Which Fisheye for a Canon full frame camera?

SamJT

SamJT

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Sam
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Hi all,

I'm after a fisheye for creative sports photography shots but was wondering if anyone had experience with any of the mid range fisheyes on the market?

I'd be shooting with a 5D II, having switched from a 1d3 and now not being able to use my old 8mm Samyang Fish.

I'm after something around the £400-£500 mark, second hand and sharpness is a priority, the Samyang was always a bit mushy, even at f8. I've tested a 15mm Sigma fisheye but it wasn't particularly "fishy", and with a 17-40 in the back it seemed like a bit of a waste of money.

Cheers,
Sam
 
Why can you not use the Samyang 8mm? I thought it was the cheap alternative for FF fishiness. My fisheye is the Sigma 8mm f/4 which gives me AF and auto aperture along with a circular image on FF and a slightly cropped circle on a crop body. Sharp enough for my wants/needs and also for the pro I bought it from.
 
Hang on a sec. Do you want to fill the frame with a rectangular image? If so the Sigma 8mm won't do that for you. It's a 'circular fisheye' on a full frame camera so it projects a completely circular image with a 180° field of view. Is that what you want?
 
To be honest I'm not entirely sure what I want... with a 17-40 at 17mm it's almost as wide as a 15mm fisheye, so I think it'd make sense for something wider. In that case, 8mm is the only option I think? A completely circular shot could work, and with 20MP I could crop as well... Even on a 1.3x crop with the old 8mm samyang the frame wasn't filled and I had to crop, but it was super wide.
 
I have 16-35L and My Samyang 14mm is way wider than that of 16-35L @35mm, so how come you said that 17-40 at 17mm is almost as wide as fisheye 15mm? 15mm is wider diagonally than Samyang 14mm.

There is also Canon 8-15mm, give that a test.
 
i've not compared them between two shots set up on the same day, it was just from memory so I might be exaggerating the similarity somewhat! I just remember the 15mm not seeming particularly fishy and that's the effect I'm after. The 8-15 is the dream but oh so pricey!
 
You should get the 8-15 within your budget 2nd hand. New from Hong Kong isn't that much more.
 
simply are crap.

version 2 of samyang has removeable hood, but its not that "fishy"
pelang? is more fishy from memory, wider atleast than samyang
theres lens baby 185 degree and reflections which i fancy, but wont fill a ff sensor

the 235 degree phone lens off ebay is great fun and cheap
 
Canon 8-15 is a wonderful lens.
Surprisingly little flare or CA and good image quality being returned on my 5DIII.
I use 15 most of the time with this lens - 180 deg corner to corner. But 8 is great to have for the occasional funky shot. I've only ever used it at the extreme ends of the zoom range, anything in the middle looks kinda not very deliberate.

I posted my initial thoughts on the lens in this TP thread
https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/canon-8-15-fisheye-im-impressed.495731/
Also - if you haven't already watched it, check out the Digital Rev review video.

Sometimes this lens is just about the only lens that will do the job.
Here's a caving example taken earlier this year - landed me a Distinction at the national caving convention, which I am dead chuffed with :)
20150623-183851-I39A9022-Merged-M.jpg
 
KevC said:
Samyang announced this months ago but it doesn't seem to have surfaced yet. Might do the job.
http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-samyang-12mm-f2-8-ed-as-ncs-fisheye-lens-canon-fit/p1566843
Click to expand...

I'm looking at getting this (for Nikon FF), reviews seems to be good and can be 'de-fished' nicely in software. Sharper and better distortion than other options for Nikon, i'm not sure what fisheyes Canon offer.
Good review & video here: http://www.slrlounge.com/rokinon-12...iew-urbex-extreme-adventure-photography-lens/

No many UK stockists though. WEX do have stock for Nikon mount but i'd be hoping for a bit less than £389 for a Samyang lens.
 
DuncanDisorderly said:
Canon 8-15 is a wonderful lens.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Shame it's probably not within the OP's budget.
DuncanDisorderly said:
I've only ever used it at the extreme ends of the zoom range, anything in the middle looks kinda not very deliberate.
Click to expand...
That depends what format of output you're aiming to achieve. If you want to end up with a 16:9 image, for example, or a square image, or anything other than a default 3:2 image, then you can use the zoom to maximise the number of pixels you have available to use.

