Fisheye lenses

Quininho · 19th May 2010, 12:29 PM

Does anyone own or use one of these. Going to LA and Vegas in September and was thinking about picking one up to get some shots that were a little bit different.

Any recommendations? (I am a Canon man)

clyde · 19th May 2010, 02:15 PM

i use a really old one by ITOREX, it's actually an attachment rather than a lens and screws into the thread on one of my other lenses, similar ones can be found on ebay for pretty cheap, some of them are pretty sharp and others pretty duff.....but if your after a proper fisheye lens then be prepared to pay quite a bit as there not cheap, but they are far superior than the type i use..here is a few pics of mine..

Mercia Blackcat · 19th May 2010, 03:50 PM

While an actual fisheye lens or attachment is obviously the ideal a similar effect can be obtained using software.

For this I used the Paint Shop Pro circle tool although it is debateable whether you obtain a true geometric fisheye effect.

The picture is a murel on the opposite wall inside a canal tunnel.

Of course the angle of view with a fisheye will be greater but this could be used as a cheap stop gap for many pictures.

Roger · 19th May 2010, 08:44 PM

I use a Tokina 10-17 for my 360 panos (on a 400D).

That will give you the curved lines, but isn't wide enough to give the full circle on an APS-C sensor.

Something that will screw into the filter thread like clyde has might be a better bet if you aren't going to use it regularly as fisheyes aren't cheap for occasional use.

smoker · 26th May 2010, 09:24 PM

I've got two, but as I balk at paying 700 quid for a lens, I went for budget options:

1. Zenitar 16mm/f2.8, ~£135 off Russian trader on ebay.

2. Samyang 8mm/f3.5, ~£200 off Polish trader on ebay.

Both are manual only, but I only use them for manual, long exposure work so it's no big deal for me. The Samyang is a really nice lens for the price, holds up well right to the edge of the FOV. It has a pretty good underground reputation in togging circles. The Zenitar is not all that fishy on an APS-C, being 16mm, more like a standard wide lens, a little soft too but nothing Photoshop won't fettle.

If you want the 180 degree circular effect, you will need the Sigma 4.5mm/f2.8 for the crop sensor, or an 8mm circular for 35mm.