[beagley]

My greatest unmet photographic need is an ultra wide lens that fits in a pocket. I love my 15mm but would like something wider. The Pentax 14 and the 12-24 zoom are too big and heavy for field use. Design of the perfect lens would prioritize wideness and sharpness and compactness, with less concern for speed (max aperture) and price. Pentax used to make a FF 20 that was tiny. The other makers have also gone to wide zooms. But really, when you want wide, you want wide, so the zoom adds little.

[Ptr_Mrtn]

12mm LTD!!

---------- Post added 12-10-14 at 08:08 AM ----------

Or even a 10 or 11mm!

[TaoMaas]

Something smaller and wider than the 15mm? Hmm...good luck with that. Have you thought about going pinhole?

[lytrytyr]

My greatest unmet photographic need is an ultra wide lens that fits in a pocket. I love my 15mm but would like something wider.

How about the 08 zoom on a Q7?

Unless you need to print really large,
you'll be very happy with the IQ.

If you time it right,
you can get the 08 for under $450,
and a Q7 for $200.

[TER-OR]

Have you played with the 10-17 fisheye? At 10 it's total fisheye, but at 17 it's more of an ultrawide, and in-between it might be what you want. Plus, it's pretty small.

[beagley]

These are all possible solutions. I like the (so far non-existent) 12 mm Ltd best.
I have experimented with pinhole (soft romantic look). I love the fisheye zoom, but I don't use it often enough to justify carrying it regularly. A smaller system would meet my request, but fewer pixels would somewhat defeat the purpose.

My current workaround is to take several overlapping views and stitch them together in Photoshop ( doesn't work well with people or anything moving.)

[Edgar_in_Indy]

The only such lens that immediately comes to mind for me is the Olympus 9-18mm for micro 4/3:

Olympus M.Zuiko 9-18mm f4.0-5.6 Ultra Wide Zoom Lens | Olympus

I've often been tempted by the small size of the m43 system.

[alexcox]

The only such lens that immediately comes to mind for me is the Olympus 9-18mm for micro 4/3:

Olympus M.Zuiko 9-18mm f4.0-5.6 Ultra Wide Zoom Lens | Olympus

I've often been tempted by the small size of the m43 system.

That Olympus 9-18mm zoom is a smashing lens. It's also the exact equivalent - in 35mm terms - of the Pentax 12-24mm, also excellent. I vote for the 12mm Ltd prime -- and let it be water resistant!

[northcoastgreg]

I was under the impression that for 35mm film (or Full Frame sensor), the max that it was possible to go with a rectilinear lens was 17mm before the image circle got too small to cover the frame.

Both Canon and Nikon have 14mm FF rectilinear prime lenses, as does Samyang. Back in the day, Pentax produced a 15mm FF rectilinear prime. Sigma has a 12-24 FF zoom, and Canon will soon be introducing a 11-24mm FF rectilinear zoom.

On the APS-C front, Sigma has an 8-16mm rectilinear zoom, and Samyang a 10mm prime.

[ChristianRock]

I think the laws of optics and physics would prevent a pocketable 12mm or wider lens for APS-C that was also sharp corner to corner and had low distortion...

[ogl]

Like Voigtlander 12/5.6

[Marktax]

08 on a Q7 is as close as you will get to widest small carry in Pentax gear. Careful shooting and PP can give some useable results.

[MJSfoto1956]

I'd not exactly call that lens "rectilinear" either:

That is definitely a rectilinear lens. If it weren't all the lines would be curves.

Michael

[ChristianRock]

Still, the Voigtlander is a rangefinder lens. For a DSLR lens it would have to be at least f8 to keep that same size. Probably even smaller. And then nobody would buy it because it's too slow.

We are at the point where people know how to make lenses within the limitations of optics and physics. If such lens was possible for an SLR, it's likely that it would already exist.

[lytrytyr]

Still, the Voigtlander is a rangefinder lens.

In both 15mm and 12mm versions,
it was also made for mirror-lockup use on Nikon F DSLRs:

https://www.cameraquest.com/VCSL1215.htm

I'd toyed with the idea of snagging one to try on a K-01,
until the 08 on the Q7 scratched that itch completely.