Going Fisheye

[fWord]

I've read elsewhere that the EF 15mm f/2.8 fisheye lens is sometimes used on 1.6X crop DSLRs to achieve an ultra wide-angle view, minus a lot of the distortion. Thus, I thought to pose a few questions to the folks here, who will undoubtedly be more experienced than me.

1. Has anyone had any experience with such a setup? Does the fisheye lens give a wider angle of view on the 350D compared to say...the EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 lens?

2. At one point of time, I even considered trading away my EF 70-200mm f/4L to get the funds for this lens, but is a fisheye useful?

3. How much do they usually run 2nd hand?

[JediForce4ever]

i also wan to go fisheye...but got no money for a fisheye lens....

[goering]

If you are thinking of using your fisheye as a replacement for an ultra wide rectilinear lens, then I'd advise against it.

a) The fisheye especially the EF15/2.8 is not cheap. At $1,200+ you can get any ultra wide rectilinear lens on the market now. If you buy the Sigma one, at least it's more reasonably priced at $670 or so

b) There is a lot of post processing work involved. You'll need to defish and in the process, you'll lose sharpness and resolution as the edges of the image must be stretched. Plus, the aspect ratio will change slightly. The process isn't difficult, but if you have lots of images, it can be pretty tedious

The defished image will be about 12mm equivalent on an APS-C sized sensor camera. Thus the EFS 10-22mm will be slightly wider

I bought my Sigma fisheye for some occasions when my 17-35mm lens is not wide enough on my 1.6X camera. Since I do not shoot wide angles much, I do not want to invest in an ultra wide rectilinear lens and for these rare occasions when I need, defishing is alright. And then occasionally, you just want some distortions for fun. That's when the fisheye comes in handy and it does deliver pretty sharp images. With f2.8, it's also very easy to use

However, if you shoot wide angles a lot, and thinking of replacing the rectilinear wide angles with this, I'd say it's not advisable

[fWord]

Originally Posted by JediForce4ever i also wan to go fisheye...but got no money for a fisheye lens....

Heheh...same here. If I do wish to own this lens, I'd need to trade something else away.

[fWord]

Originally Posted by goering If you are thinking of using your fisheye as a replacement for an ultra wide rectilinear lens, then I'd advise against it. a) The fisheye especially the EF15/2.8 is not cheap. At $1,200+ you can get any ultra wide rectilinear lens on the market now. If you buy the Sigma one, at least it's more reasonably priced at $670 or so b) There is a lot of post processing work involved. You'll need to defish and in the process, you'll lose sharpness and resolution as the edges of the image must be stretched. Plus, the aspect ratio will change slightly. The process isn't difficult, but if you have lots of images, it can be pretty tedious The defished image will be about 12mm equivalent on an APS-C sized sensor camera. Thus the EFS 10-22mm will be slightly wider I bought my Sigma fisheye for some occasions when my 17-35mm lens is not wide enough on my 1.6X camera. Since I do not shoot wide angles much, I do not want to invest in an ultra wide rectilinear lens and for these rare occasions when I need, defishing is alright. And then occasionally, you just want some distortions for fun. That's when the fisheye comes in handy and it does deliver pretty sharp images. With f2.8, it's also very easy to use However, if you shoot wide angles a lot, and thinking of replacing the rectilinear wide angles with this, I'd say it's not advisable

Thanks for the detailed response. Initially I was under the impression that the fisheye could give me a wider angle of view on the 350D than even the EF-S 10-22mm. But since it doesn't, it wouldn't really make sense to splurge on it unless I were going full-frame and wanted to specialize in fishy pics.

I also wasn't aware that it'd still need defishing even on a 1.6X crop camera, but perhaps more distortion occurs than what I have gleaned from reading at another site.

[goering]

The normal fisheye (15mm or 16mm) will still not be very wide on a 1.6X crop camera. The defishing is to reduce the distortions as the lines get "bent" especially at the edges of the frame. There is no distortion only at the centre (horizontal axis of symmetry)

If you want a fisheye that is wider than the rectilinear ultra wides on a 1.6X crop camera, you can consider the 8mm circular fisheye. This will be super wide giving you a rectilinear equivalent of 2.5mm lens on an APS-C camera - no rectilinear lens can come near

However, since the circulat fisheye uses only the circular image in the center of the frame, there will be severe vignetting with 4 obvious dark corners and post processing is necessary. Defishing a circular fisheye image requires more post processing and the defished images will be stretched a lot more.

Currently, canon does not make a circular fisheye. Only Sigma and Peleng make them I think the Sigma 8mm F4 circular fisheye goes for $850+. The manual focus Ukrainian made Peleng 8mm F3.5 circular fisheye is much cheaper if you are on a budget

[james m]

Originally Posted by goering You'll need to defish and in the process

why ?

