Pentax 18-55mm AL II - is this normal?

Hi folks, I've only had my Km for less than a week so this may be down to something I'm doing, but have a look at these two images, taken with the AL II kit lens I have on this body. There's a weird 'ring' effect to the bokeh - is it something wrong with the lens or should I expect this kind of behaviour?

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/4m5PNZipSuC8_FmrOl8-KA?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/81VScKlCC0Q5h5ksVQnh5g?feat=directlink

Nothing unusual to my eyes. Bokeh and its characteristics much depend
on the background itself. Looking at your pictures, you should not worry.

Martin.

These images look perfectly OK to me and consistent with a lens having 6 diaphragm blades. Bokeh rendering at wide apertures is largely determined by the glass used in the lens manufacture but the number of diaphragm blades also makes a huge difference. Essentially a 6 bladed diaphragm will produce hexagonal shaped bokeh (stating the obvious) whereas the bokeh produced by a 9 bladed diaphragm will appear more rounded.

I'm in aggreement these images look fine to me

Look OK to me.

Yes these look fine to me

Yep, bokeh seems normal for the kit lens.
Remember, this is not the 50mm F1.4, you wont get a gaussian blur kind of effect. Each lens has different characteristics.

A very good kit lens, all seems OK.