Author: | | Veteran Member Registered: October, 2014 Location: Washington Posts: 2,176 | Review Date: September 16, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $285.00
| Rating: 7 |
Pros: | Wide angle, you can get an image when nothing else will. | Cons: | Not really sharp until f11. Chromatic aberrations. | Sharpness: 6
Aberrations: 4
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 6
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K3
| | I bought this lens as a demo from a reputable store. The price was right, $285.
I should have tested it before I went on vacation. I have a habit of shooting at f5.6 and it was a mistake. My copy does not get sharp on the edges until f11. Oh well, lesson learned, shoot at f11 and the results will be fine.
Check out my test on Flickr. Download the images so you can check them at 100%. https://www.flickr.com/photos/24877856@N00/albums/72157673965333695 | | | | | New Member Registered: January, 2014 Posts: 2 | Review Date: September 12, 2016 | Not Recommended | Price: $500.00
| Rating: 4 |
Pros: | fun of using a fisheye | Cons: | chromatic aberrations | Sharpness: 6
Aberrations: 3
Bokeh: 4
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 4
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K5 ii
| | fun to use as fisheye, average sharpness,
a lot of chromatic aberrations,especially when making HDRs
| | | | Pentaxian Registered: January, 2011 Location: Skåne, Sweden Posts: 482 3 users found this helpful | Review Date: August 5, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $220.00
| Rating: 9 |
Pros: | Relatively compact, sharp, fun! | Cons: | CA, no filters | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 6
Bokeh: 6
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 9
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-3 II, K-01
| | This review is for a good condition DA10-17 bought second-hand in Sweden, serial nr in the 5856xxx-range. PROS- Fun to use
- Relatiively compact for a fish-eye zoom (not to many of those around anyway)
- Usefull both uncorrected (fish-eye) and corrected (rectilinerar)
- Sharpness
- Close-focus capabilities
- Flare resistant
CONS- Aberrations in backlight, also a bit difficult to correct fully
- No filter thread (common for this type of lenses)
I USE IT FOR- Travel
- Indoors
- Creative fun
I mostly use prime lenses and in particularly I shoot portraits with the FA 43 & 77 Limiteds. I have the DA15 as well, which has been my go to wide angle since I bought it maybe five years ago. I'm very happy with the DA15, but it is just borderline to ultra-wide and the last year or so I realized that I wanted to try out the creative side of a fish-eye as well. When it came up for a good price second hand in Sweden I went for it! Firstly, filling the frame with a 10mm fish-eye is a challenge. I noted this already with the DA15, and it is even more so with the DA10-17. This is of course no fault of the lens, but as a portrait shooter it is a (fun) challenge!
I got familiar with this lens during a 10 day trip in Scotland, where I only previously had been playing around with it around the house. It is a bit of dual-purpose, since at 10mm you get the full fish-eye effect, but you can both correct it in post (and loose a whole lot of frame) or zoom towards 17 to minimize the fish-eye effect and end up with a regular wide angle. This is very handy during travel, and it is great for landscapes, indoor and close-up fun. It is not a large lens, similar to the kit lens in size, weight and handling. It does not extend much when zooming and has internal focusing. No filter thread, as is the norm for this type of lens.
Image quality is generally good. Sharp enough wide open, corners a bit soft but that's probably not where you place your subject anyway Being such a wide lens it is hard to say if it is field curvature, distortion effects, lack of sharpness.. it hasn't bothered me anyway. What can be a bit of pain is CA, which is plentiful in backlit scenarios. Usually it is a sharp purple or green border, a few pixels wide, but on the DA10-17 it is a more gradual smear.. and that is a bit more challenging to correct. It is not a deal-breaker for me, as dramatic wide angles has plenty of going on usually and that is what catches the eye.
