List Price: $649.95
Sale Price: $564.95
Today's Bonus: 13% Off
A great wide lens, it is unique if you are looking at a prime with AF. And this was a deal breaker for me.
What does this review add to the other 8 reviews:
how does the lens keep its value over time (has not been mentioned in any of the previous reviews)
list of available alternatives
no one has mentioned the drawbacks of small form-factor
"dust magnet" behavior of the inner lining of the hood(this was the biggest issue for me (other than the fact that 15mm happened to be too wide for me)
Alternatives:
1. AF primes: Pentax-DA 14mm F2.8 more expensive, much bigger, may be too wide for many
2. wide-angle zooms by various manufacturers (Pentax, Tokina, Sigma, Tamron) Usually those are 12-24mm or 10-24mm. Some reviews claim some of those zooms are superior to the 15mm f4. Here is the list of available zooms in that range:
Cheaper than the 15mm f4 Limited: Tamron 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 Di II
Similarly priced ones: Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC HSM
More expensive ones: Sigma 10-20mm F3.5 EX DC HSM, SMC Pentax-DA 12-24mm F4 ED AL [IF]
3. manual primes:
Cheaper than the 15mm f4 Limited: Samyang (Bower) 14mm F2.8 ED AS IF UMC
More expensive ones: Sigma 14mm F2.8 EX Aspherical Rectilinear
There are other lenses however most of them have been discontinued and are hard too find. Note: cheaper vs more expensive above refers to Brand New offerings. If you are looking for used those lenses do not keep their value as well as the 15mm f4 Limited and thus can be purchased much cheaper (sometimes).
My buyng/selling reasoning:
Purchased one because I used to shoot wide a lot (~28mm in 35mm equivalent).
Sold mine because it did not see much use. Found myself to be much more comfortable with a fast zoom (Tamron 17-50 f2.8). 17mm happened to be wide enough and I really needed 50mm for portraits and 50mm is what use most of the time now). 15mm f4 still remains on my list only after I have a "normal" prime (28-35mm), a "portrait" lens (55-77mm). Maybe another fast zoom 50-135mm f2.8. Then I will consider another super-wide lens and if the prices stay the same, I will go for the 15mm limited again.
Image Quality:
The lens did not disappoint me. Distortions are smaller than I have ever seen. Of course if you will have people close to the edge of the frame it will be noticeable. For nature and architecture not an issue imho. There are a lot of technical reviews on this subject.
Experience with the lens/Handling:
Build quality is excellent. Size very small. So small it might be a disadvantage for some (for instance if you have big hands and like to hold onto the lens when composing). Even with my small hands it seemed too small on the K-5 body. (still, the small size is more a positive for me than negative).
Be carefull:
when using a polarizer with this lens: the field of coverage is so wide, the light is coming from completely different angles within the frame and might create unnatural effects with polarizer attached
compose carefully. Due to 15mm being very wide you have to watch for close objects squeezing within the frame.
Issues:
Most annoying for me was the felt lining of the inner side of the hood and lens cap. It is a dust magnet! Maybe that's the purpose of it, but it is quite hard to protect it from accumulating dust and removing dust from there. It might become an issue, as the dust particles on the inner side of the hood might cause some unwelcome light reflections (never heard of it happening though).
The major reason I have decided to sell this lens was that 15mm happened to be too wide for me.
Detailed score:
Sahrpness: 10, observed no issues here for my use of the lens
Aberrations: 9, unavoidable distortions for such a wide lens, noticeable when people close to the side of the frame
Bokeh: 4. I'm not an expert here. Not sure one should be talking about bokeh for such a wide f4 lens at all. I would qualify the 15mm f4 limited bokeh as flat and uninspiring. Though maybe this is what it should be for a wide lens.
Autofocus: 10 Spot-on and quick, no AF fine-tuning required on my K-5.
Handling: 8: Size advantage becomes a "con", so small it is. It also feels awkward on the K-5 body. Lack of aperture ring is a big drawback for me too (of course no DA lenses have an aperture ring if I remember correctly).
Value: 6. It is hard to talk about "Value" when there is not much to compare this lens too due to its uniqueness. Compared to the Pentax own 14mm f2.8 it seems good value, though not great and thus 6 points only. Considering there are a bunch of manual focus fisheyes at similar focal lengths at much cheaper prices (< $100), this isn't good value. Old manual rectilinear primes also can be found at lower prices. Good quality zooms offer stiff competition too, making the value of this lens less. Overall the price I payed (before the April 1 2012 Pentax price increase) was "good value" however one might expect even better value for a prime, while in this case zooms of similar image quality cost the same (sometimes even less).
Another BIG "pro" which was a big decisive factor for me as well:
When it was being offered brand new at ~$500 in the US the lens kept its value very well! And I believe this will stay like that for some time, due to uniqueness of this lens. We need to see what will happen with the resale price of this lens after the recent price increases.
Conclusion:
Despite a few negative notes in my review and despite the fact I have sold the lens, I strongly recommend it. For its niche, this is the absolutely right lens. It delivers and owners love it. Furthermore, it does not depreciate as many other lenses do. Which means you can buy it, play with it and if it doesn't fit your style, sell it with little loss!!!! (Of course if you buy it at a good price, which is not available in all regions unfortunately note I have purchased the lens BEFORE recent price increase on Pentax lenses)
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