I uploaded two images to the user gallery above, showing the 18-55mm next to the 50-200mm.

Most people seem to decide between this lens or the Tamron AF70-300mm F/4-5.6, which is similarly priced. After doing a lot of research, I decided on the Pentax 50-200mm because of its compact size and much lighter weight. Although I haven't used the Tamron lens myself, the specifications show that it is longer and twice as heavy as the Pentax.

Another thing to consider is that the Tamron AF70-300mm has a 62mm filter diameter, while the Pentax DA 50-200mm and DA 18-55mm share the same 52mm filter diameter. If you already own the 18-55mm kit lens, you'll be able to use any filters that you already have on the 50-200mm. In my experience, larger filters also cost a bit more, so sticking with 52mm filters would mean cheaper filters that you can also share between lenses.

If you've never used a telephoto lens like this one (and I hadn't), then you'll find that slight movements are really exaggerated when you're fully zoomed in. Also, at 200mm, the widest aperture setting is f5.6 (smaller f-number means a bigger aperture), which is fine if you're outdoors and there's plenty of light, but can make indoor/low light photography a bit difficult. Shake reduction will definitely help, but you'll probably want a tripod if you're shooting at 200mm in low light.

Keep in mind that the Pentax DSLRs like the K100D have a 1.5x focal length multiplier. This means that you need to multiply the specified focal lengths of the lenses by 1.5 to get their 35mm SLR equivalent. On a digital SLR, this lens will give you the equivalent of 75-300mm on a regular 35mm SLR camera.

Overall, this is a great lens for the price.

This 50-200 is the best in its class for any Pentax digital SLR. It's very small, light weight, internal focusing, and allows on demand manual focusing. If you haven't purchased your K100D yet, you can probably find this in a two lens kit at a nice little discount.

The "on demand" manual focus (also on the kit 18-55), allows you to instantly teak the focus after the autofocus has locked on the subject. This is very handy, as the camera may pick a person's shoulder rather than eyes on which to focus, etc. A very effecient lens hood is also included.

If you already have one of the digital SLR Pentax cameras, and if size is not critical, you might consider a long focal length lens. Pentax doesn't really have a good option (as of this writing); therefore, I'd recommend the Tamron 70-300 LD Di zoom. It'll give you 50% more range, a 1:2 lifesize close-up mode, and a 6 year USA warranty (vs. 1 year from Pentax). This brand new design features Low-Dispersion glass and is designed to work better than previous designs with digital sensors.

I found this lens to be of very high quality. Small, light, and well built. Love the fast focus capabilities and the quick shift focus that takes you to manual from auto with just a twist of the focus ring. Color and contrast are good. Great lens for the price I paid on Amazon. I've had tons of fun with this versatile Pentax lens on my *ist DS. I highly recommend this lens to all digital *ist owners. Thank you Amazon for the great price and next day delivery. Another satisfied Pentax and Amazon customer.

Having just entered the modern era of digital SLR's I'm completely pleased with the quality, convenience and design of this lens. I had taken some air show and portrait shots but I felt the real test came at the inaugural IRL road course race at Infineon Raceway this summer. The lens behaved without flaw both in and out of the sun as I panned through turns three, four and five. A must have for any *ist owner.

This is certainly not the best telezoom money can buy, not even within the Pentax family. However, you will not find anything approaching at this size and price.
It is barely bigger than the kit lens, that is, very small, especially considering its zoom range.
It is ridiculously cheap for a lens of that type and quality.
Finally the image quality is great for a lens of that type. Check forums, pbase, etc. for pictures taken with that lens ! It's amazing ! It maybe a bit slow especially at the long end, but thanks to Pentax dslr's great performance at high iso, and shake reduction in the K100D, even 200mm f/5.6 is not a problem !
Together with the kit 18-55 it is the perfect startup combo. You can then add various primes or more expensive zooms as needed (or lusted) for added speed and quality...

Oh, and at the moment it is in fact the _only_ telezoom you can get new from Pentax !-)

The Pentax K10D SLDR is a superstar in the competitive under-one-thousand camera market, giving the much higher-priced Nikon D-80 a stiff run for the money. The Pentax (and Sony Alpha) camera-body-based anti-shake construction allows for lower cost lenses than Canon or Nikon [where the anti-shake function is built into each lens you purchase]. Hence the production cost of Pentax (and Sony/K-M) supplementary lenses is much lower for the quality received. As the K10D standard kit lens is an 18-55mm zoom [26 to 82 mm in 35mm equivalents], the 50-200mm tele-zoom [75 to 300 mm in 35mm equivalents] nicely extends the standard lens range, bringing your lens power into the portrait and medium tele category ... perfect for most hobbyists.

