| Author: | | New Member Registered: December, 2016 Location: North Germany Posts: 1
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 8, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $250.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | tack sharp, vivid colours, removable lens hood | | Cons: | none | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-5
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This second edition is far better than the first one. It has got brilliant IQ.
| | | | | | | New Member Registered: July, 2011 Posts: 3 | | Review Date: December 22, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $360.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Very sharp, Balanced fish eye and light | | Cons: | Cannot mount filters | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: K3
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Bought this for the sole purpose to catch the northern lights. Surprised that it performed much better than the 12-24 Pentax UWA lens which I had. Though its manual lens but the K3 works very well with it. No regrets getting it.
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: May, 2016 Posts: 3,726 | | Review Date: June 24, 2017 | Recommended | Price: $230.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | build and image quality, Av | | Cons: | lens caps | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-3II
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I like the uniformly curved distortion, there's clear detail up to the edge of the frame. Sharpness is quite good, although I don't really know what to expect from a fisheye. At f5.6 there's only a little blue/yellow CA but nothing bad at all (edit: lensfun/darktable have a CA correction profile that works great, just need to enable it and set the projection to stereographic). Contrast and colors are fine, but it's not a HD limited, the colors are less vibrant. Not sure how to rate bokeh, nothing is ever really out of focus due to it's relatively long minimum focus distance... so 10 because the "out of focus" look soft but not busy.
Build quality is very nice, the focus ring is dampened and has a good throw. The aperture ring is useful, but the "A" setting is even better.
Overall only the hood and cap are a little too big, but at least the front element is well protected when they're in use. I took a couple points off handling because the lens hood is makes it difficult to fit in smaller bags, even though the lens itself isn't that large. Also a negative point is the rear cap which doesn't cover electrical contacts. But this is really all I can think of, it's a nice lens for very little money.
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: September, 2013 Location: Saskatoon Posts: 3,229 | | Review Date: November 22, 2017 | Recommended | Price: $230.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Inexpensive, well-built, automated exposure | | Cons: | Not sharp until f5.6 | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 5
Handling: 5
Value: 8
Camera Used: K-30
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The lack of AF isn't a problem as far as I'm concerned, I try to use hyperfocal distance to get the portion of the image (much larger than a spot) I want in focus, so I would be focusing manually, regardless. Flare resistance is decent for such a large front element and once you get your head around the curvature of a fish-eye lens, distortion is much less than expected. Minimum focus distance of 12 inches is twice that of the DA 10-17, but with a 180 degree field of view it has never been an issue. This is a stereoscopic fish-eye, as opposed to equisolid like the DA 10-17, so objects on the sides are not as "squished" and seem to look more natural (to me, anyway). There is an excellent explanation of this in the in-depth review of ultra wide lenses here on PentaxForums.
P.S. Mine is the Rokinon Fish Eye CS (not CS II) and the hood is not removable.
 | | | | | | | Loyal Site Supporter Registered: February, 2014 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 2,710
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 9, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $170.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Even distortion, little vignetting, sharpness | | Cons: | Lens cap design. | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 9
Value: 9
Camera Used: Pentax K-3
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My copy is the Rokinon CSII version which I purchased used on the Forum Marketplace.
The lens provides a very useful, reasonably priced entry into the world of rectilinear fisheye lenses on an APS-C camera body. If you carefully compose and keep the lens parallel to the ground, fisheye effects are kept to a minimum making the lens useful for Scenic an architectural subjects. Tilting the lens upward provides pleasing fisheye distortion.
The minimum focusing distance is adequately close for creative uses. Vignetting is quite well controlled after f8 or so. Chromatic aberrations show on high contrast subjects, though usually not objectionably so. All in all a solid performer for a value priced optic.
