Pentax SMC 18-250mm SMCP-DA F3.5-6.3 Lens

I've had this lens since January and have used it a fair bit and it was my main lens during August on the family holiday. However I have noticed loads of lens creep which hasn't affected the images but is something that I am a bit concerned about, of course there is a switch for this to lock the lens during transport.

Has anyone else got one of these and do you have the same problem? It's the sort of thing I would expect to occur after very frequent use i.e wear and tear and been used on a daily basis and not within the first 12 months.

The images have been very good though, I did consider the Tamron version but went with this one mainly for the ED spec of the lens.

Rob

The lens is just a miracle of technical ingenuity by combining a super wide angle with a super tele range at a reasonably high quality level. The engineers have thought about all this and put many glass elements in the front tube. Therefore that front tube is quite heavy causing zoom creep.

This is quite normal. Every time I put my camera and this lens into its bag I use the zoom lock.

You should try walking around with an unlocked Bigma

I don't have the 18-250 but my Tamron 28-300 also suffers from this. I don't find it a problem to be honest, I keep the lock on until I want to take a photo. It takes just a fraction of a second to unlock it.

When I was a Nikon man both my zoom lenses had creep, as Gwyn has said not a problem just use the lock.

what is meant by the ed spec of the lens please.

Extra Low Dispersion Glass for some of the lens elements. It helps reduce abberations in complex lenses.

The 18-250mm is actually quite an impressive lens. Sue now uses one for most of her general photography and the results are excellent. The only disadvantage is the feeble aperture value at the long end.

so whats the diffrence between the pentax and tamron do you know,
i have a tamron 18-200mm i love it, i use it all the time, i have used other lenses but i dont bother no more as the dust feature really anoys me, on the k200d

I'm not sure if there are any optical differences, but there are clearly mechanical ones as the lenses are different in terms of their outer shells. The obvious difference is that the Pentax has its SMC coating which ensures low flare and cosistent colour balance with other lenses in the range.

It also has the Pentax Quality Control applied and this may or may not be a higher standard.

A friend of mine bought a K20D recently having seen my K10D and went on hols to Florida with it. He loved it apart from the "lack of zoom" on the kit lens (he is used to a point and shoot). Ideally, he wants a single "walk around" lens and not my bagful of assorted glass. Does the 18-250 generally get a thumbs up? He isn't likely to be trying anything fancy, mainly pictures of the kids and holiday shots.

Sorry to poach the thread a little from the OP.

Thanks, Kris.

It's impressive.

it is a great lens. i find it to be very sharp indeed. the only failing is as john mentioned, the aperture. i used to use it all the time until i bought the sigma 10-20 (which has a different use)

i find it sharp all the way from 18-250.

I had a play with one at SRS back in march, based on very limited fiddling it was nearly as good at 250 as my FA80-320. That doesn't make it stellar, but it makes it usable and highly impressive for the range.

I believe the only thing that makes it clearly not of Pentax heritage is its lack of quick shift manual focus override. It is the only DA which lacks this.

I'm still considering getting one, for holidays mainly, when I don't want to lug a bag full of lenses around with me. I want to travel light when I fly, which I can't do at the moment as the camera gear takes up my carry on allowance. Plus I always seem to have the wrong lens on the camera for whatever I want to photograph - I missed three eagles together because I couldn't change lenses fast enough

I would say it is most suitable lens during travel specially travelling 'light'. I have used it for week - a loan from a friend of mine and I did not need/used any other lens on that holiday.
One flickr photographer linkhas wonderful images by this lens with K20d.

vikram

Thanks for the link Vikram - wonderful photos!