| Author: | | Veteran Member Registered: February, 2008 Location: Minnesota USA Posts: 807 | | Review Date: September 20, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $396.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Terrific sun/light flare properties, versitile (zoom), outstanding value (price) | | Cons: | Can't attach filters, slight CA but nothing out of the ordinary | |
I bought this lens to get the extra "umf" on the wide angle side after being told by a Pentax professional that it possessed outstanding light flare performance. I can honestly tell you it gave me more than I ever expected! Not only is the flare performance outstanding for a lens in this price range, but it is very versitile, especially for a fish-eye! It is the perfect extension to my DA 16-45mm and definately a delight to own! I love the ability to zoom with a fish-eye. At 10mm, you get the traditional fish-eye look. With the twist of your wrist, you zoom up to 17mm and into a traditional wide-angle/landscape view. And all this comes with great image quality and a great price!
I've heard this lens can exhibit some purple fringing. I can report that I have seen very little CA from my lens...no more than with any other in the price range.
I gave this lens a rating of 9 only because I use filters extensively and this lens is not designed to accept filters. If it did, it would be a 10 without doubt. I would recommend this lens to anyone, even a pro.
| | | | | | | Forum Member Registered: April, 2008 Location: Vancouver Posts: 87
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 31, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $565.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Very fun and unique, fast focus, affordable compared to other fisheye lenses from Sigma, Nikon, etc. | | Cons: | None | |
I love my fisheye! Some people may scoff at the fisheye's unique barrel distortion look, but it adds a whole new creative flair to the art of photography. It lets me view the world in a whole new way.
I recently went on a trip and used this as a walkaround lens. It was light, focused quickly even in low light, and the pictures were very sharp. There is so much creative possibility that I haven't used it long enough to probe its extent yet.
Try it at night with flash, I know it's a faux paux to use flash with a wide-angle fisheye , but you'll have so much fun that you won't regret it  | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: May, 2008 Location: S.E. Michigan Posts: 4,317 | | Review Date: June 13, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $409.95
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | A lot of fun to play with! | | Cons: | No provisions for a filter | |
I toyed with getting a fish eye lens for years, and finally got to place in life that allowed me to do so. This lens opens up a whole realm of fun photgraphy. The lens is one of Pentax's best efforts - after all, who else offers a fish eye zoom? Performance is very solid with just a slight softening at the edges. Given this lenses properties, it probably would have tripled the cost to get rid of this softness, so you can't really hold that against the lens. It also exhibits a slight purple fringing, depending on light. Without the fringing and softness, this lens would rate a 10, but then what would the cost have been?
The only real downside for me, is that you can't put a filter over this lens. I use UV filters on all my lenses to prevent wear, etc., on the surface of the lens, and I wish there was a way to do so with this lens.
| | | | | Loyal Site Supporter Registered: March, 2007 Location: Toowoomba, Queensland Posts: 23,920
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 11, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $360.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp, good build, well contrasted images | | Cons: | CA | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
| |
I was curious to try out FE on the K10D, so picked one up from a fellow forum member. A fun lens to try out in some circumstances.
The extreme wide angle means hand-holding at a high enough angle to avoid getting your own feet in the shot.
Build quality, very very good - I feel it's more solid than my DA 16-45 yet light enough to carry around in my kit.
Taking photos with this lens is a joy, metering is accurate on the K10D and focusing is fast.
Image quality, can't fault it too much... CA is very obvious in extreme wide angle, but I can't imagine such a lens without at least some CA with the way those light rays have to bend some tight angles to get where they are on the sensor. I'm pleased with its sharpness, colour rendition and contrast - sure, cannot be compared to a good prime, but the zoom is quite versatile, well suited to fill the focal length space with the DA 16-45 or 18-55.
