K-5 Lens Selection.

Ok - so this thread should perhaps be in the "Lenses" forum, but it's not, so there!

I'm now seriously thinking of buying a K-5. I currently have a K-X which I bought with the 18-55 & 50-200 kit lenses. Question is, is the K-5 with the 18-135 WR lens really worth £340 more than with the 18-55 & 50-200 WR lenses?

I feel that the 18-135mm range would be very useful, but would that be at the expense of image quality?

As you already cover this range try going outside these, maybe closer or even longer.

One of the main reasons for opting for the K-5 is its weather resistance (I live in Scotland. It sometimes rains here ) My other lenses aren't weather resistant so I'd be looking for a half-decent "standard" lens or lenses to suit the K-5 and on the face of it, the 18-135 looks like a very useful lens. Trouble is, this wide range usually comes at the expense of image quality so I'd like to hear from anyone who has used one.

Have you looked at this review?

http://www.pentaxforums.com/reviews/pentax_18-135mm_review.php

Dave

Yep - I have now. Thanks Dave.

There are persistent rumours of a WR version of the DA 55-300mm. Not that that's much use to you right now of course

A meagre 7 for sharpness!

i think it looks good for pentax, just hope they keep it up.

Hopefully my replacement K-5 will arrive today (after nearly 7 weeks of waiting it gets sent for delivery on a day when I have to go out for most of the morning) and I have sort of promised to buy a 18-135mm for delivery late next week.

I have the 2 kit WR lenses so I should be able to give you a comparison.

I have the 18-135 WR and it is a very useful all purpose lens.The range from moderate wide angle to medium telephoto is extremely versatile and has the added advantage of being weatherproof.

As regards how good it is I would agree with the view that it is at least as good and probably a little better than the standard kit lenses. There is some distortion at the wide end but this is easily corrected in-camera with the K-5 (JPEGS only - Raw has to be corrected in pp)

The other point is that it is relatively small and light though well built. The new DC AF is very fast. It does not have wide apertures but the high ISO abilities of the K-5 compensate.

If you want the highest IQ you need the Limiteds or DA* lenses of course but as a general purpose, go anywhere lens I have found it very useful. Whether it is worth the rather high price only you can decide.

The price of the 18-135mm is already dropping fast (see Leads to Deals section) and it's starting to look very interesting.

When I'm ready I'll just buy one. Pentax don't make bad lenses so I'm sure it will be very usable, especially with WR.

Take no notice. Look at example pics instead and make your mind up.

My Sigma 30/1.4 scored low on some review's sharpness arbitrary number becuase it is a bit softer at the edges wide open. Precisely where you don't mind it being not sharp anyway, so it's irrelevant. The lens is razor sharp where you need it and has a lovely vibe.

And that's from a softly-softly 'review' on the Other Forum which deliberately avoided mention of barrel distortion (traditionally the weakest point of superzooms).