DA* 50-135 Still Magic

As much as GAS wants to convince me to sell my 50-135 before its SDM does indeed go out, there is still fearie dust in it on this dreary fall day

Very happy with mine after owning it more years than I can remember accurately

Is it slow? Oh, maybe. But the results can be dazzling. And it's still running just fine.

bkpix wrote:

Very happy with mine after owning it more years than I can remember accurately

Is it slow? Oh, maybe. But the results can be dazzling. And it's still running just fine.

Always good to hear, here’s to many more years

Joseph Tainter wrote:

Optically it is a marvel. Good that you haven't had trouble with it.

After several years of not using it, or my 16-50, I realized it made sense to sell them. Both had failed on me, and I had two copies of the 16-50 with optical decentering. The money went for a lens that I will use more.

Joe

I still debate trading both my 16-50 and the 50-135 for the 24-70... over SDM concerns

I’m in agreement with the contributors in this thread. I have both the 16-50 and the 50-135 and in both cases the SDM has failed in the past 12 months. Like others I’ve agonised whether to cut my losses and go for something different or get them repaired.

I obtained quotes from CR Kennedy the Aust agents and the repair cost cost appeared reasonable vs the alternative. So I am having the SDM motors replaced and in the process having the circuit boards replaced as well.

So here’s hoping. I have taken a lot of good work at weddings and other events  over the 9-10 years since the original purchases.

Besides I’m saving some money for for the purchase of a KP hopefully before Xmas.

Happy shooting to all......K

Mike Arledge wrote:

Joseph Tainter wrote:

Optically it is a marvel. Good that you haven't had trouble with it.

After several years of not using it, or my 16-50, I realized it made sense to sell them. Both had failed on me, and I had two copies of the 16-50 with optical decentering. The money went for a lens that I will use more.

Joe

I still debate trading both my 16-50 and the 50-135 for the 24-70... over SDM concerns

My wife's 50-135 failed totally, and after expensive repair, it never behaved as well as it had before.

But, as long as it worked as before, she loved it.

Tord S Eriksson wrote:

Mike Arledge wrote:

Joseph Tainter wrote:

Optically it is a marvel. Good that you haven't had trouble with it.

After several years of not using it, or my 16-50, I realized it made sense to sell them. Both had failed on me, and I had two copies of the 16-50 with optical decentering. The money went for a lens that I will use more.

Joe

I still debate trading both my 16-50 and the 50-135 for the 24-70... over SDM concerns

My wife's 50-135 failed totally, and after expensive repair, it never behaved as well as it had before.

But, as long as it worked as before, she loved it.

I think that will be the legacy of this lens, great until it’s not over SDM

Mike Arledge wrote:

As much as GAS wants to convince me to sell my 50-135 before its SDM does indeed go out, there is still fearie dust in it on this dreary fall day

After the SDM on my 50-135 failed for the 2nd time I disabled the SDM.  It works like a charm now, even if I don't use it as much as I should.

Doug

DougOB wrote:

Mike Arledge wrote:

As much as GAS wants to convince me to sell my 50-135 before its SDM does indeed go out, there is still fearie dust in it on this dreary fall day

After the SDM on my 50-135 failed for the 2nd time I disabled the SDM. It works like a charm now, even if I don't use it as much as I should.

Doug

I have not been brave enough yet to go that route!

Mike Arledge wrote:

DougOB wrote:

Mike Arledge wrote:

As much as GAS wants to convince me to sell my 50-135 before its SDM does indeed go out, there is still fearie dust in it on this dreary fall day

After the SDM on my 50-135 failed for the 2nd time I disabled the SDM. It works like a charm now, even if I don't use it as much as I should.

Doug

I have not been brave enough yet to go that route!

It is actually straight forward, just follow the YouTube video.  The only trick is that you need an older camera like a K-5.

Doug

Awesome shots. I bought my 50-135 when I owned a K100D-Super, that's 4 bodies ago! It is still my goto lens when I want 3D-like images. Used it yesterday on the annual Bobtail-gathering at the beach.

One of my fellow dog-owners was schlepping around a 7D with grip and 70-200 monster lens (the professional-looking white one). He was visibly having trouble getting down in the sand and the wind and complained about the weight of his gear.

He did make a remark to me along the lines of "so you're still stuck with Pentax?". I had a chance to compare the shots yesterday. He had some decent shots but somehow they have this flat, lifeless look about them. The 50-135 seems to be capable of injecting depth into an image.

On the beach:

And I picked up some quirky stuff on the way back (that's how flexible the 50-135 really is):

newmikey wrote:

Awesome shots. I bought my 50-135 when I owned a K100D-Super, that's 4 bodies ago! It is still my goto lens when I want 3D-like images. Used it yesterday on the annual Bobtail-gathering at the beach.

One of my fellow dog-owners was schlepping around a 7D with grip and 70-200 monster lens (the professional-looking white one). He was visibly having trouble getting down in the sand and the wind and complained about the weight of his gear.

