[house]

What like? You seem to use it a lot and post a lot of photos here with it. I can't see any serious disadvantages in the photos you have been posting and I often press the LIKE button.

---------- Post added 12-06-19 at 09:31 AM ----------



Rayallen has learnt the best way to use it and where to focus it. You can find discussions exactly like this one online going way back to when the DA15 came out.

For anything other than close ups (where I want OOF and bokeh besides thd main subject) I use manual focus and magnified focus peaking in Liveview checking focus in all areas like any landscape photographer would do.

Talking of close ups, most people don't know or use the DA15 for this but it is brilliant for this! It has short minimum focus distance and the HD version has nice bokeh too.

Yep its great for closeups and environmental people shots (not groups) .

Your description of what you need to do to use it well surely qualifies as disadvantages. By your description its basically crippled.

[juristkostya]

What like? You seem to use it a lot and post a lot of photos here with it. I can't see any serious disadvantages in the photos you have been posting and I often press the LIKE button.

this means that I use it in such a way that avoids weaknesses :-)
But there are weaknesses, and they are significant.

[Rondec]

To me, the DA 15 is an f8 lens. Sometimes that means you have to shoot it on a tripod, but it also is the most flare resistant lens I have ever used and has great colors and contrast. As with many wide angles, some copies are sharper than others and there probably quite a few that have some decentering which will lead to poorer results at wider apertures.

Overall, I am still very pleased with it and it is one of the reasons that I keep shooting with my K3 and K-01 cameras, even though they are getting kind of old.

[nocturnal]

this means that I use it in such a way that avoids weaknesses :-)
But there are weaknesses, and they are significant.

I already had the Samyang 14mm f2.8 and whilst sharper over the whole frame, faster and sharp at f2.8 it had significantly more 'significant' weaknesses than the DA15. Lens flare, distortion, colours, rendering, sun burst shape, size, weight, close up ability and every other lens quality were significantly worse.

DA15 has pixie dust and buckets of it, I bought it for a photography holiday down the west coast of Ireland which is photography paradise and managed to nail some of my best ever work and haven't left the house without it since.

I only use the Samyang for astrophotography which it is great for and the weaknesses don't really matter.

Shows the reason why you may need 2 prime UWA lenses, one for day and one for night with different specialisms.

You could have a DFA 15-30 that does both but then a massive weakness shows up, that being the huge beast it is.

A Canon shooter thought I was using a compact camera up the mountains when it was K-30 & DA15, he couldn't believe it was a DSLR and UWA.

[juristkostya]

I already had the Samyang 14mm f2.8

I reason in comparison with GR III + wide-converter.
Converter at f/4 has corners better than 15 ltd at f/8, plus it is fully supported by camera`s automatic. And it’s more than twice cheaper at the same time.

[kcjonez]

A friend of mine who is a Canon shooter calls the DA15 my "toy" lens.
He publishes the work it produces though.

I already had the Samyang 14mm f2.8 and whilst sharper over the whole frame, faster and sharp at f2.8 it had significantly more 'significant' weaknesses than the DA15. Lens flare, distortion, colours, rendering, sun burst shape, size, weight, close up ability and every other lens quality were significantly worse.

DA15 has pixie dust and buckets of it, I bought it for a photography holiday down the west coast of Ireland which is photography paradise and managed to nail some of my best ever work and haven't left the house without it since.

I only use the Samyang for astrophotography which it is great for and the weaknesses don't really matter.

Shows the reason why you may need 2 prime UWA lenses, one for day and one for night with different specialisms.

You could have a DFA 15-30 that does both but then a massive weakness shows up, that being the huge beast it is.

A Canon shooter thought I was using a compact camera up the mountains when it was K-30 & DA15, he couldn't believe it was a DSLR and UWA.

[UncleVanya]

The DA15 on FF has hard vignetting all around the frame so a 1:1 just removing both sides with full FF does not work. Therefore to get 1:1 you need to remove the top and bottom bits too, it doesn't expand much more than native APSC at the sides, more play in the height.

Thd DA15 only has weak corners open wide or if you haven't learned how to focus it properly. Other mistakes are blaming the lens for not having enough depth of field which is easy done with UWA. It does have field curvature, again you need to know this and forget about brick wall photographs.

It is my mistake if I get weak corners using DA15, not the lens so don't blame your equipment. :-)

This thread may be better for details and discussion:

FF mode - DA15 - crop factors & crop sizes - PentaxForums.com

Note that while it is true that 4912x4912 is not acceptable 4500x4500 is and the 5:4 crop mode (not a mode natively coming from the k-1) will preserve the widest slice of the DA15 which is still going to be roughly the same as a 22-23mm in angle of view. (as is the straight crop mode)

[RGlasel]

Don't get me wrong, I really like the DA 15 and use it far more than the other limited I have, the DA 70. But it has serious field curvature and it stretches lines on the corners to fit a spherical 88 degree field of view into a rectilinear image, regardless of the aperture. Depth of field for a 15mm lens on APS-C is not really an issue, even at f4, and the minimum focus distance of 7 inches makes possible some very interesting photos, but I definitely get sharper results if I stop down the aperture. And to stay within the edges of this thread, I'll post a photo of the community pond near my place.

[kcjonez]

A dusting of snow on top of the frozen marsh captures the shadows of the dried grasses.

K-3 & DA15ltd at f8

[edri]

K7+DA15

[Mikesul]

Neat! It looks like milk.

[dbs]

The people on this thread get the most out of the lens regardless of any' defects' it is meant to have.
Keep on shooting and posting they are all liked by many.


Dave

[rayallen]

The people on this thread get the most out of the lens regardless of any' defects' it is meant to have.
Keep on shooting and posting they are all liked by many.


Dave

Defects? What defects? I must have gotten lucky when I bought my secondhand copy. I have found that the images produced by it have a "special" feel to them. I have never regretted buying this lens.

[dbs]

Defects? What defects? I must have gotten lucky when I bought my secondhand copy. I have found that the images produced by it have a "special" feel to them. I have never regretted buying this lens.

No idea Ray but it is said its not good for this and that,.All the shots on this thread seem to dispel that.
A lens cant see without a photographer.


Dave

[kcjonez]

This image is Jordan Stream in Acadia National Park. I didn't bring a tripod so I leaned against a tree to get this shot.

Critically sharp? No. Impressionist? Perhaps. C.C. welcome as always.

K-3 / DA15ltd / f16 / 1 second hand held.