SMC Pentax-DA 1: 3.5-5.6 18-135mm ED AL [IF] DC WR. Review from the reader Radozhiva

SMC Pentax-DA 1 Lens Overview: 3.5-5.6 18-135mm ED AL [IF] DC WR. specially for Radozhiva, prepared Alexey Ovoshchnikov.

SMC Pentax-DA 1: 3.5-5.6 18-135mm ED AL [IF] DC WR

SMC Pentax-DA 1: 3.5-5.6 18-135mm ED AL [IF] DC WR

Good day, amateur photographer! My name is Alexey Ovoshchnikov. Here i am on alii.pub/6alpff" target="_blank" title=". Here i am on Facebook. Today I will talk about the SMC Pentax-DA 18-135 mm f / 3.5-5.6 ED AL DC WR lens. This is a pretty universal 7.5x zoom lens for Pentax crop cameras with K mount. The lens is relatively new and is sometimes sold bundled with the Pentax K50 / K70 / K3 / KS 2 and other Pentax cameras.

The SMC Pentax-DA 18-135 mm f / 3.5-5.6 ED AL DC WR is a good all-round 7,5x zoom lens for Pentax K-mount cameras. The lens is relatively new and sold separately for about $ 400 and is sold as a bundle with the Pentax K50 / K70 / K3 / KS 2 and other cameras

Specifications:
• Optical design: 13 elements in 11 groups
• Focal lengths: 18mm - 135mm (27.5-207mm) for APS-C. (equivalent to a 28-200mm full-frame lens)
• Minimum aperture f / 22-38
• Angle of view: 76 ° - 11.9 °
• Number of aperture blades: 7
• Minimum focusing distance: 40 cm
• Maximum magnification: 0,24
• Autofocus drive: ultrasonic motor
• Diameter of a thread for a light filter: 62 mm
• Weight: 405 grams
• PH-RBC hood included (not in the review)
• Year of the beginning of production: 2012

Constructive and ergonomic

The lens has dust and moisture protection and is equipped with a rubber o-ring (red) on the bayonet side.

The lens has been manufactured since 2012 and has all the modern advantages in its design.

The lens is relatively light and compact, weighing only 405 grams. The lens has a metal mount. The assembly is excellent, everything is just top notch. The zoom ring rotates evenly and fairly easily. The lens is made of quality materials. The elastic bands are very pleasant to the touch, rather soft, but do not stretch, the material is tenacious, the fingers do not slip. For a couple of years of use, nothing happened to the rubber bands. They do not dangle and are not deformed at all. You won't find squeaky flimsy plastic in this lens. I would like to note that at the maximum zoom, there is still a play of + - 1 mm of the retractable part of the lens.

SMC Pentax-DA 1: 3.5-5.6 18-135mm ED AL [IF] DC WR

SMC Pentax-DA 1: 3.5-5.6 18-135mm ED AL [IF] DC WR

Auto focus

The internal focusing method is used. The front lens remains stationary - a plus. You can use any color filter without any complications. The lens has a built-in focusing motor. This is good for Pentax, because until recently most lenses were screwdriver lenses. Focusing is fast (much faster than Pentax screwdriver whale lenses), quiet (again, compared to Pentax screwdriver auto focus lenses, it is just super quiet! But louder than any Kenon ultrasonic), focusing is quite accurate. I used a lens on my camera  Pentax K30 (This is the best whale lens for this camera as an all-in-one). Focusing on Pentax K7 works so well, but Pentax K7 is an unpleasant feature.

I'd like to point out that not all Pentax digital cameras are capable of working with SDM lenses (which have a built-in focus motor), but this applies only to the oldest Pentax cameras. Also in the Pentax lineup there are lenses that can work both as a screwdriver and from the built-in SDM motor. In practice, this means checking compatibility before purchasing a lens. I can't say anything more about this.

