http://nedbunnell.posterous.com/da-18-135mm-sample-photos-part-iii
http://nedbunnell.posterous.com/da-18-135mm-sample-photos-part-ii
http://nedbunnell.posterous.com/da-18-135-sample-photos-part-i
which are all posted by Ned today. Full size "originals" that are RAW converted via Adobe Photoshop CS4 are available for download. Major EXIF data are preserved. Ned also tells about some of basic shooting settings and conditions in his posts.
The sample pictures were made mostly with the really *expensive* "long kit" lens, which have been carefully stopped down for at least two stops but not smaller than f/11, which usually the diffraction limit for most APS-C lenses, so that maximum sharpness should be obtained.
In fact, the Pentax DA 18-135 is more than doubled the prices of both the Canon and Nikon 18-135 offerings, which are just close enough in cost. If not believed, go check yourself! Does the WR of the Pentax really worth that super extra cost (US300+ difference in my city), if the IQ is not going to be different, or even worse??
Any how, yet once again and repeatedly recently, I am completely "impressed" (in another extreme) with the IQ, even the pics are just produced by expert photographer like Ned. Images are soft, even it is not viewed at pixel level, despite that the shooting condition is actually very favourable, e.g., on a very bright and sunny day. Purple fringing appears commonly and everywhere, even at object borders which are not extremely contrasty, say, they are Not back lit! The colour tone of the images are cool, um, I mean they are too cold and rather blueish and there is no feeling of the warm sunlight of any and I have big reservation on this (unfavourable IMO) colour tendency of this combo, i.e., the K-5 + 18-135.
Anyway, here are just two casual crops from first two samples in the Part IV, the first one is for the centre at 18mm at f/11 and the next one is for the corner at 135, at f/11:-
Inspect all other samples yourself, you will know what I mean. To make fair comparisons and to be even more objective, I have even zoomed out the images down to 10MP so that they are in the same viewing size and then they are compared to those images from my K-m, I am actually really disappointed to learn that the images from my K-m (with a DAL 18-55) are just sharper and contain more details, just see these old full samples of mine, taken with my "cheap" and "outdated" Pentax kit, i.e., the K-m and that DAL 18-55 lens!
In particular, such severe purple fringing at such long focal length (135mm actual focal in this case) is really uncommon, or I would say, strange, actually. 135mm x 1.5 ~ 200mm is not considered as a wide angle, does it? >:-[
Speaking of Ned, he seems to have been back and rather busy with his blog writing. He has been really very diligent recently for posting at his (new) blog. I think maybe he have just received clear instruction and order from the Pentax (actually Hoya) HQs that he should write more to promote new Pentax products (which is his own job anyway), instead of letting that RiceHigh guy shines in the Internet and Blogsphere! ;=)
Btw, keep up the good works, Ned, your posts are really much valuable! They help us to learn the truth and you are just much more trustworthy than most others! :->
Related:-
http://ricehigh.blogspot.com/search?q=K-5+Review+Samples