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02-15-2017, 04:31 PM   #1
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Best lens options for landscape and astro for new pentax owner?

Hello everyone that reads this and thank you in advance for replying. I just recently had my camera and gear stolen ( a7r and a few lenses) so i am now in the market for a new camera body and since I am not restricted by having an investment in a bunch of lenses I have been taking a good hard look at going the pentax k-1 route. almost all of my shooting is landscape style photography while at home in san diego and landscape and astro when I backpack and go on road trips. Being in California I venture into the Sierra Nevada mtns a lot. My big question if I go the Pentax route what are some of your guys opinion on lenses. From what I have read/heard the pentax/tamron 15-30 2.8 is phenomenal and right on par with the famous nikon 14-24, but for a little more money than just buying the 15-30 I could pick up the samyang/rokinon 14mm and 24mm ( known to be amazing astro lenses and good uw/w landscape lens and tested quite sharp on dxo on the nikon d810 sensor ) and the sigma 35mm art. I know the samyangs have some QC issues and wont last as long build quality wise and I know the sigma is well built and well worth its price tag. Anybody have both the 15-30 and the 14mm or 24mm that has been able to compare how they perform astro wise? And I know for sake of weight/bulk while backpacking the 15-30 is the way to go, but I would rather get the most bang for my buck utilizing as much of the 36mp sensor and carry the xtra lenses. I know the new pentax 70-200 2.8 gets good reviews and would be a solid lens for most of my uses but the astro work, and would be a future investment. Any info/experience/opinion on this is much appreciated, thank you.

02-15-2017, 05:22 PM - 1 Like   #2
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I have several wide angle lenses but not the samyang/rokinon. I had the Samyang 14 but sold it. I do have the Pentax 15-30 and can confirm that it is a fantastic landscape lens. On the K-1, you can shoot 15-30 full frame and get 45 equivalent in crop mode making it even more versatile. HOWEVER...it is very large and for your intended purpose it may too heavy. It is also hard to attach filters to this lens although it can be done with several fairly expensive options. To compare the weight, I can mention that I have both the Pentax 14 DA (under-rated landscape lens) and the 12-24 DA. On the K-3 or other cropped sensor these are both lightweight and versatile. If you carry a rubust tripod on your expeditions, you will get phenomenal photos with any of these lenses. In my experience, to get the most out of the K-1 and 15-30 combination, a tripod is important. I have the older Pentax 80-200 FA* 2.8 lens for telephoto and it is very good but also very heavy. For astrophotography, I have used the K-3 with the DA 14 and the K-1 with a 35 FA 2.0 and these have been very good. If the lens is too wide, the edges can show coma because polar alignment is not used and you get field rotation that the camera cannot compensate for using sensor movement. Hope this is a help.
02-15-2017, 06:08 PM   #3
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Of the lenses you mentioned, I only have experience with the 15-30 and I'm pleased so far. The main thought I have is are you more of a zoom shooter or a prime shooter? Or perhaps it doesn't really matter to you? I shoot a lot of landscape and I prefer zooms as you can't always zoom with your feet. I also like to minimize lens changes as landscape shooting can be a risk with dust and moisture. I also dislike spending much time on post-processing. If I shot with primes I expect I'd spend a lot more time cropping as I might not get the image I want at a set focal length. And I'm losing some of the benefit of the great FF sensor with cropping. I must say I really enjoy the K-1 and I highly recommend it. With the 15-30 and the 24-70 I think I have a pretty good kit for landscape.
02-15-2017, 10:35 PM   #4
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Sorry about your theft loss, and welcome to PF! It sounds like you already did a lot of research and have good info. To summarize my thoughts, the Pentax 15-30, or Samyang 14 plus 24, are good options.

I did a very limited comparison of the 15-30 and Samyang 14 and they both do well for the night sky. Stars focus sharply across the frame. Minor vignetting can be easily corrected with processing software. Weather and my schedule prevented more extensive testing. I can't yet say which one seems better.

Note that 15mm is so wide the astrotracer can show movement in the corners. That's because different portions of the sky move at different rates, not a product flaw. At 30mm that issue is mostly gone.

You wrote: "And I know for sake of weight/bulk while backpacking the 15-30 is the way to go". I guess you're comparing the zoom against carrying multiple prime lenses. The 15-30 is a heavy lens. The Samyang 14 and 24 are smaller and lighter, giving you the option to bring only one when you need to travel lightly. It depends on your style of backpacking.

