15 mm or10-17 mm

Voikkari · Feb 26, 2012

Hi!

I'm going to visit New York in about a month.

If you were to buy a lens for K5 and K20 for walkabout. would you choose DA 15mm or DA 10-17mm zoom?

Prices there are lower than what they are in Finland, so....

Which one should I choose?

Good alternatives are also welcome!

--

K5 / K20 / K10D/*istD
MZ5n/Z70/SF7/MESuper/MX/Spotmatic F
Pentax since Spotmatic F

Gerry Winterbourne · Feb 26, 2012

Voikkari said:
I'm going to visit New York in about a month.

If you were to buy a lens for K5 and K20 for walkabout, would you choose DA 15mm or DA 10-17mm zoom?

The 10-17 is a fisheye. Nothing wrong with that if it's what you want but completely different from rectilinear lenses like the DA15. If you want Pentax coatings but wider than 15mm I'd say the DA12-24 is the best bet. If you want very compact and light choose the DA15. If you want something wider than 12mm choose the Sigma 10-20/4-5.6 (the original version) or Sigma 8-16/4.5-5.6.

--
---

Gerry

First camera 1953, first Pentax 1985, first DSLR 2006
http://www.pbase.com/gerrywinterbourne

Russell Evans · Feb 26, 2012

The DA 10-17mm is a small enough lens that I don't feel like leaving it a home when I carry a shorter prime kit, even though I have the DA 15mm in that kit. I find defishing the 10-17mm acceptable, so if I had to choose I would take the DA 10-17mm over the DA 15mm. I did in fact buy the Da 10-17mm way before the DA 15mm.

I'm just a hack at photography, so please don't think that these as indicative of what can be done with either lens. More like what shouldn't be done with the lenses ;-)

Fished

Defished

Fished

Defished

Fished

DA 15mm

Thank you
Russell

Brentliris · Feb 26, 2012

I have the DA 15 ltd, and warmly recommend it. I would not know if the 10-17 would be to your taste. Apparently you can correct the fisheye distortion to more rectilinear in software. It's not as big as the rectilinear zooms, so it has that going for it.

I like a light compact setup so I would not consider the bigger wide angle zooms.

Good luck in New York. It's a great city! Be careful too.

Regards

Brent
--
Reflections, understandings, discoveries and intimations..

carlgt1 · Feb 26, 2012

I think it's a great pair especially for walking around town with my K5 (and maybe the K-01 when it comes out ;-). I also have a 17-70 & 55-300 but enjoy the primes.

wlachan · Feb 26, 2012

don't buy a fisheye.
--
http://www.pbase.com/wlachan

citrontokyo · Feb 26, 2012

Just curious about your preferred method of defishing. Also, do you know if the in-camera distortion correction function would defish?

It is, as you said, a rather compact zoom, relatively speaking, so I've always been intrigued about the possibilities.

Russell Evans · Feb 26, 2012

citrontokyo said:
Just curious about your preferred method of defishing. Also, do you know if the in-camera distortion correction function would defish?

I'm using PTlLen, Photoshop, and have Aftershot Pro, but haven't used it yet. I don't really have preference. I bought PTLens before Photoshop had automated lens corrections, and I bought Aftershot Pro because the price was so low, and Adobe seemed intent on doing some silliness with the upgrades that they have since backed out of. PTLens seems the easiest to use but because I'm in ACR to begin with, I'm mostly using it.

Thank you
Russell

JoeDaBassPlayer · Feb 26, 2012

carlgt1 said:
I think it's a great pair especially for walking around town with my K5 (and maybe the K-01 when it comes out ;-). I also have a 17-70 & 55-300 but enjoy the primes.

The WA use does work well for live view.
--
Variance is Evil!

citrontokyo · Feb 26, 2012

Gracias, Senor. Nice information to have. I'll check it out.

DrewE · Feb 27, 2012

citrontokyo said:
Just curious about your preferred method of defishing. Also, do you know if the in-camera distortion correction function would defish?

I don't think the in-camera distortion correction would defish images from a fisheye lens. (I can't say for sure, though, as I own neither a fisheye lens nor a camera with distortion correction functions.) Fisheye images aren't distorted, as such, but rather use a different projection to map the view of the physical world (which would best be considered a spherical system) onto a plane.
--
--DrewE

Russell Evans · Feb 27, 2012

DrewE said:
citrontokyo said:

Just curious about your preferred method of defishing. Also, do you know if the in-camera distortion correction function would defish?

