Customer Reviews:
 Dust catcher September 24, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
I sent my first 18-250 back to Amazon for replacement due to dust behind the front lens element. They promptly sent me another, and it was fine for a few months, but now it has dust specks in the same place. The lens has never been used or stored in a dusty environment. Its maximum aperture makes it a slow lens for low light use, so any dust is reducing the amount of needed light.
It is a very sharp lens with minimal chromatic abberation, but it does have a pincushion problem that can be managed with good photo editing software.
Zoom creep is another problem, and it is so loose that I'm supposing the dust is entering there.
The lens could be a joy to use, but the price is very steep for the for the quality.
 A Great all round lens August 20, 2008
It has a great handling, good size & feel to it.
It is not a fast lens. But, as most 18-200mm & 18-250mm lens owners know, this is a weekend or short trip lens that covers a great range.
The quality is up there along Nikon 18-200mm VR.
Great pentax glass - amazing versatility August 17, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This lens is outstanding. My other lenses include the 18-55 kit lens, and the 50mm/1.4(also highly recommended) and this lens is beautiful as a replacement to the kit lens. I have been able to get everything from dramatic landscapes to insect macros to zoomed in moon shots. The only additional things I could ask for - 1, the Quick Shift Manual Focus thing that Pentax has on almost every other lens, and 2, a more versatile zoom-lock - because of the ridiculous range of this lens, it creeps quite readily, and it would be handy to have a lock that you could set at any focal length, rather than the current one that only works at 18mm.
So, as a walk-around, capture whatever happens to show up lens, this one is extremely hard to beat. However, I do wedding photography part time, and this lens actually hasn't performed nearly as well for those events - the aperture range just isn't there. For those occasions, pick up the 50mm F/1.4, which will allow you to take natural light pictures in all but the darkest scenarios, and gives you a magical background for portraits.
Between the two, I feel like I have a pretty good set up. This serves as a great all-around lens as a replacement for the kit, and a logical second lens once you want to get more serious with your photography. If you have this and a fast, low-light prime, you could be equipped for 95% of situations with only $600 invested in glass - crazy good deal if you ask me, especially when you consider that this includes image stabilization. A very price-competitive package compared to the other DSLR systems out there right now.
One stop shop(lens) July 29, 2008
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
The Good: Excellent lens. Excellent range.
The Bad: Feels a bit heavy but bet it simply needs getting used to. Then the lens will creep down if you forget to lock it (Only if you forget to lock it).
The Ugly: When getting a distant object in low light, the lens will always remind you to have bought a good flash first.
Recommend: Most Definitely + good service from Amazon
 Very Impressive, Very Diverse... July 26, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I added this lens to my Pentax K200D after just a few days with the camera. The camera came with the 18-55 lens, but that didn't provide any capability to reach any distances to get that close-up shot. The range on this lens allows for some very impressive wide-angle shooting, and then can quickly zoom great distances for an entirely different kind of photography. I am very satisfied with this lens and would recommend it to anyone trying to improve their photography capability. It has enabled me to dramatically enhance my ability to get all kinds of shots.
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