Fisheye zooms are a Pentax specialty. No other manufacturer has anything like it.
The smc Pentax-F 17-28mm was designed for film cameras where it at 17 mm covers 180 degrees diagonally. On the Pentax digital SLRs the coverage is much less, actually just a little bit more than a rectilinear 15mm lens, which still is respectable. Being a fish eye zoom it naturally exhibits heavy barrel distortion in particular at the wide end. It has a built-in lens hood and it does not take any filters.
It is fun to use although it isn't the sharpest lens around and being this compact you tend to carry it with you at all times. At least I did that until I acquired the DA fisheye zoom.
The lens barrel is made of polycarbonate but the lens is nevertheless built very well.
Max. aperture: 3.5 at 17mm, 4.5 at 28mm
Min. aperture: 22 at 17mm, 28 at 28mm
No. of aperture blades: 6
Closest focusing distance: 30 cm
Max. magnification: 0.07
Filter size: No filter ring
Weight: 255 g
Last edited by Ole; 09-15-2006 at 05:52 PM.