20D | EF 15/2.8FE

[ricohflex]

Canon did make a circular fisheye. It was available in 1986. Probably as early as 1981.
7.5mm f5.6 FD mount.
8 groups 11 elements.
23mm diameter picture in centre
180º view
closest focus 35 cm
rotating turret of filters skylight, Y3, o1, R1, CCA4, CCb4
weight 356grams

So the Russian Peleng 8mm lens now being made in Belarus is no big deal.
Canon made a circular fish eye more than 20 years ago. And the FD is much higher quality too I guess.

[benny]

Originally Posted by ricohflex Canon did make a circular fisheye. It was available in 1986. Probably as early as 1981. 7.5mm f5.6 FD mount. 8 groups 11 elements. 23mm diameter picture in centre 180º view closest focus 35 cm rotating turret of filters skylight, Y3, o1, R1, CCA4, CCb4 weight 356grams So the Russian Peleng 8mm lens now being made in Belarus is no big deal. Canon made a circular fish eye more than 20 years ago. And the FD is much higher quality too I guess.

Not many remember this lens. It's a beauty and I have seen it a used one on sale at the Camera Workshop once. Wish it's still around on the market.

Cheers,

[fWord]

Originally Posted by goering The normal fisheye (15mm or 16mm) will still not be very wide on a 1.6X crop camera. The defishing is to reduce the distortions as the lines get "bent" especially at the edges of the frame. There is no distortion only at the centre (horizontal axis of symmetry) If you want a fisheye that is wider than the rectilinear ultra wides on a 1.6X crop camera, you can consider the 8mm circular fisheye. This will be super wide giving you a rectilinear equivalent of 2.5mm lens on an APS-C camera - no rectilinear lens can come near However, since the circulat fisheye uses only the circular image in the center of the frame, there will be severe vignetting with 4 obvious dark corners and post processing is necessary. Defishing a circular fisheye image requires more post processing and the defished images will be stretched a lot more. Currently, canon does not make a circular fisheye. Only Sigma and Peleng make them I think the Sigma 8mm F4 circular fisheye goes for $850+. The manual focus Ukrainian made Peleng 8mm F3.5 circular fisheye is much cheaper if you are on a budget

Hmm...did I read that correctly or is the 35mm equivalent of a circular fisheye really 2.5mm on the 350D?

How much do the Ukrainian fisheyes go for?

[fWord]

Originally Posted by james m why ? 20D | EF 15/2.8FE

Thanks for those photographs. The distortion is indeed still obvious, but certainly not too distracting. I'm just looking into new lenses for those wide angle shots, but the APS-C cameras are geared towards the telephoto stuff. Did you need to pay $1600 for your lens, as reflected by the price guide in this forum?

[fWord]

Originally Posted by ricohflex Canon did make a circular fisheye. It was available in 1986. Probably as early as 1981. 7.5mm f5.6 FD mount. 8 groups 11 elements. 23mm diameter picture in centre 180º view closest focus 35 cm rotating turret of filters skylight, Y3, o1, R1, CCA4, CCb4 weight 356grams So the Russian Peleng 8mm lens now being made in Belarus is no big deal. Canon made a circular fish eye more than 20 years ago. And the FD is much higher quality too I guess.

Heheh...and I'm guessing that this lens is worth thousands by now. It's quite an old piece of equipment. Any experience with this? Have you seen any on sale?

[fWord]

Originally Posted by benny Not many remember this lens. It's a beauty and I have seen it a used one on sale at the Camera Workshop once. Wish it's still around on the market. Cheers,

Just out of interest, what was its price tag at that time?

[Fireflies]

I have checked out most shops and most sigma 15mm fish eye cost ard $710 to $720
Do u have any idea which shop is selling ard $670?

[JediForce4ever]

have you tried TCW??....

[Fireflies]

sorry, hv not heard of this shop before ? may I know the name in full or any address or contacts ? thanx

Originally Posted by JediForce4ever have you tried TCW??....

[ricohflex]

Originally Posted by fWord Heheh...and I'm guessing that this lens is worth thousands by now. It's quite an old piece of equipment. Any experience with this? Have you seen any on sale?

have not tried. think it costs below $1000 now. maybe only $500?
pictures of it from the malaysian website. mir.com

[fWord]

Originally Posted by ricohflex have not tried. think it costs below $1000 now. maybe only $500? pictures of it from the malaysian website. mir.com

Whoa...$500? I thought it would be a collectors item, hence be at a very high price. But since it's so old, I'm guessing that its only manual focus.