Thinking Fisheyes

steveo_mcg

steveo_mcg

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Is there such a thing as half decent but not terribly expensive fisheye lens? I'm not too fussy about the mount, I've got M42, OM and Nikon (?) but anything else isn't exactly hard to come by. Probably 35mm, I think the RB67 is a little cumbersome for some of the more interesting fisheye shots. I realise I can probably just get which ever and sell it on but I've not got that much cash sloshing around at the moment to have big chunk tied up in glass.
 
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The Zenitar 16mm f2.8 fisheye gets quite good reviews, about £120 from eBay. Comes in M42 mount.

Been tempted to pick one up myself
 
I looked into this a while back, I was seriously considering getting some of the lens baby kit, but I decided fish eye was a step too far for me and went for a Sigma 10-20 on my crop body in the end.

One thing I found was that most quality lenses have a flickr group, I spent hours on there looking through and found it very helpful!
 
robhooley167 said:
The Zenitar 16mm f2.8 fisheye gets quite good reviews, about £120 from eBay. Comes in M42 mount.

Been tempted to pick one up myself
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Cheers Rob I'll take a look at that.

Brian_of_Bozeat said:
I looked into this a while back, I was seriously considering getting some of the lens baby kit, but I decided fish eye was a step too far for me and went for a Sigma 10-20 on my crop body in the end.

One thing I found was that most quality lenses have a flickr group, I spent hours on there looking through and found it very helpful!
Click to expand...

Good shout Brian, off to flickr I go.
 
steveo_mcg said:
Is there such a thing as half decent but not terribly expensive fisheye lens? I'm not too fussy about the mount, I've got M42, OM and Nikon (?) but anything else isn't exactly hard to come by. Probably 35mm, I think the RB67 is a little cumbersome for some of the more interesting fisheye shots. I realise I can probably just get which ever and sell it on but I've not got that much cash sloshing around at the moment to have big chunk tied up in glass.
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I looked into this recently as I fancied a Hasselblad 30mm fisheye but they are too expensive for a lens that I wouldn't use that much . I also think there is a danger of over using it to justify the cost so I looked into renting one just to get the fisheye bug out of my system. Unfortunately I couldn't find anyone with a 30mm Hassy for rental and so I didn't go down that route but I mention it incase the rental idea works for you?

Mark
 
You need this! http://www.mir.SPAM/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/6070nikkor/fisheyes/75mm56.htm
 
I have a Sigma 8mm fisheye - one of the few (if not the only) AF fisheyes available. It's Nikon mount and gives a complete circular image on 35mm and FF digital (:spit:!) bodies with the top and bottom of the circle cut off on crop bodies. It's got a proper aperture ring and focus ring so can happily be used on pre-AF bodies that don't need bunny eared lenses. It's a screw driven AF lens so not suitable for the later entry level Nikons that lack an in body AF motor (but they're all digital so needn't worry us here!)
 
I have a Sigma made 12mm f8 Fish, wearing the Panomar brand.
If you google it, was offered under a number of brand names in the 70's.
Rep was for good glass; but let down on cost cutting.
f8 max and f11 or f16 via shift plate rather than iris
And no focus control... DoF @ f8 on such SWA means min focus from 3" or so, anyway.
Scour ebay, and look for less common mount, could pick one up; for under £50.
BuT... they are All same lens on essentily a T-adaptor.
Mine was OM but I remounted to M42 for £10.
 
Threeracers said:
Unfortunately I couldn't find anyone with a 30mm Hassy for rental and so I didn't go down that route but I mention it incase the rental idea works for you?

Mark
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Could do rental but that kind of forces the hand when it comes to use.

Nod said:
I have a Sigma 8mm fisheye -
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Cheers Nod but I think thats wayyyy out of budget.

mothdust said:
I quite enjoy using my Opteka fisheye adaptor, if you're looking for something at the lower end of the scale: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bombsandmonitors/7711565294/in/set-72157630792500972
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I'll take a look when I get home, flickr is blocked.


Teflon-Mike said:
I have a Sigma made 12mm f8 Fish, wearing the Panomar brand.
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That looks like my budget! None currently on ebay but I'll keep my eyes open.
 
A couple of years ago I was having the same thoughts and lusting after one of those Arsat fisheyes for my Praktisix medium format SLR - but then I landed one of my best ebay bargains to date. A seller in South Africa had an Olympus 16mm OM fisheye - I was the only one who chanced it and did the deal for £150, which is still close to the most I've paid for a lens. It's a good 'un though and worth at maybe three times what it cost.
 
steveo_mcg said:
That looks like my budget! None currently on ebay but I'll keep my eyes open.
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http://thesybersite.com/general/12mm-fisheye/

Add on ed: (Had to re-boot to fit another key-board!)

If you see linked article, there were two versions of the lens, and sold under variouse trade-names: Accura, Beroflex, Berolina, Panomar, Sigma, Spiratone, Universa, Upsilon, and Vemar. So if you go hunting, don't restrict search to just Sigma or Panomar. They wont come up that often, but they were aparently the more common ameteur fish so you are as likely to find one as anything else.

Turned mine up in the mid 90's at a Camera Fair I chanced on. Its the only one I have ever seen, and at the time, the only fish-eye I had ever seen 'for real'! Despite hours scouring through the second hand cabinets at all the local camera shops around Brum, looking for interesting stuff on M42, particularly UWA!
'Specialist' stuff is SO much more available these days thanks to the net!

But; worth adding to the wish-list and hunting out; WHEN you find one, it's genuine fish-eye for the price of made-in-china fish-eye-distortion filter.

Shame you're north'o'th'wall of you could of had a borrow.
 
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Steven, I know I was very lucky with mine but I did find it for £200 or so (may have been £220) - not too extortionate.
 
@Teflon-Mike yeah I found that when I went looking, I was just searching for 12mm fisheye and ignoring the dross and digi stuff. I'll keep my eyes out for sure.

@Simonx it can be worth the risk but I'd end up really annoyed with myself if I got a £150 lemon.

@Nod that looks like a great deal most of the sigma 's are around 350 at the moment.
 
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I was very lucky to find it! Right place at the right time. It wasn't long after I'd joined - just long enough to have classifieds access. A pro who specializes in 360° type shots had bought 2, with one as a backup just in case. Never needed it so sold it on, still in its plastic bags.
 
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