For the price I paid I could hardly complain about anything. The build quality is lacking a bit compared to Limiteds or DA* lenses, but nothing else is expected really. It is a good lens for fun, travel, indoors that for the price has great value. It is probably the person behind the camera that is the limiting factor for creating that impressive fish-eye/wide angle shot, can't blame the DA10-17 for that Pentax K-3 II, SMC Pentax-DA 10-17mm F3.5-4.5 Fish-Eye ED [IF]. 10mm, 1/1000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100. Pentax K-3 II, SMC Pentax-DA 10-17mm F3.5-4.5 Fish-Eye ED [IF]. 17mm, 1/40 sec at f/4.5, ISO 400. Pentax K-3 II, SMC Pentax-DA 10-17mm F3.5-4.5 Fish-Eye ED [IF]. 10mm, 1/1000 sec at f/8.0, ISO 100. My pictures on flickr with this lens | | | | Site Supporter Registered: December, 2011 Location: North Rhine-Westphalia Posts: 1,425 1 user found this helpful | Review Date: July 12, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $365.00
| Rating: 9 |
Pros: | Desired fisheye effect, beautiful colours, decent microcontrast, flare resistance, flexibility of zoom, wideangle macro at long end, allows for SR, trust-inspiring build quality, SP coating, compact for what it offers, fun to use, affordable. | Cons: | Purple fringing monster (easily healed or at least mitigated in post), unimpressive starbursts due to 6-bladed aperture, corner-sharpness wide open (no surprise, though). | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-3
| | Glad I didn't get hung up on MTF charts or reports of atrocious purple fringing. Granted, this lens is no resolution demon, and it sure is something of a PF monster, but most of it cleans up nicely in post, to the point where it's almost a non-issue. Due to the generous microcontrast and lively colours, the RAWs edit well and the resulting images have an appealing pop to them.
I have no reservations about shooting into the bright sun, given the excellent flare control, although the sunbursts remind me of, well, my old 18-55mm kit lens.
In my book, the zoom capability is more than a mere gimmick, as it makes me more confident to actually rely on the fisheye when going on a day trip, without fretting about the need to change lenses. The longer FLs may be no full substitute for conventional wide-angle, but I find myself getting more relaxed about distortion than I used to be anyway. And I'm looking forward to exploring wider "environmental" macros at the long end of the zoom range, an added bonus that is rarely accentuated in the magazine reviews.
Did I mention how much fun can be had with this lens, and without breaking the bank? Hope it shows in some of the images I've shot with this engaging little piece of glass: https://needacreate.smugmug.com/London-2016/i-4z2WTdM
Enjoy!
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: February, 2007 Location: Hasselt , Belgium Posts: 224 3 users found this helpful | Review Date: March 28, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $407.00
| Rating: 9 |
Pros: | Good Build , Light , fishEye + Wide , Sharp , Price | Cons: | none | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: k3
| | Very affordable lens with good AF and sharp results.
Practical because of size and weight.
You sort of get 2 lenses in one , if you want special and creatif effects then fisheye at 10mm is real fun , once you open up to 12-13mm you just get classic wide-angle results.
All taken with this lens : https://philippeluyckx.smugmug.com/Salvador-Dali-Expo-Liege/ | | | | amateur dirt farmer Registered: December, 2014 Location: probably out in a field somewhere... Posts: 41,257 4 users found this helpful | Review Date: December 31, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $237.00
| Rating: 10 |
Pros: | color rendition, quick AF, solidly-built | Cons: | none | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 7
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-50, K-3
| | I used this lens for the Single in November Challenge and what I have found is nothing short of amazing..
First, the elephant in the room: it is a fish-eye lens; those aren't distortions in the lens' ability.... that's how it is supposed to look... the nice thing about the DA 10-17mm, however, is that by 14mm, the FE effect is lessening and by 17mm, it is pretty much gone... the FE effect will also depend upon how you use the lens and how you learn to control it...
That being said, the DA 10-17mm is simply amazing - great color rendition, quick autofocus, great build quality... with it being such a close-focus lens, do not expect great bokeh from it; it's possible, just not readily so.
Although not a macro lens, it's close-focusing ability is great! Many interesting angles and shots taken with this lens at very close distances....
My Flickr album for this lens: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pepperberryfarm/sets/72157659032799212
My final thought: this one is a no-brainer; if you can find one at a reasonable price, buy it...
| | | | Site Supporter Registered: September, 2010 Location: MD Posts: 1,029 3 users found this helpful | Review Date: December 28, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $270.00
| Rating: 9 |
Pros: | Small size for UWA, zoom flexibility, FE to near rectilinear, solid build | Cons: | Purple CA (especially at 10mm end and in corners); lens susceptible to scratching? | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 7
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-30
| | I love Pentax lenses like this. A small, well-built lens that offers great quality and a whole range of perspectives and fun.
