Wide angle / fisheye

[D.S.]

Hi guys, questions about wide angle / fisheye type shots.

I really like the slightly curved look of a lot of shots I see around, usually landscapes but pretty much anything.

Examples lifted from flickr - not mine
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3257/2764474867_923f597b3b.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/104/295804086_e4015b817e.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2262/2214187173_882f227b98.jpg

So whats the difference between wide angle and fish eye? I know fisheye can be really curved, is this adjustable with the lens or is it set?

A chap on a bike forum i'm on posted up a wicked land/skyscape (typically image unavailable on flickr now) and I asked him how he achieved the shot, his answer was "17mm gives the wide look and the perspective"... 17mm, is that something different as well?

Fisheye lenses are bloody pricey arnt that lol

In fact most seem to be bloody pricey lol

I suppose this is really a what lens for what shot sort of question.

Cheers ears!

[Canon Bob]

So whats the difference between wide angle and fish eye? I know fisheye can be really curved, is this adjustable with the lens or is it set?



A fisheye lens is a wideangle but hasn't been optically corrected to counter the usual barrel distortion. If the correction is made then it becomes a standard rectilinear lens. The focal length is not a factor in the design other than wider lenses have more native distortion before correction.

Bob

[D.S.]

Cheers, what would be a good buy for me to achieve those sort of shots?

I have a Nikon D60 body with standard lens kits

[Jimmy_Lemon]

The first two your have posted look like general wide angle shots.

There are a couple of ultra-wide angle lenses around. The cheapest option is generally the Sigma 10-20 which would give you similar shots to the top two. Not sure if Nikon do an ultra-wide angle lens. You will notice lenses that stretch to 17 or 18mm also being classed as wide angle, this is because they are still quite wide, and even wider when stuck on a full frame camera and is a bit of a throw back to 35mm film days I think.

The third looks like it could have been taken using a fish eye adapter, which don't seem too popular, probably because they can be quite soft etc (look at the edges of that 3rd shot). I haven't been able to find any decent looking cheap adapters, but I want one.

You can also create fish eye style shots with a fairly wide angle lens, by joining multiple shots together, like these:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2229/2473166953_f24928f9bc_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tom_holmes/2473166953/)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2267/2441133029_6fe992fe11_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tom_holmes/2441133029/)

It does have its limits however, and the joins can start to show:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2237/2479369298_948182689f_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tom_holmes/2479369298/)

[john-oh]

On the other hand, you can use a fisheye, then 'de-fish' it in software.

http://www.acapixus.dk/software/rectfish/index.htm

http://www.imagetrendsinc.com/products/prodpage_hemi.asp

A selection of fisheye pictures (not mine):

http://www.pbase.com/cameras/sigma/8_35_ex_dg_circular_fisheye

[john-oh]

Whoops ..:nuts:

[Nod]

The same garden, once with a Sigma 12-24 at the wide end...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3090/2765297241_dbb163c8cc_o.jpg

and again but this time with a Sigma 8mm Fisheye

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3215/2765297053_2c20319df1_o.jpg

(Both just resized and sharpened a little)

Then there's this, taken looking straight up. The cliffs are at Branscombe and the blue sliver at the top is the sea, with the blobs on the horizon being the clean-up operation after the MSC Napoli.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3232/2765328195_daa3473eb5_o.jpg

and this, which shows that an 8mm fisheye isn't an ideal portrait lens!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3231/2765338005_0048ee8afd_o.jpg