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Pentax Lens Review Database » Pentax K-Mount Bayonet Lenses » DA Series Zooms

SMC Pentax-DA 12-24mm F4 ED AL [IF]

Reviews	Views
21	18180

Recommended By	Average Price	Average Rating
100% of reviewers	$733.80	9.1

supersize

Description:

This extreme-wide angle lens is only compatible with Pentax DSLR's.

Weight	Length	Filter Diameter	Min. Focus	Max. Magnification
430 g	8.75 cm	77 mm	30 cm	0.12x
Diagonal FOV (APS-C)	Horizontal FOV (APS-C)	Max. Aperture	Min. Aperture	Optical Construction
99-61 degrees	90-53 degrees	f/4.0	f/22	13 elements, 11 groups, 8 blades

Weight with hood: 457g.
For more information and images, please visit this page: http://www.pentaxforums.com/content/...24mm_Lens.html

Author

*isteve
Pentaxian

Registered: November 2006
Location: London, England
Posts: 1157

Review Date: Thu February 1, 2007

Would you recommend the lens? Yes | How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): None indicated | Rating: 9

Pros:	Nice coverage, build quality, sharpness, low distortion
Cons:	Some CA, lower microcontrast vs primes

Overall this is one of my most used lenses. Unusually for such an extreme wideangle lens, linear distortion is low enough for extreme architectural perspectives, its excellent for landscapes, real estate, close in street shooting and actually great for fun portrait work if you have a willing model!

Sharpness is generally pretty good from F4 upwards even in the corners and it does not seem to fall off much at 12mm or 24mm but remains pretty consistent. The only real difference between it and the DA21 is the slight reduction in detail contrast stopped down, but it is probably comparable for sharpness.

Quality of build is exemplary. The lens hood is a bit of a monster using up way too much camera bag space but is an absolute necessity outdoors.

There is a bit of CA on this lens especially at 12mm. Not as much as the DA 16-45 but could be better. Tokina version has been criticised for this and the Pentax has the same fault. Can be almost eliminated in most RAW converters.

Flare on the other hand is very well controlled even though I use a front filter. The front element is very vulnerable to scratches as its very prominent. Takes normal depth 77m filters with no vignetting which is useful.

Exposure accuracy on this lens is excellent with none of the underexposure issues so prevalent on the 16-45.

Incremental ratings:

Usefulness: 10 - everyone should have one. Great fun for extreme perspectives.
Build: 9 - quick focus clutch, smooth zooming, minimal slop
Sharpness: 9 - good considering its a zoom and such an extreme on at that
Contrast: 8 - good for a zoom, primes would be slightly better. PP helps
Colour: 8.5 - slightly cooler than some but generally accurate
Distortion: 10 - dont know how they managed it!
Abberations/Flare: 7.5 - CA at wide angles but flare control is excellent for such an extreme zoom.
Focus: 9 - Quick and unfussed though camera sometimes has trouble at 12mm due to extreme DOF and small detail.

Summary: Forget the sigma and tamron versions, this lens is every bit a match for the Nikon 12-24 which costs a lot more. You lose almost nothing quality wise vs the DA 21 and 14 and gain an extremely useful and fun lens. Should be in everyones camera bag.

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Jusa
New Member

Registered: January 2007
Location: Sweden
Posts: 13

Review Date: Fri February 9, 2007

Would you recommend the lens? Yes | How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): $1,022.00 | Rating: 9

Pros:	Its really wide zoom
Cons:	Vingetting at 12mm with the lens hood mounted

I love this lens.
It´s a light weight lens dedicated for the APS C sensors.
The lens shines at interior, citylife, architecure, and landscape photos and produces sharp crisp images.

Benefits:
It´s a wide and fast zoom and I prefer this lens as my comrade for travelling.

Drawbacks:
Lenshood makes vingetting and the internal flash is not compatible with this lens.

Dana G
Pentaxian

Registered: October 2006
Location: Masachusetts
Posts: 245

Review Date: Sun March 4, 2007

Would you recommend the lens? Yes | How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): None indicated | Rating: 10

Pros:	Low distortion, sharp, constant aperture, low flare
Cons:	Big honking lens hood.

This lens is what finally convinced me that zooms can produce images on a par with primes. I've used for interiors (architecture) and scenics.

The amazing thing is that I could use it for interior shots of rooms and it would be possible to forgo using the Lens Correction filter if I didn't want to bother with it. I've NEVER seen a zoom that produces such clear, sharp, distortion-free images. HOW DO THEY DO THAT??