I have tried the Rokinon 8mm Fisheye and the Sigma 10-20 f4.5-5.6 lenses. Both are fine lenses, but they are rather large. The DA 10-17 FE almost replaces both of them and in a much smaller package. Yes, the Rokinon 8mm FE offers a different (stereoscopic) kind of fisheye, and the Sigma is a rectilinear UWA, but if I want to travel light, this DA 10-17 is the lens I'll bring.
It's a bit soft wide open at 10mm and at f16 or higher. At 17mm, it's pretty good up through f16. Best results are f5.6-8 across the zoom range. (Note: at 10mm and f8, hyperfocal is 2'; at 17mm and f8 it's 6' >> i.e., it's easy to get a lot of everything in focus.)
The only real issue is the significant purple fringing, especially at the 10mm end and the closer it is to wide open. It's mostly fixable in post.
The fun thing about it is such a huge range of perspective depending on whether you are at 10mm or 17mm and whether you are shooting level or angled. I've attached two straight on pics at 10mm and 17mm to show the difference.
From 14-17mm it can almost function as a rectilinear lens by correcting (or applying the lens profile in LR) the perspective.
All in all, a fun and versatile lens.
10mm at f5.6; slight straightening but no other lens correction. Some exposure adjustments applied. (the curved lines are floor and ceiling lines)
17mm at f5.6; some straightening but no other lens corrections; crop is about 2/3 size of original; some exposure adjustments applied | | | | Loyal Site Supporter Registered: November, 2014 Location: Michigan Posts: 5,977 2 users found this helpful | Review Date: November 14, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $300.00
| Rating: 8 |
Pros: | Size, build, sharpness, color rendition, zoom | Cons: | Chromatic aberrations, protruding front element, can not use filters | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 7
Autofocus: 7
Handling: 9
Value: 9
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K10D, K50, K-01, K3
| | I have not written many lens reviews but I feel this lens deserves one. This was the first DA lens I ever owned purchased used back in 2008. This was also the last lens I ever purchased from a brick and mortar store. The two stores here will not carry any Pentax merchandise. Now on to the review.
This is a special lens and most likely not something you will use every day. Mine sat idle for a very long time till I rediscovered it. Lately I have been using it for cityscapes and night shots. The sharpness of this lens has really amazed me. In night shots I have found the star bursts to be really nice. The fisheye effect diminishes after around 14mm. The angle of the lens to the subject dramatically enhances the fisheye effect as well. If you would like you can defish your shots to some extent in post processing. Chromatic aberrations can a problem in high contrast situations. Stopping the lens down helps alot, of course this makes it slower. Most purple fringing can be fixed in post but this still the major downfall of this lens. Most of my shots with lens are between f8-f11.
The size of the lens makes it easy to carry in your bag anytime. The lens is surprisingly heavy for the small size, but there is a lot of glass packed into this little guy. The lens barely extends or retracts while zooming or focusing. I find manual focus to be quite easy especially using focus peaking. The extremely close focusing ability of this lens makes for some very dramatic shots.
Conclusion
I have almost sold this lens a few times. I am very glad I did not. This a lens for the creative photographer. There are so many possibilities. It really is a fun lens to use once you get used to it. I had a difficult time rating this lens. I really feel 8.5 was the right rating, but I can not rate 8.5 overall. If not for the aberrations I would rate it a 9, but the aberrations are there and they can not be ignored. Here are some examples.
