DA 16-45 Vs DA*16-50 Head-to-head Shootout

See this useful test, side-by-side and head-to-head for the two lenses:-

http://www.pentaxuser.co.uk/news/pentax-16-45mm-and-16-50mm-compared-169

via Michael A. (Blog reader)

As we can easily see, optically the DA*16-50 does perform better than the DA 16-45, especially at wide opened and at the wide end and at the image corners:-

Pentax 16-45mm at 16mm and f/4	Pentax 16-50mm at 16mm and f/2.8

However, the tester does not like the bulkiness and expensiveness of the DA* lens:-



The close-up ability of the DA 16-45 is yet better:-

16-45mm closest focus	16-50mm closest focus

As for the distortions, both are somehow obvious at 16mm, but the DA 16-45 does perform slightly better, yet:-

Pentax 16-45mm distortion test at 16mm	Pentax 16-50mm distortion test at 16mm

Last but not least, I would like to add that the other main disadvantage of the DA*16-50 is about its SDM. I am sure that the DA*16-50 is the most widely reported Pentax DA* model with the SDM issue. So, after all, I gave up to get it long time ago, although it might be optically better than the DA 16-45 resolutional wise.