Joe, I think Pal's complaint is a bit excessive. I purchased a used copy of the lens and like it - quite sharp, honestly rivaling the best of Pentax's primes.
But it is a BIG, HEAVY lens. I use a grip strap on the PZ-1p when I mount it. Pal's problem, and my lens has it too, is that the powerzoom function stops at 35mm. The lens is too heavy for the PZ-1p motor to zoom all the way out to 28mm. You have to do this manually. The other alternative is to point the lens straight downward and power zoom. This works to 28mm as the weight seems better distributed and the zoom mechanism is easier for the motor to turn. You can feel the complicated internal movements of the lens when you manually zoom from 35mm to 28mm, but it is no big deal. I have long used my powerzoom lenses on manual as the batteries don't seem to last long if you are powerzooming. The manual force required is just a bit more than with the A35-105/3.5, which also seems to have a point of complicated internal movements. Regards, Bob S. [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > Pål reported here that he has had problems of build quality/mechanical > failure with this lens. Has anyone else had such problems? (Pål has also > acknowledged, if I recall correctly, that he is hard on equipment.) >