My major issue with this lens- it is hard to focus accurately. Even using Live View with focus peaking accurate focus is somewhat hit or miss. Stopping down to f11-16 and bracketing focus are recommended for the best results when maximum depth of focus is desired. That said, this lens bumped my Sigma 10-20mm F4.5-5.6 from my daily use bag. It is a fun and useful lens. See photos in the Fisheye Lens thread.
| | | | | New Member Registered: July, 2019 Posts: 1 | | Review Date: July 24, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $199.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Well built, suitable for aps-c and maybe full-frame | | Cons: | The front hood cover requires care | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-5 ll
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Overall, this lens deserves a 10. It's well made, a lot of fun on my K-5 ll, and could be usable in the future on a full-frame camera (minus the removeable hood). As another reviewer wrote, just set the aperture for 5.6 or smaller, and shoot away. One tiny issue was the rear lens cap -- it didn't cover the electrical contacts of the lens, as another reviewer wrote. I went to ebay and found some rear lens caps for Pentax Auto-focus lenses, 2 for 99 cents. Best deal in town. Just be sure the lister of the auction for rear lens caps specifies for "Auto-Focus" or "AF". Otherwise the rear cap will be too small. These caps lock on securely. And the front hood cover arrangement is not perfect, so just be careful with it. My copy is the Rokinon CS ll. I bought it from an authorized dealer on ebay with a one year warrantee. Be sure to get the "CS ll" version. Some sellers really don't know what they've got, and it may or may not be in the title of the listing. The price of both items have gone up since my purchase, the lens went to $239, and the caps skyrocketed to $1.39. This lens is a thrill every time I use it. You won't be sorry.
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: May, 2014 Location: Linz Posts: 3,098
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: October 7, 2019 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | build and image quality | | Cons: | minimum focus distance; lens cap; can't mount frontfilters | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 5
Handling: 9
Value: 9
Camera Used: K-3
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It's a sturdy and well built lens, with the exception of the somewhat flimsy lens cap (not that it is likely to break but it doesn't hold that good on the lens).
Because of the removeable lens hood and it's near FF coverage the lens can be used with slight restrictions on FF, too.
My infinity focus wasn't quite correct in the beginning but this can be resolved by oneself, although it was a little tricky because of the wide angle of view.
The big and bulky front lens has the disadvantage of attracting some dust (has to be removed if you don't want to spend an eternity in post) and not allowing frontfilters.
My last and maybe biggest concern is the somewhat long minimum focus distance of 0.3m for a fisheye, it's mangeable but a little bit closer would be nice sometimes.
Beside those points this lens is fun to use. While it is a fisheye it has a more even distoriton than other lenses of this type have which I actually like.
While this lens has an A-setting and therefore supports other shooting modes I normaly use the M mode anyhow, because of the wide angel of view you get so much different lightsources and diverse lighted areas in the frame that the automatic programms are unrelyable in my opinion.
For best sharpness I usually set aperture at f5.6 or f8, focus at infinity and shoot away.
I use it mostly for landscape and architectural photography.
With slight defishing in post you can even use it to photograph interiors (as long as you carefully place straight lines in the frame)
Last but not least some expamles:
 Linz
 Elevator
For landscapes I usually place the horizon in the middle and crop away some sky afterwards:
 Vaude Schmugglersteig
A slightly defished example:
 Double Spiral Staircase | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: March, 2010 Location: Vermont Posts: 941 | | Review Date: November 30, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $250.00
| Rating: N/A |
| Pros: | Sharp, excellent colors | | Cons: | CA in some situations | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-3 and K-1
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This lens, although manual focus, is an excellent fisheye that is APS-C (full frame use has a black border around the edges). I particularly like the sharpness and the color of this lens. Although there is some CA in photos, generally, they are negligible.
 facebook_1536715806951 (1) by David Carman, on Flickr
 21168698942_ed03634386_o (1) by David Carman, on Flickr
| | | | | New Member Registered: October, 2019 Posts: 1 | | Review Date: October 23, 2021 | Recommended | Price: $140.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | easy to handle, excellent pique | | Cons: | no | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: K1
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Il est très amusant, prévu pour APS-C, mais bien outil sur un K1 pour les images (presque) circulaires pour un prix plus que raisonnable.
Je peux l'acquérir pour 140$, mais je m'amuse pour beaucoup plus de valeur!
Cert, il faut travailler un peu en post-traitement, mais je trouve mon plaisir.
It is very fun, intended for APS-C, but tool on a K1 for (almost) circular images for a more than reasonable price.
I can buy it for $140, but I have fun for a lot more!
Well, you have to work a little on post-treatment.
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