I recently received my DA* 16-50 F2.8 back from Pentax USA (via California Precision Service). It had a clear centering defect that yielded softness on the right side of the image.
First thing I did when I got it back was to onto my "lens test range" (a tripod and a couple of test patterns taped to the wall). Two different pictures, both taken at 50mm and F8. One is sharp in the center and left and soft on the right. One image is sharp on the center and right and soft on the left. And now the SDM autofocus doesn't work. Seems to me that the lens has some kind of fundamental mechanical instability (separate from the now-defunct focus mechanism). It's going back to Pentax USA, but I'd say that my confidence in this lens is pretty much destroyed. Anyone out there care to commiserate? Disappointed, Mark -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
