Pentax 03 Fish-Eye Pro Reviews

The Pentax 03 3.2mm f/5.6 Fisheye may not be designated as such but it really is a "toy" lens. Optically it leaves something to be desired which originates primarily in the small max. aperture - diffraction has simply an extreme impact at f/5.6 based on the small sensor size of the system. The quite high amount of lateral CAs doesn't help either in terms of subjective quality perception. That said it is a fisheye lens which is still capable of taking your breath away due to its immense field-of-view and if you just watch the results at conventional screen resolutions it's "fine enough" - less so for bigger prints. Another feature of the lens, actually of all Q lenses, is the extremely small size and weight - these 29g are simply not noticeable anymore. The build quality is quite fine. Technically you may criticize the plastic mount but objectively it isn't really needed here anyway. The Pentax 03 3.2mm f/5.6 Fisheye is a manual focus lens. However, given its immense depth-of-field and the focus assist feature of the camera this isn't really something to worry about. At about 140EUR/US$ it doesn't cost a fortune so if you already own the system it will not really hurt your wallet. Just don't expect stellar results from it. If you are seeking a higher image quality potential it may make sense to look at e.g. the Fujinon fisheye lenses in C-mount via adapter.