| Showing all 2 reviews by germar | |
| Review of: Sigma Super Wide II 24mm F2.8 by germar on Sat March 15, 2008 | Rating: 9 | View more reviews | |
Views: 234069
Reviews: 26
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This lens is an excellent alternative to the much more expensive Pentax 24mm A lens. The images are excellent, very sharp wide open with no purple fringe that I could find. This lens captures images that are a bit colder (blue) than my Pentax A and M lenses ... not a blue cast, but simply not as warm as I've grown used to from my older Pentax glass. This slight blue trend makes for lovely skies and whites that really are white. I prefer this in my landscapes.
Downsides: it's heavier than a SMC A lens, the original shade won't fit on backwards for storage. Perhaps a bit rare, I've only seen one of these lenses, which I immediately bought.
In a nutshell: If you want an automatic 24mm that is very sharp at all stops and yields excellent images .... but you don't want to pay the surcharge the Pentax label requires, give this old Sigma a try.
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| Review of: Zenitar Fisheye 16mm F2.8 by germar on Fri March 14, 2008 | Rating: 8 | View more reviews | |
Views: 104510
Reviews: 23
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The Zenitar 16mm 2.8 is a low cost solution for wide angle shooting. The images are usually very sharp, with very nice contrast and color reproduction. The lens can be slightly soft wide open, but not so much so to limit it's use in low light. Sharpens up nicely by f4. While you won't get huge distortion on a digital camera, it IS a true fisheye so expect to use something like PTLens to correct image errors.
The lens is available in M42 and Pentax K mounts. It is fully manual control.
There is documentation on the web regarding a build error on some copies that will not allow focusing at infinity. This is a correctable error if you're handy with jeweler's tools and follow some calibration steps on the web. My copy did not show such issues, and I don't think it's wide-spread.
The lens has a "built in" hood consisting of two small petals. I am dubious about their effectiveness, but since I expect some flare with a fisheye, it's not a bother. The hood has a proprietary snap on hood. Don't lose it, you're not going to find a replacement at the superstore.
The cool factor of a lens with Russian script is great, but a fish eye at a small fraction of name-brand counterparts makes this lens a must-have for your kit.
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