Shot directly into the sun, and there was only one teeny little point of flare. This is in a complex lens with a lot of elements. AMAZING!

It's not cheap, but it's well worth the price.

Piotr
Pentaxian

Registered: January 2007
Location: Warsaw
Posts: 218

Review Date: Fri March 30, 2007

Would you recommend the lens? Yes | How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): None indicated | Rating: 9

Pros:	Low distortion, very sharp, constant aperture, low flare
Cons:	big hood

great lens, not small with big hood. But, very sharp from f4, sharp from end of lens till infinity. No bokeh at all

Great for architecture and landscapes.
Big quality is very good. If you look for someting wide difficult to beat.
I use it often with slim b&w c-pol and vignetting is seen at 12mm and 13mm.

for sample shots looks here http://www.pbase.com/piotreks/smc12_24

Available Light
New Member

Registered: February 2007
Location: Atlanta, GA USA
Posts: 4

Review Date: Fri April 20, 2007

Would you recommend the lens? Yes | How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): $780.00 | Rating: 9

Pros:	Sharp, versatile wide angle zoom, very low distortion
Cons:	Bulky (but necessary) hood

Wide is good. This lens is excellent! I'm very happy with this lens since I prefer rectilinear for landscapes.

Sharpness 9
Bokeh 9 (but with huge depth of field)
Color 9
Handling 9 (hood is a bit bulky, but absolutely necessary)
Build 8
Distortion 9 (better than Sigma, etc.)
Aberations 8
Value 7 (will probably revise upward the more I use it - big investment!)

I didn't plan on getting the 12-24 right away, but my local shop had one in stock, I played with it a while and took it home. Very glad I did.

dejong
Site Supporter

Registered: May 2007
Location: Columbia, SC; USA
Posts: 3

Review Date: Fri November 9, 2007

Would you recommend the lens? Yes | How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): $725.00 | Rating: 8

Pros:	Vivid color, amazing linearity, sharp to corners -
Cons:	delicate alignment - quality control issues

Pop Photo (Apr-06) praised this lens as a "Wide Winner" for spectacular performance on bench testing: excellent image sharpness and contrast; imperceptible distortion ["best of breed"]; and barely notable vignetting at the short end. I can add breathtaking color, crisp contrast and ruler-straight linearity to that list. At first glance, a 2X zoom doesn't sound impressive these days - until you realize that this parafocal zoom sweeps an incredible 100 to 60 degree viewing range that's just perfect for cramped interiors, group pictures or landscapes. This zoom is a landmark of superb engineering: combining extra-dispersion glass and aspheric lens elements into flagship "great glass".

But a finely-tuned optical engine performs optimally only if all cylinders fire in unison ... on a test run I noted hideous chromatic aberration of trees and power lines. I packed the lens up for warranty service so as to alert Pentax to quality control slippage. Irreparable misalignment [probably from rough shipping/handling] was acknowledged

;replacement with a brand-new lens was hassle-free as well as timely

.

Should you detect distortion fear not -- Pentax service was knowledgeable, courteous, and helpful. To their great credit, exchange was virtually painless, and the new replacement lens at last performs flawlessly. Although the initial unit turned out to be a glass lemon, Pentax made good (try that with a new car!); I have nothing but praise for the fair and decisive warranty follow-through.

Tip: the bulbous cyclops snout of the forward element is close to the surface, just begging for scratches and smudges.

Tingchaleun
Pentaxian

Registered: December 2006
Location: Canada
Posts: 166

Review Date: Tue March 18, 2008

Would you recommend the lens? Yes | How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): $780.00 | Rating: 8

Pros:	(WIDE ANGLE) = very unique perspective. solid build. smooth zoom/focus. sharp.
Cons:	flare & ghost. slight purple fringing.

One of my favourite lenses. relatively fast @ f4 - in most cases i would just boost iso a little and it would be fast enough in most indoor situations. The lens generates sharp photos from corner to corner, straight from f4. The lens hood is massive! I haven't actually tested out the effectiveness of the lens hood, but flare and ghosting is still a problem, even with the lens hood on. If you decide to use a cir. pl. on this baby, you would have to take the lens hood off. Other than this complaint, the lens itself is spectacular. Sure it's pricy, but compared to the other brands, it is a steal! (don't steal it.)

jsherman999
Pentaxian

Registered: December 2007
Posts: 3719

Review Date: Sat September 27, 2008

Would you recommend the lens? Yes | How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): None indicated | Rating: 9

Pros:	Sharpest at 12mm, wonderful colors
Cons:	none

.