10mm f8 K3 i Fredrick Meijer Gardens-2015-1.jpg by Michael, on Flickr
13mm f8 K3 Fredrick Meijer Gardens-2015-2.jpg by Michael, on Flickr
17mm f10 K50 defished Moon Over The Blue Bridge-2015-1.jpg by Michael, on Flickr
13mm f8 K3 Downtown Grand Rapids At Night-1.jpg by Michael, on Flickr
| | | | Senior Member Registered: August, 2013 Location: Prague Posts: 272 | Review Date: September 21, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $450.00
| Rating: 10 |
Pros: | fish eye to wide angle aspect. sharp (within fish eye reasoning, amazing colours | Cons: | none | | Once you learn the way to use this lens, because it is not just an ordinary fish eye (and even that takes some getting used to), this lens can really hum for you. Just love the fish eye at 10-13mm and wide angle from on out. Wonderful.
| | | | Veteran Member Registered: July, 2013 Location: Oxfordshire Posts: 861 | Review Date: June 18, 2015 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
Pros: | Build, Sharpness, Colours/Contrast, Lack of Flare | Cons: | CA, thats it. | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 6
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-3II
| | I really like this lens, I picked one up cheap second hand that had a little surface wear.
Its really fun, VERY sharp, Excellent Contrast and Excellent Flare control (little to none). Produces nice sun stars too.
Only downside is CA which most if not all the time can be tidied up and has not ruined a photo yet.
At 17mm makes a pretty normal wide angle lens, its also relatively compact.
The AF is very snappy, especially on the K-3II.
Bokeh is hard to get but when you do its not that attractive if I am honest, hence the 6 but thats not what this lens is really designed for. Boats Fisheye by Robert Seymour, on Flickr Boats Fisheye by Robert Seymour, on Flickr Camden Lock Railway Bridge by Robert Seymour, on Flickr Celica B&W by Robert Seymour, on Flickr
De-Fished: Vale of the White Horse by Robert Seymour, on Flickr
Little to no flare I can see.... Sun Star by Robert Seymour, on Flickr
Excellent Sharpness & Contrast Conservatory by Robert Seymour, on Flickr
| | | | Junior Member Registered: April, 2013 Posts: 33 | Review Date: December 11, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $400.00
| Rating: 8 |
Pros: | fisheye | Cons: | fisheye | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 6
Autofocus: 7
Handling: 9
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K5IIs
| | being a fisheye, clearly has problems of fisheye.
But has excellent performance!
You can see my photo here: http://goo.gl/UdmGdt | | | | Junior Member Registered: December, 2012 Location: Cirebon Posts: 29 1 user found this helpful | Review Date: December 4, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $400.00
| Rating: 9 |
Pros: | Sharp, Colors rendering, Cheap, Solid, Lightweight | Cons: | CA, Flare, Not WR | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 6
Bokeh: 7
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: New
| | Pros: - Cheap solution UWA lens for K-mount (defisheyed=result like standard UWA lens with some cropin)
- Fringing? (Not problem at digital era)
- Sharp
- Color rendering
Negative - Flare
- Not WR (Can be fun if play this lens on rainy day )
| | | | Senior Member Registered: January, 2014 Posts: 143 | Review Date: December 4, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $340.00
| Rating: 10 |
Pros: | Very sharp in center, Doubles as crop sensor and full frame(film) fisheye lens, build quality, Much more dramatic fisheye distortion for shooting action sports(compared to samyang 8mm which is more panoramic) | Cons: | Sharpness doesnt hold excellent on edges of the frame, but still above average | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K30
| | If you shoot skating/bmx I would recomend switching to canikon asap because of Pentax' slow flash sync but if you are already die hard Pentax then buy this lens! The samyang is a good starter fisheye, it is easier to compose, a little wider, better for video, more pleasing to the eye for architechtures and landscapes. Once you learn you need more "squishing" in the corners for those dramatic skate shots then this is a good pick, though it is really the only option for pentax digital.
Happy shooting | | | | New Member Registered: February, 2013 Posts: 2 | Review Date: November 3, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $500.00
| Rating: 10 |
Pros: | fun, sharp,weight | Cons: | non | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K30
| | | | | | New Member Registered: July, 2011 Posts: 8 | Review Date: September 7, 2014 | Recommended
| Rating: 8 |
Pros: | Small, colors, angle | Cons: | purple fringing, possibly fish eye effect...? | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 7
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: k5
| | It is a typical Pentax DA lens: full, rich colors, compact and light. The distortion can be used in a creative way, and almost must, since - especially at 10 mm - the lens cannot be simply used as a wide angle. The 15mm limited does much the same (colors, compact), but without the distortion.
For the fun effect: very good!
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