Ricoh Coats Pentax Fisheye Zoom Lens

2019.07.08

Today Ricoh announced newly finished version of their classic fisheye zoom. The Pentax HD DA 10-17mm F/3.5-4.5 Fisheye features the same pioneering optics as the original with HD coating to reduce flare and a revised exterior to match the aesthetics of current Pentax lenses.

This is an incredible lens that projects a 180° field-of-view into a APS-C rectangular area at its widest but also zooms in down to 100°. This makes it among the most versatile fisheye lenses in existence. Given the extremely wide field-of-view of fisheye lenses, flare is a common issue, so the addition of HD coating is bound to improve this lens even further.

The other change in the HD version is that the hood is removable. For APS-C cameras, this serves little purpose given how exposed the front lens element becomes but the new Pentax HD DA 10-17mm F/3.5-4.5 Fisheye can now be used as a Circular Fisheye on a Full-Frame camera.

Specification wise, the new lens is identical to its predecessor with a 14cm minimum focus distance which gives a 0.39X magnification. Zoom is external, while focus is internal. It's weight is 317g, just a 3g difference from its predecessor.

The Pentax HD DA 10-17mm F/10-17mm Fisheye is expected to ship later this month for $499 USD. B&H Photo is accepting pre-orders. They won't charge your credit card until the lens ships and this can put you among the first to get this new lens.

• Lens