HD Pentax-DA Fisheye 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 ED Lens Announced

Ricoh announces the updated version of its HD Pentax-DA Fisheye 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 ED Lens with new coatings and a more modern exterior.

The lens is equivalent to 15-25.5mm when mounted on APS-C bodies. It has the same optics and screw-drive AF system as the original model, with the main change being the addition of HD and SP (Super Protective) coatings. The appearance of the lens has been updated to fit newer Pentax bodies, and it now features a removable hood.

The 10-17mm has 10 elements (including ED glass), a six-blade aperture, minimum focus distance of 14cm (5.5″) and a 180° angle-of-view at its wide end. This compact lens is just 80mm (2.8″) long and it weighs in at 317g (11.2oz).

The HD-Pentax DA fisheye 10-17mm F3.5-4.5 ED lens will be released in late July for $499. Check availability at B&H Photo and Amazon.

What’s improved:

“The development of this new zoom lens was based on smc PENTAX-DA FISH-EYE10-17mmF3.5-4.5ED, while conducting a thorough review of lens coatings. The high-grade, multi-layer HD Coating has been applied to the optical elements for high-contrast images with edge-to-edge sharpness and free of flare and ghost images. The exterior has been totally redesigned to match the design of the latest PENTAX K-mount digital SLR models, and also to make its lens hood removable. When mounted on a PENTAX K-1 or PENTAX K-1 Mark II camera body, the photographer can remove the lens hood to produce nearly circular fish-eye images.”

Sample photos can be found here., Press text here.

HD Pentax-DA Fisheye 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 ED Lens Specifications:

HD Pentax-DA Fisheye 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 ED Lens Additional Information

HD Coating to enhance imaging power

After a thorough review of lens coatings, PENTAX applied HD Coating* — PENTAX’s latest multi-layer coating — to the lens. Compared to conventional multi-layer coatings, this high-performance, multi-layer coating reduces average reflectance in the visible light range by more than 50 percent and improves light transmittance, to minimize the adverse effects of flare and ghost images even in demanding lighting conditions such as backlighting. This zoom lens also incorporates an Extra-low Dispersion (ED) glass element to effectively compensate for chromatic aberration for extra-clear, high-contrast images.
* HD is the abbreviation of High Definition.

Zoom range covering the fish-eye angle

When mounted on a PENTAX digital SLR camera body, this zoom lens provides a 180-degree diagonal angle of view in the APS-C format at a focal length of 10mm to deliver eye-catching fish-eye images. Since the angle of view shifts dramatically with a slight change of focal length, the photographer can easily create visual expressions typical of an ultra-wide-angle lens, such as exaggerated perspective, deformed subjects and a pan-focus effect to capture the entire image field in focus.

New exterior design to match latest digital SLR models

While retaining the overall size of the original smc PENTAX-DA FISH-EYE10-17mmF3.5-4.5ED, this zoom lens features a totally new exterior design, similar to that of the latest DA- and D FA-series lenses. This new appearance also makes it a perfect partner for the newest K-series digital SLR models. Although it is an ultra-wide-angle zoom lens, it has been designed to be extremely compact and lightweight. The removeable lens hood allows for nearly circular fish-eye images* to expand the range of photographic expressions, when mounted on a PENTAX K-1 or PENTAX K-1 Mark II camera body.
* When the lens hood is removed with the Crop Function set to FF mode, there may be vignetting and/or lowered imaging performance at the edges of the image field, because the resulting image contains elements outside the lens’s image circle.

SP Coating to repel stains

SP (Super Protect) Coating, highly repellent to water, grease and dirt, has been applied to the lens’s front surface using a PENTAX-exclusive fluorine deposition process, making it easy to wipe off any stains such as fingerprints. This frees the photographer from worries in outdoor photography.

Other features

I. Quick-Shift Focus System, to provide instant shift to manual-focus operation after locking the subject in focus during AF operation by pressing the shutter-release button halfway down; usable at any time during AF operation
II. A minimum focusing distance of 14 centimeters, allowing the photographer to move in as close as approximately 2.5 centimeters from the front end of the lens to the subject, for ultra-close-up photography

What’s in the box:

• HD PENTAX-DA FISH-EYE10-17mmF3.5-4.5ED
• LENS HOOD PH-RBA60
• LENS CAP O-LW70A
• LENS MOUNT CAP K
• LENS CASE S80-120