A wonderful zoom - super sharp at 12mm, very sharp throughout the
FL range. Colors and contrast are beautiful.

Alfisti
Pentaxian

Registered: March 2007
Location: Toronto (for now)
Posts: 1478

Review Date: Tue December 2, 2008

Would you recommend the lens? Yes | How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): $585.00 | Rating: 9

Pros:	Sharp wide open, fantastic colour and contrast, build quality
Cons:	Hood creeps into the field of view at 12mm if you are not careful

I own the 77, 21, 50 and 35mm primes but frankly the 12-24 is a more consistent lens than all of them. It's sharp at f/4, sharp in the corners a stop down with outstanding colour and contrast.

I have found CA's to be minimal, my only real complaint is that if the hood is not screwed on fully it intrudes on the image severely at 12mm. The hood is large and this makes the lens hard to carry (it's not a big lens sans hood) but with this FOV you have to use the hood.

Flare is very well controlled and build quality is first rate with snappy AF and quickshift.

This is what all lenses should be like.

K200D
Member

Registered: April 2008
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 85

Review Date: Sun January 18, 2009

Would you recommend the lens? Yes | How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): $675.00 | Rating: 10

Pros:	Great Wide-angle to Near Normal range, Very fast AF, sharp and little distortion for a wide angle lens
Cons:	Really nothing

This lens is worth all the money that it demands. I thought it was really expensive at first and wasn't sure if it was worth the investment, but this has turned out to be my most used lens.

It has a good range. 12-24mm. Wide enough to capture everything you want, and long enough to make do with situations where you want a normal view. I considered this and the Sigma 10-20 and I never regretted getting this Pentax. I think the 12-24mm range is more useful than a 10-20mm range.

AF is super fast too. Works fantastic in lowlight too. If you shoot night scenes, street photography, or indoors like me, this is THE lens to buy. I don't think I will ever sell it!

Kameraten
Member

Registered: December 2007
Location: Finland
Posts: 63

Review Date: Sun February 1, 2009

Would you recommend the lens? Yes | How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): $900.00 | Rating: 8

Pros:	The speed and the range
Cons:	Lens hood size

This lens was one of my main reasons to switch to Pentax from the Minolta-KM-Sony-line a year ago. The other one was the 14mm/f2.8. Neither one has any good counterparts in the Minolta mount, and going with C or N was always a last resort for me anyway.
Apart from all the optical and mechanical quality of this lens –I agree with the other reviewers – the range and speed means it's very useful in photojournalism which is part of my work. Combined with a lens with a range of 28-105 (or something close to it) you have a two-lens set that gives you all the important pictures you need for a story: the where, the who and the how picture.
Keeping it to one body, two lenses and a flash I can fit in the sometimes indispensable laptop in the same bag.
I happen to have the Sigma 10-20 and a Sony A700 too. It seems that combination doesn't give the same IQ, and certainly not the speed (f-stops). Plus, 12-24 really is more useful than 10-20.
With extreme wide-angles many AF-cameras miss a close subject, focusing at the background instead. The K20D or K10D + this lens are no worse than the A700 with the Sigma 10-20 in this respect.
My only wish would be to have the focusing work with a USM instead of the drive shaft.

Toshi
Moderator
Site Supporter

Registered: September 2006
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 408

Review Date: Sun April 5, 2009

Would you recommend the lens? Yes | How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): $590.00 | Rating: 8

Pros:	Low distortion, Color Contrast, Wide
Cons:	A bit of CA under high contrast situtations, but overall not a big deal

The DA 12-24mm is a wonderful super-wide angle zoom lens. Sharp wide open and excellent color contrast. On a clear sunny day, photos looks like a CPL was used. If you are a landscape shooter, this is the perfect lens. Personally, I still need to get use to the focal length - I thought I would enjoy the wide angle a lot more. My mind may change with a bit more usage.

Build quality is good and the lens is decently sized with an extremely large hood. Overall, it's a wonderful zoom lens but it's hard for me to give it a higher score since my previous two lens purchases were the DA*50-135 and DA*300. Sometimes I miss having the extra reach and may have to change to the DA*16-50

In either case, the lens is a great performer and if you're comfortable with the focal length it provides, it's an excellent lens to add to your collection.

NorthPentax
Senior Member

Registered: August 2008
Location: No(r)way
Posts: 179

Review Date: Thu April 16, 2009

Would you recommend the lens? Yes | How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): $600.00 | Rating: 8

Pros:	Good range, same aperture on all focal length's, sharp, low distortion
Cons:	Non, CA in high contrast sceenes.

