Looking up with the D-FA 15-30

I picked up the 15-30 in the sales (thanks Chris) and gave it an outing today. Have to say i am well impressed.

That looks like Woking!

It is indeed. I see that you are a local too.

Woking has many advantages, but will never win "pretty town of the year" award. Best photographed looking straight up like these !

I couldn't possibly comment!!!

Phil

Looks good.

Still torn over whether to buy one or not .... I feel I need one but I don't do much wide photography.

Looking good Peter.
Happy shooting

The above images show the potential of the 15-30mm.

I've been using a FF 14-24mm since 2009 and it has proved invaluable when the subject matter required the use of such a wide FOV. I did several indoor shoots for customers to produce brochures for holiday homes and rental properties. Although I have a Pentax FF 15mm, the FF Pentax digital body was still in the planning stages and on APS-C it's crippled. At the time, I did not have a 10-20mm Sigma.

The FOV offered basically made the job easy and the results were excellent. I've not used it much for landscape photography and it's a beast, weight wise. That said, I would not be without it, especially when the need arises.

Once the initial euphoria of it's output wears off, you need a reason to keep using it such as landscape or architecture.

It's the only reason I won't be buying the Pentax 15-30mm.

Best regards

And to add to the above post, maybe it's best to look for a compact wide angle prime like the A or FA 20mm f/2.8. Either that or something a bit more extreme like the Irix 15mm f/2.4 (I've had one and it's a stunner if you get a good copy).

I sold my FA 20mm just before buying the K-1 but I still have a FA 20-35mm, Sigma 12-24mm, Tamron 17-35mm as well as a Adaptall 2 Tamron 17mm 3.5.

Hmm, maybe I just taklked myself out of buying the 15-30mm and into that D500 I was thinking about.

Every time I think I can afford the new fancy lens. The 70-200 meant I needed a new carrying system so I just got rid of it!

I use primes anyway

Couldn’t possibly comment

For those debating, SRS are doing it at £450 off. (Almost enough for a Lee 150 kit !!! )

Yes it is a big and heavy beast and so is the DFA 24-70. But what I have found since getting the K1 a year ago is that I take the tripod out with me much more than I ever did before and I feel it is helping to improve my photography. I take a lot more time now than I did before.

Time to use a tripod ... a very valuable thing Peter! We should all follow this advice more, especially for static scenes where it will help to get the most out of our equipment. Great colour in the sky here (considering no filter? ...)

The blue saturation has bled onto the buildings in No1 it seems (I mean the grey/ silver parts).... I'd try masking off the buildings before applying any added saturation, or even reducing the blue channel on the buildings only ... I think this will look better.

I will have a look at that Nigel. I did boost the blue saturation during raw conversion, then applied a "higher contrast" curve in Photoshop.

Tripods are one of the most underestimated things in photography, I've lost count of the amount of piccies I've taken that would have been improved if only I'd bothered to use mine!