FS: DA 12-24mm

I sell my Pentax DA 12-24mm f4 lens. I bought it one year ago and I have realised that despite I have used it quite a lot, 1) I am not an ultra-wide-angle man, 2) I have too many lenses.

The lens is in good condition. Front and rear glass are perfect and only some minor signs of normal use are visible on the non-glass parts of the lens and some little scratches on the hood, but nothing really serious. Mechanical condition is excellent too.










It must be said that the lens has some focus problems on my Pentax K5IIs. It seems that at apertures faster than f5.6, some slight softness can be observed from 15mm to 24mm focal lengths mainly when focusing objects closer than 6 m away from the camera. At 12mm no softness is observed. When focusing infinity, softness is only visible at 24mm focal length.

The good news is that softness disappears by adding +5 micro-adjustment in my K5IIs. The bad news is that deactivating the +5 micro-adjustment is needed when focusing into infinity (except when using the 24mm focal length) in order to obtain the sharpest detail. This operation can take 2 seconds when you get used to. But yes it may be annoying sometimes.

I know that it may seem strange that a UWA zoom may have focus problems considering the hyper-focal stuff, but these are the conclusions of long-term observations and analysis. I know I'm not well-know in this forum so I would like to avoid any confusions and to explain the lens features as clearly as possible. On the other hand the lens is a jewel. Particularly, the colour rendition and micro-contrast is outstanding, as you may already know (for instance check here, here or here taken with this same lens).

Actually, the focus issue is not that serious when you look at the images. I have uploaded some recent set of test pictures here so that you may evaluate by yourself the extent of the lens "problem".

To sum up, the lens has some issues at f4, but they are hardly apparent at f5.6 and imperceptible around f8. The most annoying part is changing the micro-adjustment whenever we focus infinity or at 3 m. At least this is my experience with a K5IIs. Maybe it works like a charm in a K3. I don't know. However, it is perfectly possible to take good pictures with this lens, at any focusing distance and open wide (please check my flickr gallery).

I am not the original owner of the lens and I do not have the original box, but will include original taps and hood.

I ask 340 GBP, shipment included (standard). Paypal only.
The lens will be ready to depart from France on September 1st. For any doubts or further information please do not hesitate to enquire me by PM.

what about 320 GBP?