The f5.6 aperture when fully zoomed transmits adequate light for autofocus to function well [unlike the f6.3 limit in some other kit zooms]; the one caveat being that very fast sport and action shots may encounter modest focus delay. The construction quality was noted 'best of the kit lens group' by PopPhoto, with minimal (basically invisible) distortion at either end. This is about as good as it gets in the one hundred-buck field; sure you can buy bigger and faster zooms, but you'll also carry more weight (and fewer coins). Highly recommended.

There is no reason to fool around with aftermarket lenses in this range if you have Pentax digital SLR. The 50-200 complements the kit lens perfectly and the quality is exceptional for the price. Samsung appears to sell the same lens as the Samsung Schneider-Kreuznach D-Xenon 50-200mm f/4-5.6 AF lens.

Popular Photography gave the Samsung version very high marks in their July 2006 review: "Optically, the best digitally-dedicated tele kit zoom that we've tested so far...."

The Pentax DA 50-200 lens is inexpensive but a reasonably good performer. When combined with a Pentax body such as the K10D that offers in-body image stabilization, the main limitation in obtaining good images is not the camera or lens but the photographer's imagination. Unless you are a professional photographer specializing in sports, this lens would be more than adequate, especially if you are looking for a good travel lens to complement the 16-45 or the 18-55 lenses.
PROS: Very lightweight lens with adequate zoom range. Good image quality. Focuses as fast as most other Pentax lenses in bright light.
CONS: f5.6 is rather limiting if you plan to photograph sporting events in twilight or artificial lighting. The depth of field at 5.6 is rather wide. Due to the f5.6, you may be forced to use higher ISO with resulting higher noise. You really should not plan on combining this lens with a teleconverter.

The DA lenses are optimised for the APS-C sized sensor on Pentax DSLR's and as such will not work on 35mm film. The smaller size however has enabled Pentax to dramatically reduce size while preserving the quality optics. It's unbelievable just how compact this zoom is - when its fully retracted it's about 1cm (half an inch) taller than the kit lens, that's it!

The zoom and focus rings are very smooth, more so than the DA 18-55 which most Pentax DSLR owners will be familiar with. I haven't observed any zoom creep when carrying the lens - something typical of bigger budget telephoto lenses. I would much rather have this more compact lens over one of the 70-300 zooms from Pentax/Sigma/Tamron not only for its comppact size, but also because the 50-70mm range is one that I use a lot. On the other hand, 200mm is not quite enough reach for birding or wildlife enthusiasts.

After about half a year of use, I am still really happy with my purchase. If you own a Pentax digital SLR, this lens would be a great addition to your bag. If top-notch image quality is very important to you, you might want to wait for the upcoming Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8 lens - but the fast aperture comes at a price (both monetary and weight) and with the clean high-ISO ability of the current cameras, it is no longer something that is absolutely required.

I just recently purchased the Pentax K10D which included the 50-200mm Pentax lens. I decided to get familiar with the new equipment by taking pictures at an airshow. I knew that most of the aerial shots would require manual focusing (set to infinity for distances of over 500-1,000 ft) which seemed to work well with the lens and camera. The only problem I noted was that in manual focus mode, the focus ring moved too easily so that when you change the zoom you could also alter the focus. When I later looked at the hundreds of manual focus shots I took, I was disappointed to find that many were somehow slightly out of focus, enough so to ruin otherwise great shots. What I discovered was that the infinity setting for sharp focus at distance was not at the hard focus stop of the ring (at the infinity indicator) but about two or three millimeters back. That slight difference in focus ring positioning can make or break a great shot, but it is difficult to detect the off-focus in the viewfinder in fast-action shooting. Normal camera handling in shooting situations like an airshow can cause the ring to drift off-focus too easily. Maybe this is normal for an autofocus lens (my old manual lenses have a much tighter focus movement), but it does not make sense for hands-on shooting since that last degree or two of lens focusing movement is good for nothing other than wrecking a shot - it doesn't appear to provide for a special "ultra-distance" focus. Perhaps this issue is isolated to this lens unit only. Otherwise, when auto focus works on this lens, it works quite well, fast and smooth. I still don't understand why an auto focus system can't be programmed to default to infinity when a focus lock can't be achieved (such as an airplane up in the sky). Aside from the issue I mention, the lens appears to be good for decent images with little purple fringing evident in the long range of the lens (a serious problem with the Canon S3). While this lens is quite usable overall, I've found that it still leaves you in need of greater wide angle performance, requiring that you carry two lenses at all times, like the Pentax 18-55mm. I'll be looking next for a faster mid-range lens for optimal low-light, non-flash shooting.