HD Pentax-DA 15mm f/4 ED AL Limited Lens Review

Gary Wolstenholme reviews the new Pentax HD PENTAX-DA 15mm f/4 ED AL Limited Lens.

Posted: 25/10/2013 - 09:57

Handling and Features
Performance
Verdict
Specification

This compact wide angle lens provides an angle of view equivalent to a 22.5mm lens on a 35mm format when mounted on a Pentax Digital SLR. It costs around £550 and and is part of the Pentax Limited range, which means it's one of their premium lenses.

Pentax HD PENTAX-DA 15mm f/4 ED AL Limited Handling and Features

As is the case with other lenses in the Pentax Limited range, build quality is excellent, although this isn't a heavy lens, weighing only 212g. It's compact too, only protruding by four centimeters from the lens mount. The lens makes an ideal travel companion with the Pentax K-5 IIs body used for testing, and it will feel right at home on more compact Pentax camera bodies also.

Focusing isn't performed internally, with the lens barrel extending by around four millimeters at the closest marked focusing distance. Even so, the filter ring does not rotate, which makes it perfect for use with polarising and graduated filters. A slide out petal shaped hood is built into the lens, which does a decent job of shielding the lens from extraneous light that may cause issues with flare. The 49mm filter thread size is standard for Pentax.

The manual focusing ring rotates during auto-focus, so some care may need to be taken to avoid accidentally catching your fingers during operation. Manual focusing action is smooth and well damped, which makes applying manual adjustments a pleasure. A useful hyperfocal scale is marked on the lens barrel, which is handy. The Pentax 'Quick Shift' focusing system has been implemented on this lens, which means manual adjustments can be applied once the lens has focused automatically.

Auto focus is screw-driven, even so it locks onto subjects very quickly. The older screw-driven system does generate more noise than newer silent focusing lenses do.

The minimum focus distance of 18cm is great for shooting in claustrophobic situations or for exploiting distortion of perspective as you get close in with a wide angle lens. A maximum magnification of 0.15x is possible, which may not be best suited for frame filling close ups images of small subjects.

Pentax HD PENTAX-DA 15mm f/4 ED AL Limited Performance

At maximum aperture, sharpness in the centre of the frame is already excellent, although clarity towards the edges of the frame falls behind somewhat. Stopping down the aperture improves sharpness across the frame, with sharpness in the centre reaching outstanding levels between f/5.6 and f/8. Performance towards the edges of the frame never quite catches up to that of the centre, and is fairly good between f/5.6 and f/16.

HD PENTAX-DA 15mm f/4 ED AL Limited MTF Charts

Chromatic aberrations are very well controlled for an ultra wide angle lens, with fringing remaining around half a pixel width at all apertures.

HD PENTAX-DA 15mm f/4 ED AL Limited Chromatic Aberration Charts

Falloff of illumination is reasonably controlled for a wide angle lens. At f/4 the corners of the frame are 1.43 stops darker than the image centre and visually uniform illumination is achieved with the lens stopped down to f/8 or beyond.

Distortion is also well controlled for a lens of this type. Imatest detected 1.23% barrel distortion, which isn't much at all. Unfortunately the distortion pattern isn't uniform across the frame, having a very slight wave to it. This may be an issue if you require absolutely straight lines, as it will make applying corrections in image editing software afterwards more difficult.

During testing, this lens proved itself resistant to flare and contrast levels remain good, even when shooting into the light. The pop out hood built into the lens is petal shaped and does a great job of shielding the lens from extraneous light.

HD PENTAX-DA 15mm f/4 ED AL Limited Sample Photos

Value For Money

With this lens being one of the 'Limited' line from Pentax, it is priced slightly higher than their standard line of lenses at around £550. However, the older, non-HD version is still available from some retailers at around £520, which isn't actually that much of a saving.

Pentax HD PENTAX-DA 15mm f/4 ED AL Limited Verdict

As is the case with most Pentax Limited lenses, the build quality and features are worthy of the slight premium price they hold. In the case of this lens, the sharpness towards the edges of the frame isn't up to the standard you might expect from a lens of this calibre, which is a shame. Even so, the compact dimensions make this an ideal choice for street photography or for travelling light.

Members gallery photos using: HD PENTAX-DA 15mm F4 ED AL Limited

Two lonely people Graham_A_E

Towering Street Art go4IT

Man: The Upside Down Tree go4IT

Not going anywhere! Moonraker

Under Sail swarf

Malham Cove Moonraker

Jodrell Bank Moonraker

Swansea Bay at daybreak Daronl

Durdle Door Moonraker

in the eye of the storm balsembi

paulyrichard paulyrichard

1307 posts
16 years
W. Yorkshire,
UK

Posted 29/10/2013 - 17:21 Link

My GW-3 21mm wide conversion lens on my Ricoh GR performs better than this Pentax lens, and that's not to be thinking it's not a great performer in the first place.
This DA 15mm is another lens (just like the DA 35mm), whereby the images are soft. What is going on?!
The soft edges of the frame at f8 in the initial image, in fact a full third of the image on either side it looks like, is poor; is this why you didn't mention it as a great landscape lens in your verdict? If so, your right!

"All the technique in the world doesn’t compensate for the inability to notice." - Elliott Erwitt

http://paulyrichard.wordpress.com/

Edited by paulyrichard: 29/10/2013 - 17:22

SkilakDeZoo SkilakDeZoo

7 posts
12 years

Posted 01/11/2013 - 07:23 Link

Hi,

My question would be; is it worth buying over the SMC one? How are the rounded blades affect the starburst while shooting straight into the sun?

Thanks,

Add Comment

To leave a comment - Log in to Pentax User or create a new account.