I may not know what a 10/10 FE lens performs like, but this lens is great value for money for the quality you get from it. Recommended.
| | | | | | | New Member Registered: February, 2008 Location: sydney,australia Posts: 6 | | Review Date: March 21, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $540.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | extreme close focus ,sharp with excellent resolution ,good build | | Cons: | PF on highlights | |
great lens for dramatic urban studies, also excellent for shooting cars and motorbikes .Was quite impressed with with level of detail considering extreme wideangles. Allows for some creative and dramatic effects.Takes a little bit of practice to meter accurately. Images look great when converted to mono and PF disappears .
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: October, 2006 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 11,783 | | Review Date: January 28, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $420.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Fish zoom!! | | Cons: | Soft corners in the images; flare; | | New or Used: New
| |
This zoom warants you a creative license!
The lens is capable of producing stunning images when the scenery is relatively in one plane ...
Love it or loathe it.
Sample images are shown here
My DA 10-17mm f3.5 - 4.5 shots | | | | | New Member Registered: December, 2007 Location: Tallinn Posts: 22 | | Review Date: December 18, 2007 | Recommended
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | FOV, close focus | | Cons: | CA | |
One negative aspect - serious CA and this takes away most of fun using it for landscapes, where it would be real hit, except for the macro with extreme DOF. Still it's big fun and I enjoy every hour spent using this lense.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: February, 2007 Location: Toronto Posts: 173
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 19, 2007 | Recommended | Price: $430.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | range (100 to 180 degree coverage), sharp, compact, veyr high quality build | | Cons: | CA and PF | |
I give this lens a 10 (excellent) score because not only is this lens very high quality build (made mostly of metal, has QS focusing, IF focusing) but its versatile. Thats right a fisheye is versatile - at least the DA10-17 is. A fisheye zoom lens is an awesome idea and at 10mm the effect is pronounced whereas as you zoom to 17mm the effect is less pronounced. Also with a tool like PTLens you can defish the shots (even at 10mm) and get a very acceptable rectilinear lens. Its also very sharp for a fisheye and extremely fun to use. It can also focus literally with the fornt element maybe an inch away from the subject so makes very interesting macros, the Macro magnification is 1:2.5 - thats right 1:2.5 - what the Sigma claims as a "Macro" designation on its 17-70 at 70mm this fisheye has the same magnification at 17mm - unbelievable! The only negative aspect of this lens is that it has relatively high CA and purple fringing but with the amount of light that gets bent due to the shape of the lens - this is probably inevitable so all-in-all compared to other fisheyes this lens easily deserves an excellent score due to versatility, build, sharpness/FOV/IQ. Easily one of my favorite lenses as I have a lot of great shots from it.
| | | | | Junior Member Registered: December, 2006 Location: NYC Posts: 32 | | Review Date: February 12, 2007 | Recommended | Price: $400.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Good feel (heavy), excellent IQ, build quality is great | | Cons: | Can't put a filter on it. | |
I've always been a sucker for the fish eye and Pentax has answered my call.
When side by side with the 18-55 kit they look almost the same, but the 10-17 feels like it was built 100x better.
I only wish I could put a filter on it. I guess I'll just have to continue being paranoid about the lens cap.
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: December, 2006 Location: So California Posts: 16,480
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 24, 2007 | Recommended | Price: $320.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | It's really wide. It's fisheye. | | Cons: | None | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 6
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 9
| |
I wrote the first review, before the lens review section was created. It has some sample images in it.
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-slr-lens-discussion/1955-review-sm...4-5-ed-if.html
At 10mm, watch where you put your feet. I noticed a couple shots with my left elbow in it, too :-)
Some PF, but that does not bother me.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: September, 2006 Location: Australia/Geelong, Vic Posts: 420 | | Review Date: January 8, 2007 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Great Image quality and very close focus. | | Cons: | A little PF. Easy to blow highlights. | |
An excellent quality fun lens. Field of view is fantastic. Extremely close focus.
A very nice weight and feels very solid. The focus ring is smooth and AF is quick also.
When shooting on sunny days or a situation where there is a lot of light, I just have to watch is metering.
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