There is none better than the Russian Zenitar 16/2.8, super-sharp, well-made and cheap.

Although on an APS-C crop DSLR (in common with all full-frame fish-eyes) it's really more of an ultra-wide lens with a lot of barrel distortion

R

The following picture is on Bojidar's site:




R

I have both silver and black limiteds and the black finish is definitely more easily scratched. The silver finish seems pretty bullet proof (not that I've tested them to that extent!)

Personally, I also think the silver finish looks classier

R

The other genuine benefit of full-frame cameras (like the Nikon D3 or even the old Canon 5D) is the much superior noise performance compared to APS-C ones. Images from the D3 are staggeringly good at high-ISO!

I, for one, would love Pentax (or Samsung) to release a full-frame camera, but I'm not sure I'll be able to afford it

With the right glass, the K20D already gives me better quality images than I was getting with scanned 35mm film (apart from maybe using K25), so there's no need for me to buy anything else anyway.

With all the debate about full-frame, I recently tested all my DA lenses on an old film camera (sad I know :blush.
Only the DA300 was fully usable. They all vignetted to a greater or lesser degree, apart from the DA40, which had really bad smearing in the corners until stopped down to f5.6.

R

Iceblinker's £1 postage sounds entirely reasonable to me, he does have to cover his costs after all...

However, I do object when people try and charge double (or more!) of their actual costs and in my experience sellers that screw you on the postage are usually screwing you on the item as well

R

My DA14 came with what looks like an M-series cap, so yours may well actually be the genuine item!

The DA14 was first made in 2004 and pre-dates the pinch-style caps by a few years I'm also not sure that Pentax ever made a 77mm F-series cap.

R

I've looked at some full-resolution raw's from the K15 and they were very soft in the corners. The 16-45 @ 16mm looks considerably better and would be a lot cheaper

I have quite a few classic wide-angles and they all suck on digital (generally all a bit soft). That's why I sold my A20 recently, the DA21 is so much better (& smaller). However, I will probably live to regret this when the Pentax/Samsung full-frame body comes out next year

The only exception is the Zenitar 16 which is fabulous on digital, although this is a fisheye.

R

My original *ist-D suffered from back focus in both AF and MF, indicating the sensor was in the wrong position vertically.

The effect was most noticeable with wide-angle lenses (as the "depth of focus" at the film/sensor plane is progressively smaller as focal length decreases).

I sent it back to Pentax and they adjusted the alignment and it's been spot on ever since.

It sounds like your DS might have the same problem

HTH,
R

The white marks look like bubbles in the glass - quite common in Russian optics, but I've never seen any in a Japanese lens :

R

I'm continually impressed by how good it is on digital Even on the K20D, it's sharpness and rendering quality are more than up to the task once stopped down below f2.8. It's also very compact - about half the size and weight of the DA14. There's a fair bit of cyan/yellow CA, but that's easily removed in Silkypix.

It's not so good on film as it's soft round the edges (happily the bit that gets cropped off in APS-C ).

R