Some few months back, I did a quick review on a newly acquired DA15 and the conclusion was that I thought I should really give it a bit more time to prove its worth (before which I was pretty disappointed with its first shots and even condemned it as a "white elephant").
I took it for a recent holiday in China and I guess it has impressed me more than any of the other limiteds, quickly becoming a favourite and earned a reputation the perfect travel/street/walkaround lens over other primes for me. Basically the FOV is so versatile, I'd been converted to a wide-angle guy - you seldom have to take steps back to get things in frame. Optically, the sharpness is pretty decent even wide open, it retains the characteristic DA limited rendering and have low distortions and abberations.
Here's some of the sample pics (all happened to be taken wide-open at f4):
Close-ups
Bokeh can be a bit charateristic. Else the centre sharpness is pretty decent.
Composing for a table shot is a breeze.
Streets
This scene did not look as tranquil and cool as I thought. Must be due to the rendering. Ha.
Composes nicely for streets and good for a handheld night shot. Erm, no prizes for noticing the "Pentax" advertisement sign.
Abstract
Just point and shoot and chances are that you'll get something decent.
Like they had always said, forget the lab tests. Go shoot in the field and you'll learn the truth and capability of a lens.
I took it for a recent holiday in China and I guess it has impressed me more than any of the other limiteds, quickly becoming a favourite and earned a reputation the perfect travel/street/walkaround lens over other primes for me. Basically the FOV is so versatile, I'd been converted to a wide-angle guy - you seldom have to take steps back to get things in frame. Optically, the sharpness is pretty decent even wide open, it retains the characteristic DA limited rendering and have low distortions and abberations.
Here's some of the sample pics (all happened to be taken wide-open at f4):
Close-ups
Bokeh can be a bit charateristic. Else the centre sharpness is pretty decent.
Composing for a table shot is a breeze.
Streets
This scene did not look as tranquil and cool as I thought. Must be due to the rendering. Ha.
Composes nicely for streets and good for a handheld night shot. Erm, no prizes for noticing the "Pentax" advertisement sign.
Abstract
Just point and shoot and chances are that you'll get something decent.
Like they had always said, forget the lab tests. Go shoot in the field and you'll learn the truth and capability of a lens.
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