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Pentax DA 18 250mm f 3 5 6 3 ED AL IF Lens for Pentax and Samsung Digital SLR Cameras

What a range! The smc PENTAX DA 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 ED AL [IF] interchangeable zoom lens, designed for exclusive use with PENTAX digital SLR cameras, will provide just about all the coverage you’ll need. With an approximate 14X zoom ratio covering from wide-angle to super-telephoto ranges, this versatile lens handles a great variety of applications from wide-angle landscapes to close-up sporting events and wildlife photography.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Good quality lens
It pretty close to what it is advertised to be. Not good for low light. under bright natural or artificial lights it works great.

5 Stars Terrific lens for the money
It seems that one has to find out which are the outstanding Pentax lenses by reading a lot, and by trial and error. Price is no guide, as with this lens which sells for about half the price of the equivalent Nikon lens. It is an outstanding lens, and even at 250mm (that’s 375mm in 24×36 lingo!), with Pentax’s superb anti-shake mechanism, it is very useful.

An extraordinarily impressive and useful lens. As always, the drawback of these zooms is their lack of speed. f/6.3 is the maximum aperture at 250mm, but if it were any faster, the lens would be enormous. I use two “prime” lenses for speed — 50mm f/1.4 (one of the GREAT buys out there) and my trusty old 85mm f/1.8. Those two, plus a 16-45mm Pentax zoom, and this zoom, cover just about everything. I just wish Pentax would stop improving the camera body about every twenty minutes.

5 Stars Fantastic Walk Around Lens
This Pentax version of the Tamron original does JUST what I wanted it for at a very reasonable price. When I go on trips or outings, I want to carry very little. This more than adequately replaces my previous down-sized kit of an 18-55 and a 50-200. Not only is one lens much lighter than two, it takes considerably less space and provides me fewer opportunities to introduce dust into the camera body while I change lenses. On top of that, it produces sharp pictures with minimal CA.

What it’s not:

Fast. Making this range of zoom fast would require lots more glass (bigger and heavier) and even more cash.

A real macro lens. It doesn’t compete with my FA 100 2.8. This too is a heavy lens and I don’t usually take it on trips.

A real telephoto lens. A 300 and up would be truly heavy and require mounting on a tripod (still more weight).

An ultra-wide ange lens. At its widest it’s the equivalent of a 28.

What it is is a lens I can rely on to capture the picture in almost any situation without having to resort to extensive post-processing work,

5 Stars The best option!
The best option for people like me, who wants to take good pictures but are a little lazy to carry a big bag of accessories every time you go out.

Good photos in all range, good build and love the “lock” key… perfect!

BTW, Pentax rules!

5 Stars Anateur/Enthusiast Photographer
Don’t let anyone tell you anything about the negative side of this DA 18-250mm zoom lens. It is a little darling gadget in exploring good photography. Amateur and enthusiast would just love to have one in his bag. Its focal length is tremendous. You can zoom back and fore with one touch. I was laboriously using two lenses (18-55mm and 50-200mm) in the past; now I just carry one with my camera inseparably. Best of all, it has a tiny lock switch on the barrel to prevent extending out when you carry your equipment up-side-down. Otherwise, you probably have to use a suspender to hold it back.

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