He did make a remark to me along the lines of "so you're still stuck with Pentax?". I had a chance to compare the shots yesterday. He had some decent shots but somehow they have this flat, lifeless look about them. The 50-135 seems to be capable of injecting depth into an image.

On the beach:

And I picked up some quirky stuff on the way back (that's how flexible the 50-135 really is):

Nice work, I need to hear things like your story to avoid further GAS

Joseph Tainter wrote:

Mike Arledge wrote:

Joseph Tainter wrote:

Optically it is a marvel. Good that you haven't had trouble with it.

After several years of not using it, or my 16-50, I realized it made sense to sell them. Both had failed on me, and I had two copies of the 16-50 with optical decentering. The money went for a lens that I will use more.

Joe

I still debate trading both my 16-50 and the 50-135 for the 24-70... over SDM concerns

Mike, "SDM" in the DFA 24-70 is a Tamron design, not Pentax's SDM. I haven't heard of any failures, and mine hasn't failed.

I thought it was incredibly stupid of Pentax to keep using the designation SDM on designs that are different from the original SDM. Your post illustrates why. I wonder how many sales Pentax has missed because of this stupidity. Never underestimate Pentax's ability to shoot themselves in the foot.

Joe

You misunderstood, I am concerned my two lenses will have SDM failures, I know the 24-70 is safe lol

Joseph Tainter wrote:

Mike Arledge wrote:

Joseph Tainter wrote:

Optically it is a marvel. Good that you haven't had trouble with it.

After several years of not using it, or my 16-50, I realized it made sense to sell them. Both had failed on me, and I had two copies of the 16-50 with optical decentering. The money went for a lens that I will use more.

Joe

I still debate trading both my 16-50 and the 50-135 for the 24-70... over SDM concerns

Mike, "SDM" in the DFA 24-70 is a Tamron design, not Pentax's SDM. I haven't heard of any failures, and mine hasn't failed.

I thought it was incredibly stupid of Pentax to keep using the designation SDM on designs that are different from the original SDM. Your post illustrates why. I wonder how many sales Pentax has missed because of this stupidity. Never underestimate Pentax's ability to shoot themselves in the foot.

Joe

Absolutely, absolutely correct! They (the 'clever' guys at Pentax, with the fat wallets) are the experts, no doubt about that! Best foot-shooters around, no doubt about that!

Once, this was a huge company and their 35mm cameras sold like hot cakes. I used a few Pentax lenses, and I liked them a lot, then, and when I returned to Pentax I liked the lenses a lot, with one or two exceptions.

Now, it's a faltering company, trying, but not quite succeeding. Costly for its owners, no doubt.

I so hoped that they again would become. one of the big three, but that was probably my wishful thinking.

Have great day, all,

I'm the proud owner of both the 16-50mm and 50-135mm since 2009 (or 2010?) and the 50-135mm is still my favorite lens. I use it mostly for ballet concerts and it's perfect. The 16-50mm has some decentering issues but both motors are working as new, which I feel fortunate about.

Around the time of my last post in this thread, I thought I would take the plunge on my 16-50 and the 50-135 and have the SDM motors fixed. They were more or less dead on both lenses. The Aust agent CR Kennedy quoted AUD$288 for each which includes the SDM motors and the circuit board. Given the new prices in Australia around A$1300 and A$1700 for new copies the repair price didi not look too bad.

Anyway, they are back in my hands a quick test on my KS-1 and my K511s and they focus quickly and on target at least has good as any of my other lenses and better than they have done probably back when I thought they were ok.

The real test will be when I have another job to do.... the last one, believe it or not, was any a funeral wake when I had to make do with my 50ml macro and a DA21. In a reasonably dark hall.

I’ll post a few when I have some results to show...

Thanks to all for the inspiration....happy snapping

PS. I’m composing my wish list for Santa and it includes a KP . Well I need something to drive these repaired lenses

Sermonem wrote:

Around the time of my last post in this thread, I thought I would take the plunge on my 16-50 and the 50-135 and have the SDM motors fixed. They were more or less dead on both lenses. The Aust agent CR Kennedy quoted AUD$288 for each which includes the SDM motors and the circuit board. Given the new prices in Australia around A$1300 and A$1700 for new copies the repair price didi not look too bad.

Anyway, they are back in my hands a quick test on my KS-1 and my K511s and they focus quickly and on target at least has good as any of my other lenses and better than they have done probably back when I thought they were ok.

The real test will be when I have another job to do.... the last one, believe it or not, was any a funeral wake when I had to make do with my 50ml macro and a DA21. In a reasonably dark hall.

I’ll post a few when I have some results to show...

Thanks to all for the inspiration....happy snapping

PS. I’m composing my wish list for Santa and it includes a KP . Well I need something to drive these repaired lenses

Good luck with the serviced lenses!