I have both the Pentax 17-70 f4 and 16-45 f4. Comparing the two lenses -
Sharpness: My 16-45 is noticeably sharper at f4 and slightly sharper at f5.6 and beyond. The 17-70 is a little soft at f4 but improves when stopped down. Both of my lenses seem to be consistently sharp through their zoom ranges.
Close Focusing: The 17-70 is slightly better in both magnification and working room.
Focusing: I love the silent focusing of the 17-70 and have no complaints about the AF accuracy. There are a lot of complaints of SDM failures in reviews though. As a manual focus lens, the throw on the 17-70 (about 90 degrees) is so small it would be hard to precisely focus it. The 16-45 is reminds me of most other Pentax AF zooms - no problems but a little noisy.
Focal length: I can't say I notice the difference between 16 and 17mm at the short end. I very much notice the difference between 45mm and 70mm though.
Handling: The 16-45 is at its longest physical length when set to 16mm, which can cause a shadow in photos taken with a flash at the wide end. However, it is lighter and somewhat smaller than the 17-70.
The 17-70 is my main general purpose lens at this time - the more versatile zoom range and slightly better close focusing offset the slightly lower optical performance. I also really like the silent focusing - the whirring of a cam driver focusing mechanism in public places is a little annoying. But I use the 16-45 when I want the best possible performance and can live with a maximum 45mm focal length.
There is a new 16-85 (?) zoom out now as well - I have not yet read a review but it may be worth thinking about.
Mark On 5/12/2015 11:48 AM, Eric Weir wrote:
Well, when isn’t cost a consideration? I’ll put it this way: I’d like to have a 20-40/2.8-4 limited but that’s beyond my means. A 16-45/4 is much more affordable and I might go up to double KEH’s price for it if there was something that might be better for me, e.g., something as wide as the 16-45 but with a longer zoom range. It seems that my photography requires either that or a telephoto and not much in between. So I’m not especially interested in trying to accommodate all that in one lens. I just want a good wide-angle zoom. So, should it be the 16-45 or is there something else I should consider. Thanks, ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Eric Weir Decatur, GA USA [email protected] "Our world is a human world." - Hilary Putnam
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