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Pentax-02 Standard Zoom 5-15mm f/2.8-4.5 (Pentax Q) - Review / Lens Test |
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Lens Reviews -
Pentax Q
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Page 1 of 3
Review by Klaus Schroiff, published November 2011
Introduction
The Pentax-02 Standard Zoom 5-15mm f/2.8-4.5 is the 2nd kit lens offered for the Pentax Q.
Its focal lenght range is equivalent to a 27.5-83mm lens in full format terms. Just like in our previous
Pentax Q lens review we need to point out that the max. aperture sounds attractive regarding the light
gathering characteristic but if we apply the system's "crop factor" (5.5x) the limited depth-of-field
potential gets rather obvious (equivalent to "f/15.4-24.7"). So unless you move very close to your
subject you will basically have to live with an infinite depth-of-field even at max. aperture. For
many applications such as landscape photography this is just fine though.
The build quality of this tiny lens is very good. The outer barrel is made of some kind of
alloy although the inner tub is made of plastic. The lens extends when zooming towards the WIDE end.
This is unusual albeit not unprecedented - e.g. the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 USM L shows the same behavior. There's no wobbling
of the inner lens tube even at 5mm (thus fully extended).
The lens has no transport lock so it is immediately usable without the need to set it to working position.
Even so we are talking about an extremely small size of merely 48.5x48mm which has, for comparison, roughly half the volume
of the Panasonic 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS (micro-four-thirds system). The rubberized zoom- and metal focus-control
rings operate smoothly.
The AF system works both fast and virtually silently. Manual focusing tends to be
difficult because the Pentax Q offers only a max. focus magnification of 4x which makes it difficult to judge the
accuracy of your focusing actions - this is not so much a problem of the lens but of the camera. However,
the focus-by-wire mechanism of the lens doesn't make things any easier here - consequently there's also
no distance scale.
Here's a comparison to the Pentax 01 Standard Prime. In comparison the zoom lens looks largish, but this is merely because the prime lens is tiny.
| Specifications |
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| Equiv. focal length | 27.5-83 mm (full format equivalent) |
| Equiv. aperture | f/15.4-f/24.7 (full format equivalent, in terms of depth-of-field) |
| Optical construction | 8 elements in 7 groups inc. 1x aspherical and 4x UD elements |
| Number of aperture blades | 5 |
| min. focus distance | 0.3 m (max. magnification 1:16.6) |
| Dimensions | 48.5 x 45.5 mm |
| Weight | 96 g |
| Filter size | 40.5 mm |
| Hood | bayonet mount, optional |
| Other features | SP coating |
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