[Salacakli]

I have been reading and reading and finally norrow it down to 4 lenses
1-Pentax DA 12-24mm f/4 ED AL (IF) Lens
2-Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 EX DC HSM ELD SLD
3-Pentax SMC 15mm f/4.0 DA ED AL Limited
4-Samyang 14mm F2.8 Ultra Wide (manual which I have no idea how and intimidates me)
My main thing is quality of the picture, sharpness, brightness and overall quality.
Casual kind of street, landscape, portrait mix stuff, indoor and out shooting.
Please help me choose here.

[mike.hiran]

The lenses you mention will be a bit short for street and a lot short for portraits. the 15mm is a very small lens, so if you like to pack light get that. the 12-24 is a great lens (I own it) and it lets me use graduated neutral density filters which I use a lot for landscape shots. It's very sharp, has great colors and pretty much goes with me all the time except for low light indoor events. I've heard the samyang is a great lens, but the manual focus could be a problem if you're doing night photography. As for the Sigma, I've heard some say the non-fixed aperture model is sharper, but I'll let others comment. One that you should consider is the Sigma 8-16; I've seen some great shots with it, but know it is not filter friendly.

So in short, buy all of them

[Salacakli]

Dont you think we all heading that direction "" buy all of them""
Thanks for the reply, mostly I will use around the town, street and buildings some people so portrait not much so.
I have been looking for the pictures these lenses takes but just looking pictures doesn't really give you the whole story.

[jimr-pdx]

Sounds like fisheye lenses do not appeal to you, hence no DA 10-17 or the Sigma 15. I thought the DA15 would be ideal, but the Sigma 15 f/2.8 came to me at the right time and price point & I'm really happy with it. With the horizon centered and no straight lines near the edge, its fishiness is minimal - and I've heard similar things about the 10-17 especially at its longer end. It's not always the ideal wide lens, but it sure can be fun.

[Salacakli]

Yeh fish eye never gives me anything, I don't like the way pictures look at all, maybe some fun stuff here and there but that is it.

[crewl1]

Casual kind of street, landscape, portrait mix stuff, indoor and out shooting.

Seems to me these would be a little too wide for the street/portrait part of your use?

[Salacakli]

I have a 35mm lens already, I was looking for wide lens

[SpecialK]

The 12-24 has an excellent range. The hood is large but the lens itself is average size.

[Unsinkable II]

I have the Sigma 8-16, and it spends a surprising amount of time at 8mm. It also plays nice with my Tamron 17-50/2.8 or my new favorite do-all, the DA 18-135.

Having said that, a 12-24 would be very flexible. I do find myself wanting to go longer than 16mm quite regularly, which involves more lens swapping than I'd like. But then I'd lose the wide, and the difference between 12mm and 8mm is H-U-G-E!

I also like getting shots of my friends near the edge of the frame at 8mm and then giving them to my wife to post on Facebook. Priceless.

[Salacakli]

Really looking very good, sharp, colorfull amazing quality

[nulla]

Wise choice...great lens

[snofox]

I have a 35mm lens already, I was looking for wide lens

The 15 is a superb lens, but for my taste, a bit wide for the street. I do wish I had a 15, but I am always reaching for the DA 21mm when I walk around town. For me, it seems the perfect lens for downtown shots. It's so nice that I STILL do not have the 15mm, which I drool over whenever I see photos from it.

[Pheo]

I went for the 8-16mm, better quality than the 10-20mm (although thats also very good).

[ManuH]

I used the first 3 (12-24, 10-20, 15). I sold all except the DA15mm and bought the Sigma 8-16mm. I regret a bit selling the 12-24mm, it was a great range and a fantastic zoom. Center is not as sharp as the DA15mm but the borders are better.

But overall if money is an issue, I think the Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 is probably the best buy. Covers the ultrawide range that standard zooms cannot. Has very good sharpness and distortion control. CA is not an issue like the 12-24 (although now with CA removal tools or in camera corrections it's not a big deal anymore). The lens can be found around 400$, cheaper than most any other option.

The DA15mm is great but it's more a luxury items as it's not perfect and relatively expensive and slow (f/4).

[Salacakli]

Here are some night shots with my new DA 15mm Limited