The manual focusing method with this lens can give you some inconvenience. There are no markings on the lens barrel for focusing distance in meters or feet. That is, we will do everything by eye. I did not like the fact that the lens has a very strong flight over infinity. You will not be able to set infinity blindly in one movement…. The lens supports manual focus control when autofocus is enabled on the camera. I did not notice any conflicts in the electronics. If you turn the focusing ring manually, then the automation does not prevent you from focusing the way you want.

Stabilizer

As you know, in modern Pentax central control centers, starting with the K10 K100 models, there is a stabilizer. This stabilizer works great! With all the lenses, and with that 18-135 too

Image quality

As for the image quality, not everything is as good as we would like for this price and for the quality of the lens manufacturing ... but the lens shows good results for amateur photography.

I will give photographs of a different plan with and without processing. The lens found a new owner, so I most likely will not be able to supplement the review.
Vignetting - darkening at the edges of the frame (especially in the corners)

There are open aperture values ​​over the entire range of focal lengths, but it can be corrected by applying the appropriate lens profile in the Camera RAW converter. In the photographs given for example, it is very clearly visible how vignetting decreases or completely disappears on the processed version of the photograph.

Chromatic aberration and distortion

HA correct in the camera itself (not completely) if you enable the corresponding function, distortion (geometric distortion) corrects in the same way, it is very good, although it slows down the camera a little. You can also get rid of these shortcomings using popular software.
The photo shows an example of aberrations without correction. The branches in the upper right corner have a purple trim.

There is distortion on almost all focal points (either a barrel or a pillow), at first I took a lot of photographs of the architecture and was going to show distortion, but we will get by with a couple of examples and the fact that the lens profile corrects distortion perfectly. Fortunately, the lens is new and this profile is immediately available in modern software.

Sharpness

Very good for large zoom zoom. Such a lens is not bought for the sake of sharpness, but, nevertheless, you will get it. Of course, the soapy edges of the frame will be present especially at 18 mm, but sharpness can be achieved by covering the aperture or changing the focal length. Already at 24 mm, the sharpness is very good! Even at 135 mm there is no soap, the sharpness is not super, but still pleased.

Back light

Everything is fine here too. I will show some examples and judge for yourself. Immediately I say HDR photo (not on-camera, but folded in a program of three photos taken in RAW format with different exposures)

As they say hares catches, but not much. This didn’t bother me at all when shooting, on the contrary, I intentionally “caught” these hares in this photo. Satisfied with the result.

Boke

Strong blurring can be obtained by using a zoom of 80 mm or higher. Aperture this will be F 5,6. The lens is not bad for portraiture, but with a number of limitations. The limitation is that aperture will be 5.6 and the room will not be easy.

Personal experience

In general, a good lens without obvious disadvantages! This is a new generation travel zoom. It has everything that the first travel zoom like the Tamron 28-200, Sigma 28-300, Canon EF 28-135mm f / 3.5-5.6 IS USM lacked, I remembered them because I had experience using these lenses. They are significantly worse in most or in all of the above parameters. If you have this kind of zoom and it suits you with focal but not very good quality, then Pentax 18-135 can be an excellent receiver when changing the system. Compared to the Canon EF-S 18-135 3,5-5,6 IS from Kenon. These are very close quality lenses. Here Pentax is better only in performance. If you compare with the Nikon 16-85 mm F3,5-5,6 VR, then Nikon is ahead in terms of the convenience of focal and sharpness, especially in the wide-angle position.

HDR

Link to source photos.

You will find more reviews from readers of Radozhiva here.

Add a comment: DmitryK

 

 

Comments: 20, on the topic: SMC Pentax-DA 1: 3.5-5.6 18-135mm ED AL [IF] DC WR. Review from the reader Radozhiva

  • Pokekmon

    Do you really have an author “Angenieux 28-70 mm f / 2.6”?
    Please make a review of this miracle please.
    A curious mythical glass for which they want a lot of money in good condition ...
    I really want to look at the pictures from him on modern DSLRs.

