Pentax-DA 15mm F4 Limited Review

Autofocus

A review of a modern lens is never complete without a discussion of the autofocus system, so on this page we will do just that.

Pentax 15mm Autofocus

Unfortunately (or fortunately), most shooters will rarely need to take advantage of this lens's autofocus system, as the focus can be left at infinity for most faraway subjects due the large depth of field.  For example, at F8 and infinity focus, everything farther than 1 meter (3 feet) away will be sharp.  There's no question that AF is nice to have for close-ups, however, especially considering the fact that it is possible to get some very interesting photos with this lens (see the 15mm lens club thread for some examples, as well as the samples on the penultimate page of this review).

In other words, we are trying to say that a down-to-the-millisecond test of autofocus speed would be of little use in this particular case.  What we will say is that this lens features Pentax's classic screwdrive autofocus, which works on all Pentax cameras with autofocus support.  This also means that the focusing system is very reliable, and chances are that your camera will break down before the AF mechanism in the lens fails.  While the screwdrive system is fairly noisy compared to modern in-lens motors, the 15mm's short throw will keep that noise very brief.

The only issue we found with this lens is that when shooting distant objects and using center AF, the camera sometimes struggles to focus properly.  This seems to be a common trend with wide-angles on Pentax, and here quick-shift can be used to quickly adjust the focus if needed.  It is possible that the camera is just as much to blame for this as the lens itself.  If you experience this problem frequently, you may need to adjust the camera to correct front or back focus.


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