[pinholecam]

Very nice pics!

Thanks

[Wheatridger]

The 11-18 is not full frame compatable. I have the 15-30 for my K1, and that's what you want.

The 11-18 works fine on FF from 15mm or so. And a true, full frame 15mm lens ought to be wide enough!

As for the first-gen Sigma 12-24, yes, at f8, I'd call it sharp. Not as bitingly sharp as my F 50 macro or my DFA 28-105 or my DA*300, but I think I could close the gap with heavier use of sharpening. But I'm not doing photo-surveillance here; there can be such a thing as too much visual information. I place more value in the "drawing," the linear accuracy in a photo because I can spot those errors at any print size or magnification.

[normhead]

there can be such a thing as too much visual information.

That would seem to be the least understood statement in photography in this age of test chart comparisons.

[DaveSimo]

Managed to get a D-FA 15-30 WR during Boxing Day sales. Was second hand but in mint condition. Couldn't be happier. Weight balances perfectly on K1

Thank you all for contributing. I genuinely had a long hard look at all the options and decided that one of the main features should be some form of weather resistance.

Cheers
Dave

[acoufap]

The 11-18 works fine on FF from 15mm or so. And a true, full frame 15mm lens ought to be wide enough!

As for the first-gen Sigma 12-24, yes, at f8, I'd call it sharp. Not as bitingly sharp as my F 50 macro or my DFA 28-105 or my DA*300, but I think I could close the gap with heavier use of sharpening. But I'm not doing photo-surveillance here; there can be such a thing as too much visual information. I place more value in the "drawing," the linear accuracy in a photo because I can spot those errors at any print size or magnification.

I was out in nature yesterday. Think I got some nice shots using K-1 and DA*11-18. Maybe two expamples illustrate what you are talking about ...


K-1 • FF mode • DA*11-18 @ 15mm (w/o hood)

Something you can't get with the 15-30mm ...


K-1 • (FF) Square mode • DA*11-18 @ 12mm (w/o hood)

People who are not too strongly bound to FF / APSC box thinking get a lot from this lens.

The funny thing is, years ago I had some test shots to decide to go with the DA15 Ltd. or DA12-24. I didn't like the build quality of the DA12-24, it was very expensive (around 1.000,- €) and after the shoot out I thought 12mm would be too much ultra anyhow. The DA12-24 delivered better sharpness at the borders but I decided to go with wonderful haptics and great build quality and took the DA15.

Times are changing and so do we. Today I love using the DA*11-18 in FF and (FF)Square mode. Extreme wide compared to what I used before! And this lens' build quality is simply great. I love to work with! - That's something very important to me.

[biz-engineer]

I would say, the best wide angle lens for the K1 would be the Samyang 20mm f1.8.
- 20mm is a very versatile wide focal length on full frame
- f/1.8 let a lot of light in if needed
- 77 mm filter thread, the most commonly found thread size for all kind of filters
- sharp
- affordable

Manual focus isn't a problem at 20mm, the lens can be pre-focused between hyper-focal and infinity, not need to adjust focus for every exposure. Manual focusing on a DSLR is more problematic with the 35mm, 50mm and 85mm f/1.4 lenses. For ultra wide compositions, a fixed focal length is less limiting (as opposed to normal FL), because a small amount of movement produces large changes in foreground composition & perspective. I originally purchased the DFA15-30, but I should have bought the Samy 20mm instead.

[RICHARD L.]

Pentax FA 20 mm f/2.8 does the job right on the K1.

[angerdan]

Managed to get a D-FA 15-30 WR during Boxing Day sales. Was second hand but in mint condition. Couldn't be happier. Weight balances perfectly on K1
I genuinely had a long hard look at all the options and decided that one of the main features should be some form of weather resistance.

Good to know!
How're your experiences and results with the D FA 15-30mm ?

[Mercifulfate]

Takumar 24mm

[ivanvernon]

Pentax 67 55mm f 4.0 with adapter . . . sharp, really sharp.