Customer Reviews

PENTAX DA 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 ED (IF) Fish-Eye Lens for Pentax Digital SLR

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sometimes you just need to go to the extreme - in this case it is really wide angle. In my old Canon film-camera days, I had the 15mm 2.8 fisheye which was an even bigger chunk of glass because of its speed.

Now that I have gone to the Pentax K100D camera, I was pleasantly surprised to see this 10-17mm lens was available. I was even happier because unlike the Canon lens, the Pentax is a zoom, so that not every shot has to be the distorted wide angle that you think of when you hear "fisheye". The lens goes out to the equivalent of about 26mm on a 35mm format, which is a very useful focal length as well.

The lens also allows manually tweaking the focus while in the auto-focus mode - something my 2 Sigma lenses warn against.

The only drawbacks to the lens that I see are that you can not mount a filter and the curved front element is exposed (same for the Canon). So, just use a little caution. And, unlike the old Canon, there are no rear filters either. Finally, for those who like to manually adjust the aperture ring - there isn't one. It's all set through the camera :-)

I could go on about the lens, but as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so I've posted a few photos in the Amazon collection.

Have owned this lens since December 2007 and have had a lot of fun with it. At 17mm, it functions like a conventional wide angle lens, but at 10mm it is truly a fish-eye. The flexibility cannot be beat! Image quality is excellent (color rendition and sharpness). It can produce some interesting perpectives once you learn how to exploit its characteristics.

The lens surface extends (bulges out) beyond the front rim of the lens which can expose it more than a conventional lens. However, Pentax claims that it has a special coating which is supposed to resist scratches. I am ultra careful and choose not to test the strenght of the coating!! The lens cap is a slip-on type vs. a clip-on type. The lens is a tad heavy, but solidy built.

The more I use this lens, the more pleased I am that I purchased it.

Every bit as advertised. A most unusual lense. It takes a while getting use to the lack of an apature ring but the lense is everybit worth it. If you are in a small room and need to take in the whole room this is the lense for you. The Lense is as sharp as all of the other pentax lenses that I have and the depth of field is tremendous.

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Talk about a fun lens. I am doing fun stuff again. Of course too many fish-eye shots are not well received in a wedding shoot but the option to shoot in tight surroundings like stairs, or group up the groomsmen and bridesmaids and add a little flair is great! I've found nothing wrong with this lens and it's fun to see people's reactions to the shots. After some Photoshop lens correction the shots are can also be acceptably distortion free. Once again Pentax provides the value for the money.

I am extremely pleased with this lens. I am just an amature, but of the three lenses that I have for my K20D this is my favorite. I have the 18-55mm kit lens, a 70-300mm and this lens. The zoom function is very useful and requires a lot less lens changes. If you've every wanted a fish-eye lens and wondered if this one would be adequate, I have to say that it is everything I've always wanted in a fish-eye lens and more because of the useful zoom, for when you don't really want the full distorted look and don't want to have to change lenses. I would definenately recommend it to anyone.

While most lens reviews focus and look down on lenses for distortion, sometimes it's just the thing to make unique photos. Take a fisheye to a family or sports event or on any trip and capture some great photos. Throw in some action and you can have a load of fun in the process!

While I haven't posted that many shots you can see some samples from this lens here
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Even though I've only had this lens less than a week I am impressed with it. I have gotten some shots where the blues and greens are so saturated it looked like a polarizer was used, and one wasn't. Simply beautiful.

There are no threads on the lens hood for filters. I have tried holding a square sunset filter in front of the lens with good results. The Auto focus is fast & smooth and quiet. I'll post photo's when I get a chance.

I got the full width of my house in the picture while standing five feet back from the bottom porch step. The lens cap slides over the hood. I may try to make up a series of adaptor rings to slide over the hood so I can use filters on this lens.

I purchased this to play with both the wide angle capabilities and the fish-eye views this creates with my K10D. The pictures thus far (roughly 100-120) have shown excellent quality. The types of pictures I've been able to take by purchasing this have impressed me!

The only issue I have seen is the images are dark when the sun is in the picture - which is easy to do when the sun is high in the sky. At 180 degrees of view, it captures a lot. Like with anything, one simply needs to check the shot before taking the picture and use the right lens for the situation.

The DA 10-17 is a special lens. It is not the sort of lens that you would use every day or, even as a "walk around" lens. At the same time, it provides a field of view that you have a hard time achieving with a rectilinear lens. The widest angle lens for APS-C that I know of is the Sigma 8-16mm, which only gets about 121 degrees of view into the photo -- at 10mm, the DA fisheye gets 180 degrees -- have to watch your feet or they will be there too.

Other reviewers are right that you can't use filters with this lens; however, that is a common trait with fisheye lenses. Just be careful of the bulbous front element.

The lens itself is very sharp. Because of its wide angle of view, you will find that you need to shoot mostly at f8-11 to make the most of it. Colors are great. It has the ability to close focus. At 10mm, it is very "fishy" at 17mm very mildly so.

If you enjoy the fisheye view or are in to architectural photography, this is a special lens.

This is fine lens but I wish I had purchased a regular wide-angle lens. The fish-eye effect is great in certain instances but grows old quickly. I wish I would have purchased the widest-wide-angle lens instead of this thing. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with this lens except that is is fish-eye. I love the wide-angle range as it is quite impressive...you literally have to watch out for your shoes! But the fish-eye effect is a mixed bag. It creates interesting shots but many times I wish I just had the larger view angle without the fish-eye effect.

Also, note that due to the extreme wide angle of view that a flash does not work very well. This is clearly stated in the documents but I do not think anybody mentions that in a review.

All in all it comes down to the money. As with most Pentax lens, this is a very expensive and I wish I went with one that does not have fish-eye effect as for my use that would have been more practical & versatile. I can always add fish-eye with software if needed. The wide view angle is what I was after not the fish-eye....

I will keep as an experiment and I am sure to get good shots from this but regret the purchase.