Fish Eye!! - Or not??

[mooty2]

I have a Samsung GX20 and am looking at buying a wide angle lens - mainly for the great outdoors scenery/landscapes etc.
I currently only have the standard 18-55mm, but am looking at the following:
-Sigma 10-20mm
-Pentax 10-17mm
-Samsung 12-24mm
-Tamron 10-24mm
Does anyone have any advice on these, also many are fish-eye lenses-does this make a huge difference when taking these kinds of photos? Is it best to have a fish-eye, or not? Any advice welcome!

 

[karmagarda]

I would only get a fisheye if you're looking for funky photographs. For landscape and scenery etc get a "normal" wide angle. Sigma 10-20mm is excellent on other makes, but not sure how it compares to the samsung and pentax to be honest

 

[HoppyUK]

None of those lenses is a fish-eye. Fish-eyes are not zooms, they have a 180 degrees field of view, and very strong barrel distortion, ie straight lines near the edges of the picture are curved.

Fish-eyes have their uses but tend to be a bit gimmicky. They're not what you're looking for. Out of the lenses you've listed, they are probably all fairly similar. Go with whichever lens best suits your budget.

 

[arclight]

Note that the Pentax 10-17mm does not have a filter thread.
Don't know about the others.

 

[PsiFox]

For landscapes and scenery a 10-20 or similar will be fine. Definitely not a fisheye though too wide a view.

hi fellow lincs person

 

[Flash In The Pan]

None of those lenses is a fish-eye.

The Pentax 10-17 is a fisheye, it's a rebranded version of the Tokina.....

Note that the Pentax 10-17mm does not have a filter thread.
Don't know about the others.

True, however you can still fit filters to them as the built-in hood has a "thread" which will accept a 46mm filter. That said, it's not ideal as you have to wrap tape around the side to block the scalloped sections of the hood and it limits use to 15mm and up.

On reflection, it's totally pointless.

 

[mooty2]

Thanks for your posts guys, you've been a great help - I think I will leave the fish-eyes alone for now, thanks again for your feedback!

 

[Mud]

I had a Sigma 10-20 and didn't like the rectilinear distortion. I now have a Nikon 10.5/2.8...I think the fisheye distortion with the verticals corrected (hemi photoshop plugin) is often more natural looking than the rectlinear distortion of an extreme wideangle, but I'm bound to get some flak for that.

 

[LongLensPhotography]

Pentax 11-16mm f/2.8 (Tokina on steroids) is as good as you will get. 12-24mm version maybe a cheaper nick at the expense of 1mm and 1 stop.

I truly hated Sigma test copy, very soft indeed.

 

[HoppyUK]

The Pentax 10-17 is a fisheye, it's a rebranded version of the Tokina.....

So it is!

I just thought that you couldn't get a zoom fish-eye, as it has to have 180 degrees field of view, but I see how it works now.

Thanks for that, and apologies.