Pentax Wide Angle

Hello All,

Advice needed!
I am considering buying a Pentax 10-17mm Fisheye to get some ultra wide shots with my Pentax K10d , my standard lens is a 18-55mm - if i bought the 10-17mm lens would i benefit from a greater wide angle perspective i dont actually want the fish eye i just want ultra wide!
At one point does the 10-17mm start to fish eye if its all the way through the 10-17mm it may not be the lens for me?

If you don't want the 'fishy part' just buy the Sigma 10-20mm instead!

im new to this - but thankyou anyway.

It's fishier at the wide end than the long end, but it's still fishy to some extent all the way (if I've remembered what people have said that have it - hopefully they'll comment).

For rectilinear (which means that straight lines are straight, not curved the way they are with fisheye) extreme wide angle zooms, there's really only a choice of two at the moment:

Sigma 10-20 (about £300)
Pentax 12-24 (about £500)

AIUI, the Pentax (which I don't have) is very good at the getting straight lines straight bit, although IIRC, one or two have said that it has noticeable chromatic aberration (which is mostly correctable in software).

The Sigma, which I do have, shows a bit of barrel distortion (also correctable in software) at the wide end, but virtually no CA or purple fringing. It's probably not quite as sharp as the Pentax, but the Pentax is a lot more expensive.

I guess you pays your money and takes your choice. Though 10mm is significantly wider than 12mm.

Thanks chrisa,

sounds like ill be going for the sigma i like the 3yr warranty as well!
srs have it for £330 approx hopefully theyll match the £290 ive seen online - i hope so since i bought the k10d, grip , 2 lens and filters from them a few months ago!!!

Buy the Sigma if you just want ultra wide. The Pentax is really for anyone who specifically wants to experiment with the fish eye effect.

There are probably more Sigma 10-20 owners on this forum than Pentax 10-17 owners.

The fish eye would be great for the first 10 shots, then you'd just want a plain wide angled shot of a building, and you'll spend the rest of your life in PS un-fishing 95% of the images you take

If it is wide angled shots of buildings that you want, then forget the Sigma and buy the Pentax 12-24.

If you buy on price alone, buy it for £290. If you don't want a grey import, feel more comfortable with a UK warranty, and value SRS's after sales service . . . you'll know where to buy.

Regards,

I use my fisheye all the time, but I use it properly; I don't take pictures of straight lines
Unless I want it to look fished, then I do

for the original poster, not the lens for you....
the other suggestions are good

im buying a wide angle lens for landscape hdr photography - still the right lens?

Conventional wisdom would have it that a longer lens will suit landscapes better. That said you get some stunning cloud effects with 10mm non fisheye but the landcsape diminishes.

Incidentally I agree iwth the previous comments about fisheye. You'll take a dozen shots and the find that the fisheye effect limits you rather than broadens your horizons (tee hee).

Mike

'Landscape' doesn't necessarily equate to 'wide angle'.

But if you do choose wide angle, I can't see how HDR is relevant.

Thankyou for your very helpful reply, it answered all my questions.
Hdr is just my style i was giving all information just in case a helpful poster may advise some other was more relevany.......

You say "'Landscape' doesn't necessarily equate to 'wide angle'." can you please give more detail please?