Good overall value Fully compatible with my MZ-5n

f5.6 at 80mm limits its usability in low-light conditions.

This is fine value for its money, even if you paid for it. I did some tests, and this lens has low light fall-off at 28mm (compared to my 28mm f3.5 prime) and it is "sharp enough" at 50mm (compared to my 50mm f1.7 prime: the difference is certainly not dramatic). I have made beautiful pictures with this lens, but I'm less happy with the results indoor: backgrounds tend to be dark because of <=f5.6 at 80mm.

Similar Products Used:

28mm f3.5 50mm f1.7 135mm f3.5

- Metal lens mount - Light weight - VERY sharp images - 52mm filter size

- None for a lens of this price

This is an excellent lens with far better optical quality than anyone could expect from a consumer zoom. The Pentax 28-80 has given me enlargements (8x10) that rival those produced by my Nikon F/2.8 zoom lenses. I'm not sure why other people are so hard on this lens. Grab a roll of Fuji Reala, a tripod, and the results will blow you away.

Customer Service

Never had a problem with any Pentax gear

Similar Products Used:

Pentax AF 80-320

Light,fast auto-focus,light on the wallet,not a huge filter size,looks good on silver body,zooms easy and holds for me.

Front element spins(no IF), only a problem when i''m using a CP filter. Not best for using in MF but then again, i just miss the split focus screen in my ZX-M.

Although i purchased this lens with the ZX-5n, i''m not sure i would trade it for anything else. I work at a camera store (national chain)and have seen even the cheapest of camera/lens kit take unbelievable pictures. If you want to talk sharpness of a lens, this isn''t the best(i can''t think of anything "sharp" under $500) but what good would an $8,000 dollar Canon IS lens be if you used dollar store film? It really comes down to the person behind the lens.......and the biggest factor for them is being comfortable with their set-up. For me, this lens fits the job. It''s like, easy to zoom, and easy for the 5n to focus. I''ve always wanted to throw it on a PZ-1p or MZ-S just to watch it fly. It could be a little faster, but not for this price range. I personally believe Pentax lenses "ain''t what they used to be" but then again, the Nikkor G kit lens that comes with the N80 is just ridiculous. As far as i''m concerned, coming from the camera shop point of view, as well as someone who works part-time for the City of Raleigh Park System(my boss is 100%Nikon),I believe this is the best 28-80(or anything close)kit lens on the market. If you want to make a print the size of Mount Rushmore, go do yourself a favor and buy a medium format camera.

Customer Service

hope i never need it :)

Similar Products Used:

35-80 manual kit lens(with zx-m), 80-320 Pentax, Nikkor 35-80 and 80-200(on a nikon n70)Tamron 24-135, Sigma 17-35, Tamron 28-300 etc.....(last 3 on Nikon F100 and F5 bodies). Lot''s of Pentax manual

Metal bayonet

Color saturation, sharpness, distortion! Everything that is required to produce quality pictures.

Avoid it!!!! Buy the body of the camera, don''t wast your money on this lense. Find something else like the Pentax 28-70mm sigma 28-135mm or Tamron 24-135mm. Yes, it will be more expensive, but you won''t be regret aftet. I''m writing about the silver version which is made in Vietnam. This one came with the MZ7 or MZ30 (XZ7 & XZ30 in US?). It appears to be a great value: metal bayonet, constructed much more solid than those equivalent lenses from Nikon, Canon or Minolta (I mean those standard packages), but it''s not! This lense turns your beautiful camera into a point-and-shoot. It only feels good on either MZ7 or MZ30, because of its weight color, size and buit quality. The optics suck big time. At the beginning, I thought it was my MZ7 that is not good enough. Untill I bought another lense, the pentax 80-320mm, I used both on the same role, and I couldn''t believe my eyes. The difference is huge, color, contrast, sharpness, you name it. I will never use it again, unless I need an example of bad optical quality.

Customer Service

Never used.

Similar Products Used:

Pentax 80-320mm, Nikon 28-80, canon28-90, etc.

Covers widely used focal lengths

Lousy image quality

If you only use for 4X6 snapshots, this lens may be adequate. But for anyone serious about photography avoid this lens.

Customer Service

Never used

Similar Products Used:

Tamron 28-70 manual focus

None

Slow lens (f/3.5-5.6), feels flimsy.

I'm not sure I agree with the other reviews on this lens. My pictures have always been sharp, crisp, colorful, and clear.

Similar Products Used:

None

Inexpensive

Unsharp;
Loose front element in manual focus mode; Front element rotates (don't even try a polarizing filter)

Turns your 35mm SLR into a low-quality point-and-shoot camera with a big zoom that requires a flash for everything. On the plus side, it's big enough to impress non-camera-people at your kid's birthday party. I bought this to make an old K1000 I had laying in the closet more "useful." I put both back in the closet shortly thereafter.

Customer Service

n/a

Similar Products Used:

various

Reasonably good image quality.
Very quick-focusing.
Decent metal mount (unlike Canon etc.).
Looks attractive (in silver finish) on the MZ-5N.
Macro focusing

Feels a bit flimsy - but very much better than the equivalent Nikon or Canon: better performance too.

Not top-notch quality (buy a 43mm/1.9 for that!) but excellent value for money for a very handy and useful lens. A seriously superior quality product than the equivalents from Canon and Nikon.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Canon 28-80 (on EOS300)
Nikon 28-80 (on F80)

Great, sharp pictures at 28mm

I had to switch to manuel on some shots. The lense seemed to help confuse the camera metering. Flimsy front element. Awkward lens cap

Took decent pictures, but i would not buy this lens for serious photography. Good beginner lens. You get a little better value than what you pay for

Customer Service

not used

Similar Products Used:

Pentax PZ-30
Pentax K1000
Tamron 80-210

Extremely sharp between 28-50MM

Gets a little soft after 50MM.

This is really an excelent lens. I have gotten extremely sharp images between 28-50MM. After 50MM it gets a little soft, but nothing serious. the photos are still good. I got this lens with my Pentax ZX-7 kit. I also own the 80-320MM from Pentax. I also highly recommend you try that lens out too.

This lens is MUCH better than the Canon and Minolta equivelents that I have tried.

Customer Service

Haven't tried.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 28-80MM f/3.5-5.6 (the one that comes with the Rebel 2000)
I like the Pentax version MUCH more