Pentax 18-135 lens problem

[smoke665]

After almost 5 months of use my new to me 18-135 lens suddenly started giving me problems. Every so often it's like it loses connection with the camera. AF won't work, and menus act funky. Sometimes I can take the lens off and reattach and it will work fine. Sometimes I have to remove the battery. Only lens I have problems with. Any clues.

 

[Fujidave]

After almost 5 months of use my new to me 18-135 lens suddenly started giving me problems. Every so often it's like it loses connection with the camera. AF won't work, and menus act funky. Sometimes I can take the lens off and reattach and it will work fine. Sometimes I have to remove the battery. Only lens I have problems with. Any clues.

Could it be the contacts need a clean ?

 

[smoke665]

Could it be the contacts need a clean ?

Just did that, so far seems to have helped. Will find out.

 

[Fujidave]

Fingers crossed it stays fine.

 

[smoke665]

Fingers crossed it stays fine.

Yeah really. The internal DC drive on this lens has had a few problems. I really like how quite and fast the focus is. Would hate to lose it as a walk around.

 

[Derrel]

This site recommends a Tamron-designed Pentax 18-250mm zoom as a better performer, with a wider zoom ratio and better optics. Pentax SMC-DA 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 ED AL [IF] WR - Review / Lens Test - Sample Images & Verdict

I have a feeling that the lens has a loose connection somewhere, hence the erratic malfunctioning. Modern AF zoom lenses are complex, and this review suggests that the insides of this design are densely-packed. Since it's been only five months, there's probably been some type of assembly error or QC issue that has affected your example of the lens. If you have warranty service as an option, I think I'd take them up on that and have the lens checked out and brought back up to full spec. While it's totally fine to keep fingers crossed that the lens continues to perform well enough, it sounds to me like a more serious failure could easily occur.

 

[smoke665]

This site recommends a Tamron-designed Pentax 18-250mm zoom as a better performer, with a wider zoom ratio and better optics. Pentax SMC-DA 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 ED AL [IF] WR - Review / Lens Test - Sample Images & Verdict

I have a feeling that the lens has a loose connection somewhere, hence the erratic malfunctioning. Modern AF zoom lenses are complex, and this review suggests that the insides of this design are densely-packed. Since it's been only five months, there's probably been some type of assembly error or QC issue that has affected your example of the lens. If you have warranty service as an option, I think I'd take them up on that and have the lens checked out and brought back up to full spec. While it's totally fine to keep fingers crossed that the lens continues to perform well enough, it sounds to me like a more serious failure could easily occur.

Unfortunately I bought the lens used, so the 5 months is only the time I've owned it. I did a thorough cleaning of the contacts, both on the camera and the lens. So far today no problems.