Great wideangel lens. Usefull range, I like that it goes up to 24mm.

hs57
Junior Member

Registered: May 2009
Location: Germany
Posts: 32

Review Date: Mon June 15, 2009

Would you recommend the lens? Yes | How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): $789.00 | Rating: 9

Pros:	Good range, same aperture on all focal length's, sharp.
Cons:	Lens hood size,CA in high contrast sceenes,distortion at 12-14mm

The DA 12-24mm is a wonderful super-wide angle zoom lens.
Sharp wide open and excellent color and contrast.

Click on the image to view it in a larger size

Regards,
Hartmut from Germany

interested_observer
Senior Member

Registered: June 2009
Location: Tumbleweed, Arizona
Posts: 289

Review Date: Fri July 3, 2009

Would you recommend the lens? Yes | How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): $700.00 | Rating: 9

Pros:	Sharpness, Color & Contrast and its Wide Angle
Cons:	Ever so Slight Softness at the edges

I have wanted this lens for a couple of years to augment my DA 16-45 and DA 10-17 FE, and finally acquired one 8 months ago. It is one of my most used lenses. Compared to the rest - it is by far the largest, especially with the 77mm front lens element. I mainly shoot landscapes and cityscapes. The fixed f4 is a plus, especially for nights and evening images. Flare is very well controlled, especially with shooting into the sun for sunsets. The lens performs best at f5.6 to f8, with a very large depth of field. The colors are true (and I like the Pentax colors very well) and contrast is very good. I have had no problems with CA. The build quality is excellent, even though it is plastic which is noticeable against my all metal DA 10-17 FE. Distortion is really only noticeable at the extreme edge, however with this wide of angle you are left wondering why it is so minimal.

One thing about this lens is its image quality. An evaluation on dpreview http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/..._p15/page3.asp rated this zoom superior to the new DA 15/f4, which is unheard of.

"Unfortunately it (the DA 15) doesn't come out so well against the excellent Tokina AT-X PRO SD 12-24mm F4 (IF) DX, which we'd expect to perform near-identically to Pentax's own smc DA 12-24mm F4 ED AL (IF) - in this case the zoom is sharper, and has lower falloff and equally low distortion, although it does show more chromatic aberration."

This is a wide lens, to the extent on a couple of occasions - too wide, that I had to revert to the 16-45.

With the front lens element so large and exposed, I searched for and found an ultra thin circular polarizing filter (Nikon) for additional protection. The filter had to be ultra thin so as to not add any vignetting to the lens.

I would easily recommend this lens with out any reservations. There are very few lenses this wide that can match it, let alone exceed it.

Doddy
New Member

Registered: July 2009
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Review Date: Tue July 7, 2009

Would you recommend the lens? Yes | How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): None indicated | Rating: 10

Pros:	brilliant optics, fast AF, quality build
Cons:	none yet

After getting used to using third party standard lenses , I have finally plunged and bought a few quality pieces of glass...and this lens is one of them.
To be honest I was stunned....I cant find any CA at all!!!
Also I took a few shots directly into a bright sun and i am staggered at what this lens did in these shots....you would have sworn that i had a starburst filter!!!!
It had the tinniest bit of glare but HELLOOOO...it was DIRECTLY INTO THE SUN!!!
It is a great picture in its own right!!!
I was floored by this....I ran to my pc to look at it on the 24 inch screen and my Mrs said "wow what a beautiful shot!!"....This was the first hour I had the lens.
AF is quick too...build quality is gorgeous...i wanted to sleep with the bloody thing that night hehehe

I cant recommend this lens high enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

enoxatnep
Senior Member

Registered: November 2008
Location: The-edge-of-nowhere- ville, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 124

Review Date: Sat August 15, 2009

Would you recommend the lens? Yes | How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): $500.00 | Rating: 9

Pros:	Unique perspectives at wide end
Cons:	No lens hood cutaway, infinity autofocus not always accurate

I had been considering this lens over the Sigma 10-20 mm because of the constant f/4 aperture and reports that it had basically no linear distortion throughout the zoom range, unlike the Sigma. I also read an excellent and convincing thread on this forum (which I now can't find with a search) comparing these two lenses that mentioned how nothing quite compares to Pentax glass on a Pentax camera, and this was the final deciding factor.

