[calsan]

It seems to me that the other brands don't have much in the way of wide angle offerings for the APS format.
Pentax has the fast 14 f2.8, small 15 f4 and versatile and constant aperture 12-24 f4.
Canon/Nikon/Olympus-Panasonic all seem to only offer variable aperture zooms - is this right?

Are there any decent quality wide angles from the other brands without going to (FF) 35mm?

[twitch]

Olympus has a 12mm prime which is meant ot be very good. Sony has an E-mount 16mm prime which is not the greatest optically though.

[calsan]

Thanks fellow Aussie!
So really just the 4/3 option, which in reality isn't quite as wide as Pentax's offerings. That's 'nice' to know I have no choice in systems - especially for the wallet.
I have quite a few enough lenses, but no wide angle I'm happy to carry when traveling, so size matters here or I would just pack the 'solid glass block' Sigma 10-20.
I currently carry 18-55, 55-300 and 35 limited as my 'compact' kit - I was looking to switch out the 18-55 for the 15 limited, but wanted to check the greenness of surrounding grass first.
Thanks again

[Christine Tham]

The Sony 16mm is not as bad as some people claim it to be. It has some CA and vignetting in the corners, but that's correctable in camera (on the 5N at least). I have posted some photos taken on the lens - happy to post again.

But my latest toy is the Voigtlander 15mm - bought it as an impulse purchase from B&H to complete my M mount collection (I now have 15, 25, 35x3, 50x2, 90, 135 in M-mount)

From Sydney Tower:


At the Leuralla model train museum:

[Christine Tham]

Forgot to mention, there is also a Voigtlander 12mm - currently trying my best to resist the temptation to buy that as well. I think I need a 75mm more than I need 12mm.

[Unsinkable II]

It seems to me that the other brands don't have much in the way of wide angle offerings for the APS format.
Pentax has the fast 14 f2.8, small 15 f4 and versatile and constant aperture 12-24 f4.
Canon/Nikon/Olympus-Panasonic all seem to only offer variable aperture zooms - is this right?

Are there any decent quality wide angles from the other brands without going to (FF) 35mm?

If you want to go really wide, you could do far worse than the Sigma 8-16:

Sigma AF 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM - Lab Test / Review

Love mine.

[nickthetasmaniac]

Canon/Nikon/Olympus-Panasonic all seem to only offer variable aperture zooms - is this right?

No, it isn't. For Micro Four Thirds (FF equ. in brackets to avoid confusion between formats):

m.ZD 9-18/f4-5.6 (18-36mm)
Lumix 7-14/f4 (14-28mm)
m.ZD 12/f2 (24mm)
Lumix 14/f2.5 (28mm)
m.ZD 17/f2.8 (34mm)
Voigtlander Nokton 17.5/f0.95 (35mm)
SLR Magic 12/T1.6 (24mm)

Some are average, some fantastic, some cheap and some bloody expensive - but there's tons of options

[calsan]

I had a look at the Voigtlander website.
Those Voigtlander lenses look really high quality and they all have a decent number of aperture blades too.
But it seems that the answer to the question of how to get a small system with ultra wide angle lenses is "rangefinder".
Or as mentioned by Nick, there's MFT for fast and compact but not so wide. So, I think Pentax is a good choice if I wish to stick to a SLR camera.

[Christine Tham]

But it seems that the answer to the question of how to get a small system with ultra wide angle lenses is "rangefinder".

Not really. There's Ricoh GXR-M, or any micro 4/3, Sony NEX, Fuji XPro1 etc. with adapter.

I took those pictures on a NEX-5N. For me, that's the best M mount body right now, but I'm looking forward to the Leica announcement on 10 May.