Kit lens not up to much

I thought I was doing the right thing when I bought a K5 II early this year with the 18 - 55mm kit lens. I have several 30 year old lens which I thought might be useful until I could afford something better. What I wasn't expecting was for old lenses to be much sharper than the new lens I had just bought! I have also bought a cheap F 35 - 70mm off Ebay and that knocks the socks off the kit lens too. Just seen an 18 - 55mm wr make £45 on Ebay so I suppose that says it all. It's very disappointing that such a good camera is sold with a poor lens. I am now reluctant to use the kit lens so it too will probably find its self on Ebay and I will have to save up for a DA 17-70mm as that sounds like a good lens that hopefully I won't be disappointed with? Unless of course I get a bad one?

Hi Mike

It's not unusual for kit lenses not to be great yet the reviews tend to rate the Pentax 18-55 as one of the better manufacturers kit lenses - mine seems pretty good between f5.6ish and f9 ish but my ancient primes tend to out do it but not always

Personally I prefer primes yet of course this is subjective as zooms and primes have their pro's and con's

You may have a poor copy - perhaps you could post a few examples along with the settings including f number and focal length and the good people here will no doubt try to help

Cheers


Stu

Perhaps if an individual copy of a lens is poor more people should take/send them back as with incorrectly focusing cameras etc? It is a two year warranty after all.

I reckon there's some sample variation with the kit lenses... My first a DAL version that came with my Kx was not great... The WR version (and bear in mind they have the same optics) I bought to go with my (because of the WR) K5 is great...

If it's really terrible you should send it back and get a new copy...

That said, the F35-70mm has been oft' refered to as a "bag'o'primes"... Mine is pretty much permanently attached to an MZ7 and sees little use...

Several others have expressed their disappointment with this lens on this forum. BUT many others have said the opposite - myself included.
I have both the Mk1 and MkII versions of this lens and I rate them highly particularly in terms of sharpness - you can find some examples in my portfolio.

This tends to suggest that this lens varies somewhat and that you have been unlucky. If you bought it new and it is really that bad, send it back and ask for a replacement.

Roger.

I've taken some pretty good/sharp shots with the kit lens, see one example below:




It's not on the same level as a DA 17-70 or a DA 16-45, but it is perfectly capable of quality results. I agree that there is some variability between different copies of the lens, although all the ones I've had have been pretty good.

Regards
David

Yeah I've still got the 18-55 & 50-200 rebadged Schneider Kreuznach kit versions that came with my GX10, and I don't know if the Germans demand higher quality control to add there name, but I found both to be great, particularly around F8.

If the 'proverbial' hit the fan, I'd have no problem going back them, plus a fast fifty.

I think there must be a lot of sample variation in 18-55mm kit lenses. The MK II kit lens I have is very good. It is hard to tell the difference between it and the (well regarded) Sigma 24mm f/2.8 Super Wide II at f/5.6!! At f/8 onwards, the kit lens is as good or better everywhere. The Sigma is a keeper - if you nail focus, it's still pretty sharp wide open.

I also have an F 35-70mm and agree that it is a very good lens. I suspect that it might be better than the kit lens at common focal lengths - though I would have to work too hard and do lots of pixel peeping to be sure. I am happy to have either on my K30.

Andrew

You've got a bad one - mine is sharp enough (f5.6 @18mm) :



Write Your Name Man by kh1234567890, on Flickr

The only problems I've had with mine (two copies) is that're soft wide open at 55mm, but this is normal for this lens. At f/8 it's good.

The WR kit lens is mainly useful for two things - nasty weather conditions and as a light-weight wide angle, something you won't get with old lenses due to the crop factor.

One day wandering round my local camera shop (and without researching anything) I held - and immediately bought - a K-5 body only (bag of old 'film' lenses at home). On doing some research, I found out I could have got the 18-55 WR included for a similar price...

In the end I had an expensive day at Focus a few days later (DA 17-70 & battery grip), but still have a hankering for a WR standard zooom (for the WR bit).

As Jonathan has pointed out, older lenses designed for film don't offer the wide-angle side of things, limiting their use somewhat. They might be better IQ wise, but then a 35-70 is only a x2 zoom and primes should simply be very good (even the older ones).

IIRC the F 35-70 wasn't a kit lens (they hadn't really been invented at that point), it was one of a range of F lenses in a time when most SF7/SFX's would have been sold with a 50/1.7 (which itself was only about £50). The body and lenses were boxed separately and you could pick and choose what you wanted.

Mine is not too bad even there (55mm @ f5.6) :



Have a nice day you cute little thang by kh1234567890, on Flickr

'sharpness' seems to be a reoccurring theme through this thread. Sharpness isn't the only factor that determines how good a lens is, and certainly isn't the priority for my tastes. Anyway you can always add sharpness in PP


I sold my kit lenses. Not becuase they were terrible or soft, but becuase the output was just boring. I don't hold it against them, I wouldn't expect anything more from a bundled, "Get you started" kit lens.

I was quite pleased with my DA 18-55. Certainly a lot better than the Canon 18-55is i used last year when i had a quick fling with a Canon body That lens wasn't fit to be sold in Toys'r'us.
Stopped down to F8 or so it really does perform well and you can see why the Pentax is rated as one of the better kit lenses. And that's before you factor in superior build, full time manual focus, non-rotating front element, excellent hood.
I have just changed mine to the Tamron 17-50 f2.8 but only because i've 'made do' with the kit lens since 2009. Just want to try something which i can use wide open and still get reasonable IQ. Hoping it may help give my images a bit more pop, although i know the biggest improvements will come from learning to post process properly.

"Stopped down to F8 or so it really does perform well"



F8 is probably the most boring aperture -- so when you say "perform well" you're presumably equating "Well" with sharpness ? ( see my previous post )

Narrower DOF shots have so much more soul, depth and 3D to them for many scenes IMO. This is the other problem with the kit lens. It's only 3.5 to 5.6.