17-70mm

Hi, I was about to get myself the Pentax 17-70mm and see that SRS are doing them for £349.00 which seems good value but am a bit concerned about some reviews about the hunting and the motor on this lens, has anybody had problems with this lens? How does the Sigma 17-70 fair?
Thanks for any comments.
Brian.

Had no problem with my Pentax 17-70. Has lived on my camera virtually 100% of the time since I bought it, and if you do a search through recent posts you'll find it highly rated by owners.

No experience of the Sigma.

I only have experience of the Canon version of the Sigma 17-70 F2.8-4 HSM OS. It was a great lens. Very fast focus, sharp and felt quite hefty. One of my favourite lenses. And it's just been updated with a version 3 now. Very tempted to get one myself for the K30.

There's an assessment of both lenses on http://www.photozone.de/pentax (and no doubt elsewhere). Photozone gives the edge to the Pentax lens. I haven't used the Sigma but can vouch for the Pentax. The quality is high -- higher than I expected from such a reasonably priced lens. Does it hunt? Yes, in very low light it can hunt. Worries about the motor? I did read somewhere (perhaps on here) that a Pentax engineer admitted they'd had to make the motor more robust. So, if true, and you buy new rather than 2nd hand, it seems as though that concern has been addressed.

This might help link I have to say mine is a much better lens after it broke and had to be serviced

Thanks for the comments, I intend to use this as my all day lens as i have the Sigma 70-300, which i'm happy with, and this one would cover up to the 70mm which the kit lens falls short of and T hope would also give beter IQ.

Mine is rarely off the camera since I bought in autumn 2012. Excellent lens. You won't regret your purchase, I'm sure.

I've had my 17-70 for a year without any problems. The SDM makes it much more pleasant to use than screw-drive AF and the focal length range is perfect for most uses.

Mine is also hardly ever off the camera.

John.

The Sigma 17-70 f2.8-4 macro OS HSM gets my vote, its razor sharp no hunting cheaper and the close focus is a big bonus. for me you're paying the extra bucks for the Pentax name.

This must be the most versatile DA lens from Pentax. You can use it almost in every context, .. landscape, portrait, arcitecture, .. even macro (closest focus 28cm, magnification rating 0,31x). Very sharp from f5.6, and razor sharp from f8 through f11, that's whatever focal lenght. The best tested result with f10/33mm. SDM technology makes focusin process fast and silent. Manual focus ring is full time operational (that’s even when AF is on). That’s pretty more than a walk around lens.

here are some pics taken with Pentax 17-70 DA
https://www.pentaxuser.com/photo/user-11496/padjelanta-56151
https://www.pentaxuser.com/photo/user-11496/lady-in-red-revisited-50172
https://www.pentaxuser.com/photo/user-11496/licge-guillemins--ii--37743
https://www.pentaxuser.com/photo/user-11496/flower----40721
https://www.pentaxuser.com/photo/user-11496/17-70-38853
https://www.pentaxuser.com/photo/user-11496/old-door-knocker-35284

regards,

Cliff its £349.00 at SRS the same as the Sigma at Wex! Senn thanks for the pics they are really good and shows the performance very well.
Brian

+1 for the DA17-70.

I've had it since I moved back to pentax last year, it's lives on the camera as my every day lens and it's my lens of choice in the small studio I use (that may change as I now have a DA70 Ltd . I can't recall ever having missed a shot due to poor focusing in low light, maybe a little extra care needed at times especially in extremely low contrast situations.

One other thing that may be worth mentioning, although not listed as a WR lens it does have an o-ring in the flange, not the WR red one but a less expensive black one that still looks like a silicon compound, I wonder if pentax's initial design called for it to be a WR lense but decided against it in pre-production but were to far done the line with tooling/production parts etc to change the design.

+2, had mine for 3 years used every week... never had any problems at all,never had any issues in the rain....

I purchased mine second hand and although did work fine for a while then started to become very hesitant in focusing either indoors or out.

I have been using it manually until recently when my k5 developed a fault.
Sent both to JP repairs, suspecting the internal motor was faulty but they returned the lens suggesting it was working within Pentax paramiters?

It's been no different since it's return so I am none the wiser!!

Just ordered one from SRS, should have it in a couple of days.