I love how, when I take a photo containing the straight lines of a building, for example, the lines appear straight at any focal length. I imagine that a pixel-peeper might notice slight distortion when viewing a crop of such an image, but I haven't noticed any to date and the findings of pixel-peepers (aka "measurebators") are rarely noticeable in real-world situations anyhow. The only distortion is due to the wide angle perspective, and this is what draws people to the unique images made by the excellent image quality of this lens.

When using a polarizing filter, I find that you need to use 14mm and above to avoid vignetting; for reference, I use the regular-thickness Singh Ray warming polarizer. However, to turn the filter ring I need to remove the lens hood each time since there is no cutaway, which is odd since lenses like the DA* 50-135 have one. This is obviously a great inconvenience. And attaching a rubber lens hood to the end of the filter to make turning easier, instead of using the supplied lens hood, bumps the focal length to 18mm before vignetting disappears. So I have resorted to removing the hood, adjusting the filter, then putting the hood back on each time; again, very inconvenient, but this is the best solution I've come up with.

The greatest disappointment is how, when autofocusing on a subject at infinity, I have to manually back off the focus ring just a touch in order to achieve perfect focus on many occasions. I have experimented by autofocusing on a subject, deliberately twisting the ring to get it out of focus, then autofocusing again on the exact same subject (under various lighting conditions, I might add). I have found that the number of times the AF has been bang-on versus out of focus is roughly split, whereas AF using my DA 35mm Limited, for example, is almost always perfect. And it is difficult to determine manual focus accuracy with this lens (unless you have something like a KatzEye) since the subject distance appears far away; you really need to have a sharp eye to notice when the subject pops into focus.

That said, with practice I have reached the point where most of my shots are in perfect focus using the 'manual back-off' technique, but I wish I could trust the AF more with this lens in order to achieve this. Since AF with other DA lenses I have tried on my K20D tends to be way more consistent, I have to blame the lens for this instead of my K20D.

But this complaint aside, I love everything else about this lens and highly recommend it based upon the results when they actually are in focus.

smcPixellie
Site Supporter

Registered: May 2009
Location: North Wales UK
Posts: 19

Review Date: Thu August 20, 2009

Would you recommend the lens? Yes | How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): $886.00 | Rating: 10

Pros:	Superb Quality of Image, Flare free.
Cons:	I cannot fault it

I have tried smc pentax-m 20mm f4 prime which gives better image quality than my 18-250 zoom at 20mm, but after reading these reviews I knew I must have the 12-24. what has been said about this lens is very true,I don't know what they have done to stop flare but they have done it. I have had this lens now for 3 days and hardly taken it off my K20D. My lens says asembled in Vietnam but I must say it feels just as good as the 18-250 and I paid £450.00 less for it than what my usual store in the UK are asking.

Muggins
Junior Member

Registered: July 2009
Location: London
Posts: 41

Review Date: Mon November 9, 2009

Would you recommend the lens? Yes | How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): $525.00 | Rating: 10

Pros:	focal length, sharpness, color
Cons:	damn lens hood

Absolutely amazed with this lens.

I'm a total amateur mostly shooting my travels to cities around Europe of cathedrals, street shots, plazas, etc. So lots of indoor & outdoor architecture shots that I think do a good job of conveying the experience of actually being there. And think this is why my first ever camera was a K200D and some nice lenses, I wanted to remember and share what it actually felt like visiting all these cool places. This lens's ability to capture the entire scene with quality sharpness & color make it the perfect tool.

Yeah the lens cap is huge and annoying when not on the camera... but it's a necessary evil I guess. No points deducted for that.

Focal Length - Great for fitting whole buildings in a shot if you're crammed into a small street without much room to back up. Love the indoor shots too - especially for floor to ceiling coverage inside a cathedral, capturing a semi normal perspective in the foreground/altar but also seeing the underside of the half-dome ceilings most have.

Sharpness - Outstanding. I shoot lots of big buildings, so even at this focal length I can be quite far away from subject. Everything still dead sharp and you can easily crop plenty of edge. I seriously think that the 12-24 is sharper than my Sigma 30 f1.4 for subjects at medium distance (but I'm still learning how to shoot with the Sigma - close up, low light, indoor pub shots are where the Sigma is deadly for me).

Color - As lots of what I do is outdoors, I'm often in VERY bright conditions (this weekend in Valencia was no exception). Colors are so vivid and I'm always impressed at how deep the mid day blue skies render.

Also does well shooting groups of 3-4, as you can hold the camera in Portrait orientation, get all 4 people head to toe in frame while standing in the same room. Ladies love it cause they can see their fancy shoes in the pictures...haha.

