Got the lens today in the afternoon my first extrem ultra wide. Until now the DA15 was my widest.
Cause I had some time I immediately thought let me test some limits I'm especially interested in: DA*11-18 @ FF.
My expectations were that the lens would at least deliver good results at 18mm K-1 FF mode. It delivers more!
Following focal lengths are reported as exif info: 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 16 - 18. A little bit crazy that FL 15 is missing!
Feel of the K-1 plus lens - simply great!
Shooting conditions: warm, strong sun, blue sky but damped. Shots mostly at f/11.
Raw captures, as usual worked out slightly using Capture One Pro including a little bit work concerning vignetting.
The most extrem focal length ... without hood - of course, the hood would restrict the view ...
K-1 FF mode DA*11-18 @ 11 w/o hood f/11
Not a brick wall, but a ...
K-1 FF mode DA*11-18 @ 16 f/11
Note here: 16 @ FF is wider than 11 @ APS-C!
K-1 FF mode DA*11-18 @ 16 f/11
If you choose the FL on camera between 14 and 16 the hood starts to disturb and in exif 16 is reported. I think I didnt test 15 without hood but suspect that the image will be usable without hood. Have to do some more tests.
K-1 FF Square mode DA*11-18 @ 11 w/o hood f/11
Interesting - looks similar using DA15 @ FF, but a little bit better in the corners here - of course with the wider view! Because of dark corners the DA15 image you have to crop slightly. Above 12mm every FL of the DA*11-18 should work in FF Square mode, I guess.
K-1 FF mode DA*11-18 @ 18 f/11
K-1 FF Square mode DA*11-18 @ 18 f/8
And only one image in APS-C mode.
K-1 APS-C mode DA*11-18 @ 18 f/2.8
My conclusions for the lens at FF:
1. no problem using it at FL 18 down to 16 mm
2. at 15 mm the lens hood has to be detached (have to investigate deeper)
3. down to 11 mm we can use in FF Square mode depending on the lighting conditions. Corners doesnt look that bad!
So far Im impressed in using the lens and Im very happy with the results! At the moment I think I dont need any ultra wide primes.