02-15-2017, 11:27 PM - 2 Likes   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by ryansd Quote
Any info/experience/opinion on this is much appreciated, thank you.
i own the Samyang 14mm f2.8 and it is very sharp. This is the second copy. I had to send one back due to de centering issue. I also own the Pentax FA 31 which is a legend. The problem I have is that the in between is a big area I do not have anything for. If I bought my lenses today, I would opt for the 15-30. For the long end I own the Tamron 70-200 f2.8 which is super sharp after f3.5. It is a bargain considering the performance. BTW, I do a fair amount of landscape work with these and a few other lenses and the K1. I just ordered the 28-105. It is a variable aperture lens but I hear it is very sharp when stopped down. I am looking for the 28-105 to be the one lens I use most. We will see how it goes.
02-16-2017, 04:39 AM   #6
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I have a K1 with the D FA 28-105 lens. It is a very good lens. I already own the DA 12-24 lens and that works fine on my K1 from 18-24mm so I uses that too for wide angles. I own the Tamron 70-200 f2.8 and it is a very good lens and $1,000 less expensive than the Pentax version. I tend to use it in manual focus for close ups and autofocus for further objects. I would use the Pentax lens the same way. To reach out I own a Sigma 300mm f2.8 (a retirement gift from my family) and the Pentax D FA 150-450 which is a great lens in itself. I sometimes use it as a walk around lens. I also own several other lenses that I have acquired over the years and most of them still work good with the new image capture technology. Plus they have aperture rings.

The K1 is the first DSLR I have owned that I think is as good as film.

By the way: WELCOME ABOARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
02-16-2017, 06:16 AM - 2 Likes   #7
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I mainly use my K-1 for landscape too.
Currently I'm using 15-30 pentax and 12mm Laowa. Both are great.

1st is 15-30mm pentax

2nd and 3rd is Laowa 12mm

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02-17-2017, 05:46 PM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by skyliner Quote
I mainly use my K-1 for landscape too.
Currently I'm using 15-30 pentax and 12mm Laowa. Both are great.

1st is 15-30mm pentax

2nd and 3rd is Laowa 12mm
Very nice. Those pics answered my unasked question on the laowa and how it performs for astro work, seems like it handles coma pretty good.
02-17-2017, 08:05 PM   #9
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Have fun shopping and welcome!
02-18-2017, 04:22 AM - 1 Like   #10
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Get 15-30 if zooms do not kill your creativity. Even then, getting filters for it is another pain in the butt. Average set of usable filters costs as much as good wide angle prime. I can recommend Haida 150mm kit - every bit as good as Lee filters optically but far cheaper. Prime folks should convert Zeiss 15/2.8 and 21mm 2.8 with Leitax for visual pleasure.
02-18-2017, 07:17 AM   #11
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Actually, using K-1 composite function could allows u to get away with long exposure without the need of a filter.. it works rather well actually.

Below is a picture I have taken using the composite function for the first time..
Using 15-30mm pentax btw

02-18-2017, 07:48 AM   #12
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Yes it works. I have used it much with 15-30. But polarizer is the one missing and more important, not always for UWA sky shooting but for cutting down reflections. During golden hour you need tens if not hundreds of exposures to replace ND filter with multiexposure function though. So, it will shorten shutter lifetime quite fast. My first K-1 got something like ~40 000 actuations during 6 months, mostly due to multiexposure shooting.
02-20-2017, 01:55 PM   #13
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Thanks for all the feed back guys. I did a little more research and checked out some lens tests. For the tamron and rokinon stuff I looked out how they performed and tested on the nikon d810 in dxo since that is from my understanding just about the same sony sensor that's in the k-1, and the closet thing that compares to the k-1 that the lenses have been tested on since I cant find any test results on the k-1. And I have no reason to believe that I would not get as good if not better results on the k-1 as they did on the d810. What I have decided to do is roll the dice and get a rokinon 14mm (and hope i don't have to return a bunch of copies until i get a good 1) for my uwa landscape and nightscape/astro since a good copy tests really good and it resolves enough of the 36 mp to leave some crop room. Then I am going to get as well the Sigma 35 art which will still work for my landscape uses, and I read it performs as a good astro lens as well, and it just makes for a really sharp, fast, walk around lens. And then I was looking at the pentax 50mm macro lens, I don't do a lot of macro but I like the option to be able, and from what I have read is that it is a very nice lens as far as performance for macro and just as a walk around 50, just lacking in build quality some. Then in the future look to invest in a prime in the 20-30mm range. I also read some of you guys mentioning the tamron 70-200mm vs the pentax for $1000 more. The only 1 I see listed on b&h is the tamron 70-200mm f2.8 DI LD (IF) MACRO AF LENS FOR PENTAX AF. I see that it has macro in the description, was this the same 1 you guys have referred to, or did they make a non "macro" 70-200 2.8?( i know that its only 1:2 macro at 200mm)

02-20-2017, 02:22 PM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by skyliner Quote
Actually, using K-1 composite function could allows u to get away with long exposure without the need of a filter.. it works rather well actually.
That can only replace ND filters, not polarisers are IR filters.
04-03-2017, 05:22 AM   #15
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I'm looking seriously at the K-1 as my poor old K-5 is having shutter button issues. 27,640 actuations to date.
My thoughts on my 2 most used lens, the 31mm 1.8 Pentax prime and my Samyang 14mm 2.8 will come happily across to the K-1, as most of my recent work is Astrophotography/low light landscape. Would be interested in hearing what you ended up with ryansd, good luck and welcome here.
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