Click to expand...

I don't think the in-camera distortion correction would defish images from a fisheye lens. (I can't say for sure, though, as I own neither a fisheye lens nor a camera with distortion correction functions.) Fisheye images aren't distorted, as such, but rather use a different projection to map the view of the physical world (which would best be considered a spherical system) onto a plane.

Sorry I didn't answer this question before. The lens corrections do correct some type of distortion as you can see the raw data change as it is turned on when saving to Tiff, but it doesn't defish the lens. The fisheye is still very evident in a photo with the correction turned on.

Thank you
Russell

Voikkari · Feb 27, 2012

Thanks to everyone!

This is my second trip there, I'm very pleased of warnings ;-)

I think the rectilinear version is for me. I like both promes and zooms, but mostly I use my Limited 43 mm.

I also like lightweight equipment.

This one is composed from six shots taken with K10 and DA 16-45 which is a fime piece of glass but bulky for traveling.

I wonder, where did the time stamp come!

--

K5 / K20 / K10D/*istD
MZ5n/Z70/SF7/MESuper/MX/Spotmatic F
Pentax since Spotmatic F

Sheld · Feb 27, 2012

I upgraded from the 16-45mm to the 15mm and its very nice. I also have the 10-17mm fisheye, which I don't use nearly as much, though sometimes I make 360x180 panoramas with it.

Voikkari said:
Thanks to everyone!

This is my second trip there, I'm very pleased of warnings ;-)

I think the rectilinear version is for me. I like both promes and zooms, but mostly I use my Limited 43 mm.

I also like lightweight equipment.

This one is composed from six shots taken with K10 and DA 16-45 which is a fime piece of glass but bulky for traveling.

I wonder, where did the time stamp come!

--

K5 / K20 / K10D/*istD
MZ5n/Z70/SF7/MESuper/MX/Spotmatic F
Pentax since Spotmatic F

--

Shel, my photos, http://www.sheltx.com/

Ilkka Valkila · Feb 28, 2012

That's the way the gallery stamps photos without EXIF data. It seems to show the time zone, e.g. afternoon/evening hours of 31 Dec, 1969 for Americans and the one your photo has for us Finns. A great photo, BTW.

I can't provide any answer to the question itself since I have neither of those lenses, but I'm quite happy with my DA 12-24.
--
Ilkka V

Paphios · Feb 28, 2012

I find the 15mm and 40mm to be a wonderful walkaround combination. For fisheye, I prefer the Samyang 8mm.

Perry Carmichael · Feb 28, 2012

I don't have the 15mm but love my 10-17! I have never "defished" a single frame and it does what I ask of it consistently. I neither find it big or heavy, just a little bigger than my 50/1.4, and I take it everywhere.
--
Take pictures and PRINT THEM OUT or otherwise share....
pc

Please visit my photo blog at
http://perry-myworld.blogspot.com/
Scio, Oregon, USA

Russell Evans · Feb 28, 2012

Perry Carmichael said:
I don't have the 15mm but love my 10-17! I have never "defished" a single frame and it does what I ask of it consistently.

I keep asking mine not to have that degree or so off level all the time, and it never listens. Glad to hear you have yours well trained. Maybe I should send mine to obedience school? ;-)

Thank you
Russell

eruditass · Feb 28, 2012

Using lightroom, it is stupidly easy.

I usually my import preset to do find the correct lens profile automatically. All my fisheye photos come in defished, which left me very confused. I now have another imiport preset, or just turn off the correction as desired.

Working at random focal lengths, apertures, and focusing distances automatically.

citrontokyo said:
Just curious about your preferred method of defishing. Also, do you know if the in-camera distortion correction function would defish?

It is, as you said, a rather compact zoom, relatively speaking, so I've always been intrigued about the possibilities.

--
Correct my incorrect photography answers at:
http://photo.stackexchange.com/users/389/eruditass

Please update the Camera Shutter Life Expectancy Database with your experiences:
http://www.olegkikin.com/shutterlife/

JoeDaBassPlayer · Feb 28, 2012

Russell Evans said:
Perry Carmichael said:

I don't have the 15mm but love my 10-17! I have never "defished" a single frame and it does what I ask of it consistently.

Click to expand...

I keep asking mine not to have that degree or so off level all the time, and it never listens. Glad to hear you have yours well trained. Maybe I should send mine to obedience school? ;-)

Thank you
Russell

It is a skill you pick up after a while.
Variance is Evil!

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