Tamron SP AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di-II LD (IF) Aspherical Lens for Pentax K-Mount Black

5 reviews for Tamron SP AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di-II LD (IF) Aspherical Lens for Pentax K-Mount Black

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Lois Morar – January 16, 2025

   I purchased this lens for my Pentax K5 II due to all the reviews raving about the image quality. I purchased this lens at almost half price by buying the International version with no warranty. I know I forgo the warranty. Call me lucky, but I have a lot of lenses and have never had a problem with any of them. I also don’t abuse them. This lens was manufactured in Vietnam, not Japan. Is there any difference in quality from it being manufactured in Vietnam? None that I can see.When I first tested the lens I was getting soft images. I decided to check it for focus using a lens calibration chart. I found out the lens was front focusing by quite a bit at F2.8. This isn’t surprising since Tamron makes this lens for just about every DSLR on the planet. There’s going to be some focus differences due to manufacturing tolerances for each camera. (Unless you get really lucky) I ended up adjusting my fine focus to -6 on the K5 II. Now it’s close to perfect on all the apertures I tested.How good is this lens? It’s about as good as a prime for a quarter of the price and a whole lot more versatile. It isn’t weather resistant and it’s all plastic, but who cares? This lens takes incredibly sharp pictures and has excellent color and contrast. It’s extremely fast at all F stops and is quite sharp across the image even wide open. For the money I paid, you just can’t find anything comparable. If it breaks, I can buy three more for the price of a prime. My experience with Tamron lenses have been good in the past.I highly recommend this lens as long as you take the time to calibrate the auto focus to your camera.

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Allie Jenkins V – July 4, 2025

   This lens gives nice sharp pictures. I have not noticed any creep thus far. Auto focus on really close objects makes the lens track back and forth a bit, but when doing these “macro” or close to shots I use manual anyway. It’s great at these close “macro” shots by the way. I did a lot of 3rd party filter test research and paired it with this Hoya filter: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000KZ5YWE/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i02?ie=UTF8&psc=1 With this filter on, “Oh yeah” really great pictures for a great price.I knock off a star for two reasons. As camera website reviews state, the motor in this lens is noisy. Such as when I was at wedding, it is noisy enough to be a little distracting to others during the ceremony. So, a flick of a switch and manual focus is used. I also bought this from Japan, “Asuka from Japan Shop” who had a good return and warranty policy unlike some of the other Japanese senders (many do not even mention one). I received the item about 4 days after purchase (use EMS not SAL – I order a lot from Japan. Free insurance up to $200 then extra $0.50 for each $200 beyond. My total was $293 after shipping). Do take note that even though I ordered this from Japan, the warranty card (for Japan not USA) and manual are in Japanese, and unfortunately the lens was made in China. Mine had no distortion et cetera issues so I kept it.All in all, you will be happy with this lens. (^_^)b

3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Mrs. Amely Gulgowski – July 10, 2025

   I have been using this lens for the past month and am very impressed with it. The lens is a lot smaller and lighter than I expected and that’s a good thing. This is definitely better than the kit lens from Pentax. The colors are bright and vivid and a little on the warm side. It seems to favor the yellows, oranges and reds with my camera. The autofocus works fast and seems quiet to me. I have barely used my 50mm 1.4 or my 28mm macro prime lenses since receiving this one. It may not match them in the bokeh department but it seems sharp enough for me not to reach in my bag and grab my primes.I have two other Tamron zoom lenses; a Tamron 24-135 which is a little bigger and heavier than this lens but not as fast or as sharp and the colors are not nearly as nice as this one. I also have the Tamron 10-24 wide angle which is a great lens and probably has the best colors of the three but it is not as sharp and there is a lot of distortion.All in all this is a great walkaround lens and I would highly recommend it. My only complaint with it so far is that I wish it could focus a little closer to the subject.

4. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Mr. Pietro VonRueden IV – September 27, 2025

   This is a fantastic old school DSLR lens. People are complaining about the sound, but that’s how autofocus was in the past. The sound of the Lens gives me a classic feel and brings me back to 2008.maybe im not spoiled, but making magic with this lens. It’s fast for that time, and the macro capability is phenomenal. I recommend for those pentax experts. I’m a sony mirror less shooter, but the DSLR along with this lens warps me to a time before I started photography. Get it.

5. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Dayne Welch – October 26, 2025

   I’ve been helping my 21 year old son get set up with a Pentax DSLR system. I purchased a Pentax K70 body for him and gave him some of my lenses that I wasn’t using. I have the Pentax 16-50 f2.8 and use it for almost everything so when I read the reviews on the Tamron giving in comparable optical qualities I thought it would be perfect for him. I purchased it used at a silly price. I took shots with both the Tamron and Pentax and compared. The Tamron is equal or better. My son is very happy with it. Great colors and sharp.