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This was the kit lens packed with the first Pentax DSLR I bought new, the *istDL, some 13 years ago. I quickly sold the lens and bought a Pentax DA 16-45 for two reasons. The 18-55 suffers from barrel distortion at the edges of the image when at 18mm and wide apertures. And the 18-55 suffers from flare at wide apertures when the light source is close to the front of the lens. Today I shoot with a K-30 and a K-3 and fixed focal length, manual focus legacy glass exclusively. I bought a used 18-55 for those rare occasions when I need an ultra-wide angle indoor shot, made on a tripod with available light and at apertures of f8 or f11. The 18-55 does a fine job in such situations, and at less than 1/5 the cost of a dedicated 15mm DA lens (or of a legacy 21mm Takumar). Construction of the 18-55 is okay; when buying one try to get an earlier model with a metal bayonet. The front section of the lens seems to wobble a wee bit -- but so did the front section of the higher-dollar 16-45 DA, and there's no visible effect on focus accuracy nor on sharpness.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
In the midrange of its focal length, e.g. 35mm, and a medium f stop, this is a very sharp lens, rivaling anything that's available including expensive primes. Focus sharpness drops off noticeably at the long and short ends of the range. It isn't a fast lens so its best use is outdoors or with flash indoors. Construction is plastic but it feels solid. It is very light so it is nice lens to take on a hike. Note that if you are buying a used version that came with someone's kit it will not have a lens hood. You can buy an after market hood for a few bucks on ebay. You'll need a hood or a protective filter because the front element of the lens sits right at the end of the barrel just waiting to be scratched. If you get a used lens in excellent condition and play to its strengths it offers incredible value.Read full review
More of a lens that you need if you want an affordable wide for your pentax. Other lenses are better and faster but this is a crop sensor lens, built to gove you 28-80mm regular length. Does exactly that. Handy footage scale on the large-ish manual focus ring. Probably the best 18-55mm user lens because of the metal mount, focus scale and anytime manual focus (no switch).
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
This lens if great for portrait shooting indoors or out. It's lightweight and the zoom range 18-55 mm is just right. The pictures are sharp and you can use auto or manual focus. It's not the fastest in f stop range, but it does the job very nicely. Overall, I would recommend it for non professional shooters.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
This is the first Af pentax lens I have purchased, but I own several Mf SMC Pentax lenses and have used the "kit lenses" for two other systems(Nikon and Sony). Construction is excellent. Pentax has a metal mount and real glass lenses. Sony has glass lenses and a plastic mount, Nikon uses plastic mount and polycarbonate lenses. The design is well thought out. The manual focus ring has a long throw and it is easy to acquire a sharp focus. Nikon and Sony have a short throw and are harder to use manually. It also focuses closer than the other kit lenses. The lens hood (included with the lens) is excellent and positively locks on to the lens. Nikon and Sony offer the hood as a purchasable accessory. It weighs about the same as the Sony, but heavier than the Nikon,(plastic lenses and mount). That being said it is still easy to carry on the camera. Used in the manual mode it acts like the SMC-A lens series. Focus is fast and smooth. In auto focus the focus speed is limited by the body used but it focused quickly and made sharp images. In the auto mode, after the camera has focused you can adjust the focus just by turning the focus ring if the camera made a wrong subject choice. If you kept your finger on the button the exposure stays the same. Nikon and Sony won't do this. Image quality is good and usable without tweaking. Nikon has a tint that needs correction, The Sony runs slightly blue. The images are sharp as they are on the Sony and Nikon. So we have great images, excellent design and construction, great manual focus performance, easy auto focus tweaking, and a great price. What's not to like. This kit lens is better than other makers kit lenses, and even some of their mid range lenses. It is hard for me to call this a kit lens as it works so well. Mine was new in the box with the MFG warranty and less than a SMC-a 50mm RecommendedRead full review
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