Pentax smc DA 10-17mm f/3 – and a fine color rendition

January 07, 2020

Pentax smc DA 10-17mm f/3 – and a fine color rendition

I photograph weddings and events using a pentax k3 and a pentax k3 ii. This lens is a regular part of my arsenal. Colour rendition and contrast are both excellent. Sharpness is probably what you’d expect – acceptable for most purposes (i certainly have no problem selling images from this lens) but if you pixel peep you’ll see that the lens doesn’t resolve the same level of detail that a 24 megapixel sensor is capable of. However i’ve made an 80 x 40 cm canvas as well as large prints from images from this lens, and been perfectly happy with the results. As for the field of view – at 10mm it’s a full diagonal fisheye effect so expect bags of distortion – particularly with elements closer to the edge of the scene. The trick is to either shoot things that minimise the distortion (avoid straight lines and put the horizon centrally) or celebrate it and maximise the effect. At 17mm the amount of distortion is surprisingly low, however, and it provides a regular wide angle view. The build quality is solid, and the integrated (though short) metal petal hood helps protect the bulbous front element. If a fisheye appeals to you, this is an option well worth having.

Outstanding close focus ability, and a fine color renditionthere is also a very sturdy luxury feel to this lens. Useful for both macro photography and general wide angle shots. Sharp enough to later correct in post, if you prefer a more rectilinear look.

I obviously plucked up the courage to buy a fish-eye lens for my pentax k7, and it was well worth getting this one. Being able to zoom from a full 180 degrees diagonal to an almost undistorted extra-wide angle is excellent. It brings so much feeling and verve to the pictures, which are not possible with a standard wide angle lens. The use of a full circular fish-eye, whilst good at what it is, is very gimmicky and loses it’s appeal to me after a couple. This lens however is not a flash in the pan and is one of my favourite lenses and is almost always in my camera bag. The quality and sharpness is excellent and the colour rendition is top notch. If you were to get one of these, i am sure you will never regret it, i would not be parted from mine.

If you have the money, you will like the lens for occasional use. . Great for making rooms look large if you are an estate agent and for making people look very strange. Auto focus is a bit noisy though.

Let’s get the obvious downsides out of the way first; you cannot attach filters to the front of the lens, you will get chromatic aberration (purple fringing) as it can be an issue in some situations and of course being a fish-eye there’s a good amount of distortion. With that out of the way let’s talk about the good. I’ve used a sigma 10-20 before at 10mm and the angle of view of the pentax at 10mm is greater by a comfortable margin. Also by the time the pentax hits 17mm the distortion is almost gone and the angle of view is still as much as the sigma at 10mm. It’s almost like having two lenses in one; an extreme-wide distorted fish-eye at 10mm and a ‘normal’ ultra wide at 17mm. The lens also has nice colour reproduction, is generally pretty sharp, focuses very close bordering on macro and is deceptively small and light. I had an internal debate as to whether i’d buy this or the sigma 10-20 and i’m glad i bought the pentax. If you have access to some de-fishing software you’ll get even more ‘normal’ use out of the lens (at the expense of cropping some of the view out), at 10mm some great fish-eye effects and at 17mm an almost standard ultra-wide angle lens.

I have had this lens for 5 months now and i think it has been my main lens for that time, but it is a fisheye. Straight lines will be distorted, the optical quality is compromised because it is a fisheye, so you will see chromatic abberation and some general softening of the image. But you have to zoom in on the image to see this. Anyway, you buy a fisheye for the effect if gives. Search fisheye on flick if you are not sure what results you will get. I love wide, so i love this lens. Great for 360 degree immersive panoramas (you know those ones where you can pan around a scene). Same as the tokina 10-17 in case you do not have a pentax or samsung dslr. Interestingly, this will give a full frame on a film or 1:1 sensor camera. You can see the protective ‘hood’, but if you zoom to about 13mm it is no longer visible and it is still much wider than anything else.

Pentax 10-17 or Sigma 10-20?
A must have for your Pentax
Nice

Cant fit filters but that is what photoshop is for :-)i hand held some lee filters (the x8nd) in front of this for 30 seconds. The lens was on my k-5d ii on my tripod, and it was not a hardship to do this. It is a lovely wide angle lens indeed.

This is a fantastic lens when coupled with my k5. Great for use in confined spaces to produce creative distorted images. Nothing remains straight – but that is the point of getting a fisheye lens.

I’m delighted with this lens and fail to understand some of the negative reviews. The instruction book says they cannot be fitted. Simple as that wheres the problem?image, what do you expect from a fish eye lens?.

Very pleased that i’ve plucked up the courage to buy this little jem. Always wanted really wide options. Dont think the lack of filters will affect me. Build quality’s very goodwont comment on images until i take some(after christmas).

It works well for what i want, a fisheye to wide angle zoom. Cuts down the number of lenes i absolutely must take with me. Solid feel, a good quality product. That said non-zoom lenses are better, but only just.

Features of Pentax smc DA 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 ED (IF) Fisheye Zoom

Make sure this fits
by entering your model number.
Dramatic images
ED Glass
PENTAX “Quick Shift Focus System”
15-25mm equivalent in 35mm format
Internal focusing

From the manufacturer

PENTAX smc DA 10-17 mm f/3.5-4.5 ED (IF) Fisheye Zoom

Mounted on the PENTAX series of digital SLRs, the DA Fish-Eye 10-17 mm lens will capture fish-eye images with a 180 degree angle of view and focal length of 10 mm for super wide-angle performance. Capture images with an expanded perspective including creative distortion of subjects and sharp focus that extends throughout the entire frame. The image circle in DA-series lenses is designed to perfectly match the 23.5 mm x 15.7 mm sensor size used in PENTAX digital SLRs to optimiSe camera performance. The design also contributes to a drastic reduction in size, weight and production cost, compared to 35 mm format counterparts with similar specifications.


	PENTAX 10-17 mm	PENTAX 12-24 mm	PENTAX 16-85 mm	PENTAX 17-70 mm	PENTAX 18-270 mm	PENTAX 20-40 mm
Focal Length	10 – 17 mm	12 – 24 mm	16 – 85 mm	17 – 70 mm	18 – 270 mm	20 – 40 mm
Focal Length (35 mm format)	15 – 25.5 mm	18 – 36 mm	24.5 – 130 mm	25.5 – 105 mm	27.5 – 414 mm	30.5 – 61.5 mm
Maximum Aperture	F3.5 – 4.5	F4	F3.5 – 5.6	F4	F3.5 – 5.6	F2.8 – 4
Minimum Aperture	F22 – 32	F22	F22 – 38	F22	F22 – 45	F22 – 32
Minimum Focusing Distance	0.14 m	0.3 m	0.35 m	0.28 m	0.49 m	0.28 m
Magnification	0.23 – 0.39x	0.12x	0.26x	0.31x	0.26x	0.20x
Weight	0.320 g	0.430 g	0.488 g	0.485 g	0.453 g	0.283 g
SP Coating	✓		✓	✓	✓	✓
Weather Resistant			✓			✓
Quick Shift Focus	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓

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