[cpho]

It's been a while since my 15mm spent some time on the camera.
Took it out tonight when I saw a really cool 22 degree halo around the moon.



For anyone who wants to know, this ring surrounding the Moon is caused by the refraction of Moonlight (which is really reflected sunlight) through ice crystals suspended in the upper atmosphere between 5-10 km in altitude. Moonlight passes through one facet of the ice crystal, and is then refracted back out at exactly the angle of 22-degrees.
Why Do We Sometimes See a Ring Around the Moon? - Universe Today

[mattb123]

It's been a while since my 15mm spent some time on the camera.
Took it out tonight when I saw a really cool 22 degree halo around the moon.



For anyone who wants to know, this ring surrounding the Moon is caused by the refraction of Moonlight (which is really reflected sunlight) through ice crystals suspended in the upper atmosphere between 5-10 km in altitude. Moonlight passes through one facet of the ice crystal, and is then refracted back out at exactly the angle of 22-degrees.
Why Do We Sometimes See a Ring Around the Moon? - Universe Today

Very nice! I've found the DA15 to be just wide enough for a good lunar halo shot too.

[cpho]

Very nice! I've found the DA15 to be just wide enough for a good lunar halo shot too.

Cheers Matt!
I think the 15mm is perfect for the halo. The 18-135 didn't quite get the entire glow of the halo in.
Plus the 15mm comes with the bonus starburst effect too!

[NZ_Ross]

Took it out tonight when I saw a really cool 22 degree halo around the moon.

Nice....

[Richard & Sheila]

DA 15mm handheld with camera set to auto-bracket, then blended in Lightroom.

[Rondec]

Country Road.

[gazonk]

The DA15 takes control of my flower closeups... not the smooth bokeh of the DA35Ltd, but an interesting change in perspective:

[Jean Poitiers]

More flower close-ups ... almost doughnut bokeh ... (damn breeze)

[JimS_256]

The 15mm Limited as been on my wishlist for a long time, primarily because of all the great images in this thread. I hadn't intended to get one right now because there are other things I felt I needed more (good flash, good tripod...) but one of the SMC versions (my preference) appeared in the marketplace at a fair price and it was too much for me.

Here is a .jpg, straight from the camera with no other processing, of the dock in front of the family lake cabin (one of my favorite landscape subjects).



One question...Is it worth getting a polarizer for this lens? I know there are issues using a CPL at wide angles. B&H says this doesn't become a factor until 16mm on APS-C (24mm on FF).

[Jens Lyn IV]

Is it worth getting a polarizer for this lens?

In my opinion, yes, unless these limitations give you pause:

• You may get a strong gradient effect in the sky under certain circumstances.
• A non-slim filter will intrude on the image circle (but not the central APS-C area normally occupied by the sensor; using Composition Adjust to its maximum potential will cause near-black corners).

I have not tried to penetrate reflective surfaces with my DA 15, so I cannot speak for this use case, but I assume it would work very well.

These four samples were all shot with a B&W CPL filter on the SMC DA 15 Ltd:


The gradient effect is quite subtle here.


Very little gradient effect, but extreme vignetting because I shifted the sensor all the way up to correct for converging lines. The upper left corner is not cropped and represents a worst-case scenario with my filter.


Strong gradient effect; camera pointing away from sun.


Very strong gradient effect; sun just below horizon on the left.

Edit: another reason to get one is that the 49 mm filter thread is shared with the first three M-series lenses in your signature, every other DA Limited, the DA 50-200, many FA primes, and every macro lens currently made by Pentax.

[Jean Poitiers]

Late this afternoon and for the Daily Challenges thread ...

[Hattifnatt]

Late this afternoon and for the Daily Challenges thread ...

Excellent shot Jean, perfect use of DA15.

[Architecture]

DA 15mm handheld with camera set to auto-bracket, then blended in Lightroom.

Fantastico.

I have tickets for Sagrada Familia for tomorrow morning, plan to lens it with my DA 15mm LTD.

I have taken something like 1,000 photos in the last week, and probably 70% were shot with the DA 15.

[Hattifnatt]

More shots with the DA15.

[Architecture]

Spain has been an absolute dream.