    • Arkady Shapoval

      Yes there is. We have long agreed that there will be a review of it.

    • Alexey, (author of this review)

      Write to me on the soap and I will throw off the archives with pictures taken on Angeniuex. Now there is no weather (no sun) and the review on the site will be a little later ...

      • DmitryK

        We are waiting for the promised review of Enjinho 28-70 / 2.6 from you.
        If possible, on any available ff carcass.

    • Victor

      Mr. Pokemon, the lenses of this French company are really not cheap. At one time, she was engaged in the production of optics for professional cinematography. The rest - watch, test and evaluate can only be done with the seller. Good luck!

  • TSerg (Sergiy)

    Of course, the blog has more new authors who write in their own way.
    I wanted b, schob okremimy razdilami boules perevagi and shortcomings about ”aktiv vidіlenі, as їkh back the author.
    According to the photographs, there are more signs of a strongly closed diaphragm. Range
    10-20 and 22-38 not represented. I also wanted to know more about the minimum range of focusing, and even at the end of the zoom to reach the point of 40 cm. Tilka not denouncing, but the type of object chi roslin (tops).
    Crazy for looking around!

    • Victor

      Dear Serge! The photographs submitted by the authors are a piece product and, believe me, cannot serve as a CONVINCING criterion when evaluating this or that gadget. Each author is an individual, each has its own characteristics, even the choice of subjects is different. In addition, there is no need to use a tripod when shooting.

  • amr

    Photos are not always in focus and somehow a bit too yellow and blue.

    • Michael

      System features, this is typical for Pentax

      • Jurij

        Are you talking about yellowness or about trick? )))

        • Michael

          About the color. Autofocus, however, was also limping around that time, judging by the reviews. But this is no longer a feature of the system.

          • Oleg

            Yes, a peculiar color in the pentax

  • Alexey, (author of this review)

    The review will be added even more descriptions and my impressions. Arkady, thanks for posting!

  • Alexbr

    In the article I would like to read at least a short list of pluses / minuses on the quality of the picture, and not to pump out the originals.

  • Alexbr

    In general, this lens has very different opinions. Either the concept of quality differs so much among people, or it does fly apart as the lenses themselves.

    • Alexei

      I completely agree with you, but the lens most likely turned out to be successful and high-quality. Although I do not like large zoom zooms due to low aperture.

  • Michael

    Errata “Review of the MINOLTA MD ROKKOR 50mm lens” ...
    Here it seems about Pentax

  • TT

    The author confuses DC and SDM motors (DC and ultrasonic). This lens has a DC motor which, in the case of the Pentax, is both faster and more reliable than the SDM. It is also not indicated that this lens does not have a screwdriver drive.
    And it is strange to see a comparison with Nikonovsky 16-85 in the presence of Pentax 16-85 in the system. Apparently the author was comparing it with what he “felt” himself, but all this alone looks strange.

  • Novel

    Horrible. The aesthetic value of photographs is generally silent, this is not a subject of discussion, but purely technical ... Even those photographs that are nominally considered sharp, as if drawn with a pencil. Leaves in bright sunlight - well, what, it would seem, can be here - but no, "it does not ring." The color rendition is terrible. Is it really that bad with ultrazoom?

    • R'RёS,R ° F "RёR№

      You know, I somehow found Helios 44-to-4 (57 / f2) in the dust in a box. I somehow managed to match it with my Pentax k-200D camera and tried it in portraits. Looks like I had a good copy, but sharpness with an open and good bokeh. The yellowness of Soviet optics was removed by setting the balance automatically, and there were no problems. But then I decided to put the staff 18-55 and was horrified. How he lost to the Soviet lens both in drawing and in color. That's exactly what you say about zooms, and it was to be seen. Terrible colors. Although I adore Pentax optics more than all Japanese ones. Only Konica can be better, but these are very rare and not convenient lenses on the mount.

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