HenryB's reviews

Pentax 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6 ED DC WR DA

The is the one always-on standard zoom kit I have been looking for so long. I do shoot many landscapes and interiors and architecture, so anything other than 16mm (FF 24mm) is no match, reducing the competition to the oldish 16-45 and the 16-50, both of which are easily surpassed by this excellent DA 16-85 lens.
The zoom range is just a blessing for a walk around lens.
It is consistently sharp across the frame from center to edges, even at 16mm when used at F8 it is great.
It is fast and quietly focussing similar to the 16-50 (maybe a little faster).
The build feels much more robust than the 18-135 and certainly is in another, higher league than the weird 16-45.
I works great with polarizers.
You can even use it nicely for portraits as 85/5.6=15,2 is not that much of a difference to 50/2.8=17,8, so the background blur is nice enough at a classical 85mm focal length.
The other thing to be loved here is the very smooth bokeh.
The lens also shows extraordinarily low levels of CA.
The modern HD coating gives it a great contrasty redering in nice Pentax colors (no Sigma cold plastic looks here).
I can only recommedn the lens. No competition out there.