Mugs

knumbnutz
Pentaxian

Registered: July 2007
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 319

Review Date: Wed November 18, 2009

Would you recommend the lens? Yes | How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): $950.00 | Rating: 10

Pros:	Lack of distortion, focus speed, colors, flare
Cons:	$$$, hood size, tiny amount of PF

Hi All,

I am doing a little LENS review of the DA12-24 as well

What i will do is compare it to the two other lenses I have near this focal length, the DA*16-50 and the DA18-55.

Firstly, the lens slots in nicely between the DA*16-50 and the DA18-55 in quality of finish. It is weighty - close the the DA*, has a solid feel to it and it beautifully finished, with blend of metal and plastic parts and rubber grips.

The front lens element does not rotate and therefore is easy to use with a Circular Polarizing filter.

The hood is quite large and almost overbearing compared to the lens itself, but totally worthwhile with such a wide angle lens, helping to stop unwanted flare.

USING THE LENS
The most dramatic thing about this lens is the lack of visual image distortion, even at 12mm it is almost undetectable, while going from 13-24mm IS perfect without any distortion whatsoever.
At 12mm F4 the image is sharp and marginally sharper at F8 tapering off at F13-F22.
I dont find 24mm as sharp until F8 but elsewhere in the range up to 22mm is as good as 12mm.

Comparing images from the DA*16-50 and DA12-24 finds very little difference at 16mm and 12mm. They both have about the same Resolution and sharpness and little purple fringing where there are strong colour contrasts (white and blacks).
The DA* shows some barrel distortion where as the DA12-24 shows virtually none.
Colours on both lenses are superb, flare is really well controlled and it is impossible to say which image is from what lens.
The DA seems to lock focus extremely quick and accurately perhaps fractionally faster than the DA* and about the same as the DA18-55.

Conclusion :th3: :th3: :th3: :th3: 4.5/5
Lets face it, you buy this lens for the wider side of its design, from 12mm+ and mostly for landscapes, interior/exterior real estate and street work.
F4 may not sound like much but it locks focus fast and depth of field around this focal length is DEEP no matter how close you are.

Image quality is 2nd to none and matches the DA*. In fact it is the perfect compliment for the DA*, extending the range to 12mm and loosing nothing at all in quality and resolution.

The hood will fit on the DA* as well.

Things to look out for when using this lens-
Looking up or down when there are geometrical shapes in the image will create massive amounts of perspective distortion. This is not a lens issue just a something thats happens at these focal lengths that you should be aware of especially when taking real estate photos for example.

CONS-
Purple Fringing. It has some, not as bad as the DA* and not enough to really worry about, but look and you will find if youre into pixel peeping. K7 fixes this, so does PS.

No Bag

come on, give me a bag when i spend this much

COST = $1000 to $1150 Shop around !!!

DA12-24 @12mm (notice just how much more you get for 12mm compared to 16mm and complete lack of barrel distortion! not much PF to see either)

DA*16-50 @ 16mm (note PF in the lights and slight barrel distortion)

DA18-55ii @ 18mm (slight barrel distortion)

Looking up (perspective distortion, trees bowing in towards the middle)

Looking straight out, perfect image quality, some PF, HERE is where you need 12mm

Pentaxor
Pentaxian

Registered: May 2009
Location: Vancouver, B.C.
Posts: 1856

Review Date: Sun November 29, 2009

Would you recommend the lens? Yes | How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): None indicated | Rating: 10

Pros:	12mm, very sharp, contrasty, colors
Cons:	horrible CA and PF, barrel distortion at 12mm

this lens is incredibly sharp at f4. the images, especially in dark areas are clean and free of dreaded noise signals,because of better exposure reading (though some might argue this due to camera metering and exposure setting. I had compared this against the 18-55 WR kitlens which was no match for it at set focal lengths 18-24mm. the great thing about this is it's already excellent IQ at 12mm. the Sigma's 10-20 and Tamrons 10-24 at 10mm are not that good and would require some post-processing help. 12mm is ok for both those lenses while the Pentax 12-24 is consistent from 12-20 at f4 and excellent at f8 opening in the 24mm range. colors is better than the Sigma and Tamron which are cooler and muddy. sharpness for both are sharp though at the middle range but not as contrasty.

the only downside of the 12-24 is it's evident CA against brightly lit area against dark portions. probably due to it's high contrast. it's quite a lot of work to go around and fix the CA and PF during post-processing. it also has barrel distortion at 12mm but can easily corrected on they K-7 or during post-processing.

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