13558-1446043069-87cb7c73aa3858f60680ee38d89e11b2.png
 
I know it is not a fish eye but if you are wanting to go wide on a full frame then you could look at the sigma 12-24 mm not sure about new for how much you can spend but should be able pick one up second hand.
 
I would also put a vote in for a used 8-15mm giving you the benefit of both circular image fisheye and a very wide full frame combination in one lens. Has the ability to focus up close - and you could probably pick up a used one for £5-600 if you keep your eyes open :) I liked it even if it was limited use for me...
 
I wish to sell my Sigma 8mm and Canon 15mm to get the Canon 8-15mm, will i be missing the two lenses in favour of this one lens?
 
TareqPhoto said:
I wish to sell my Sigma 8mm and Canon 15mm to get the Canon 8-15mm, will i be missing the two lenses in favour of this one lens?
Click to expand...
In straightforward terms, no. The Canon 8-15mm does the same job as the Sigma 8mm at one end, and the same job as the Canon 15mm at the other end.

But there are two slight issues to be aware of.

The first issue is that the Canon 8-15mm is f/4, whereas the Canon 15mm is f/2.8 and the Sigma 8mm is f/3.5. So you'll be losing between 1/2 a stop and 1 stop of maximum aperture. That might matter to you, it might not.

The second issue is more subtle. Different fisheye lenses can use different projections. By this I mean that the way they map a 180° hemispherical image onto a planar sensor can vary. See the Wikipedia article on fisheye lenses for a more detailed explanation, with illustrations: [click here]. Unfortunately it's hard or impossible to know exactly what projection any one lens uses. So the Canon 8-15mm might look subtly different from the other two, with more or less distortion towards the circumference of the image - or it might not. I would suggest this is unlikely to be a major issue for you though, unless you have a very specific and specialised application.
 
StewartR said:
In straightforward terms, no. The Canon 8-15mm does the same job as the Sigma 8mm at one end, and the same job as the Canon 15mm at the other end.

But there are two slight issues to be aware of.

The first issue is that the Canon 8-15mm is f/4, whereas the Canon 15mm is f/2.8 and the Sigma 8mm is f/3.5. So you'll be losing between 1/2 a stop and 1 stop of maximum aperture. That might matter to you, it might not.

The second issue is more subtle. Different fisheye lenses can use different projections. By this I mean that the way they map a 180° hemispherical image onto a planar sensor can vary. See the Wikipedia article on fisheye lenses for a more detailed explanation, with illustrations: [click here]. Unfortunately it's hard or impossible to know exactly what projection any one lens uses. So the Canon 8-15mm might look subtly different from the other two, with more or less distortion towards the circumference of the image - or it might not. I would suggest this is unlikely to be a major issue for you though, unless you have a very specific and specialised application.
Click to expand...

I am not that much worry about how 180° fishy i might get with Canon 8-15, from what i see it will give me almost same or similar effect of 8mm and 15mm, i am not gonna do very scientific analysis between the three lenses to see the difference, but about that f-stop is matter, and this is why i said if i will miss both lenses due to their f-stop with Canon 8-15 f4, but i have to think a lot about what i use those fish eyes for and where or when, if there are some situations where i need that f-stop and even not enough then definitely 8-15 is not the one, but if most or all my shots are within f4-f11 then maybe the sacrifice isn't bad, but i can't rush yet as i don't use or didn't use fisheye lenses since long time ago.
 
Just worth mentioning....
At 15mm I seem to be able to reliably hand-hold the 8-15 at just 1/10s.
You get a lot of light into the camera at f4, 1/10s; decent depth of field too.

Here's an example taken about a month ago.
Bracketed 5 stops to allow merging afterwards, but the base exposure doesn't look much different.
Base exposure was shot in shutter priority 1/10s, and the 5DIII went with ISO 2000, f4.5 - the walls would have been acceptably sharp at F4 too.
I took quite a few shots here and none have been discarded with camera shake - I was precariously perched across the rift and in danger of falling, so a steady shot was not an option. My 'model' fell several feet before stopping himself and ripped the finger off his glove; it was quite scary for both of us.
Point is that with the 5DIII, 1/10s and a few torches are all you are ever going to need :)
20150915-193942-I39A3266-Merged-M.jpg
 
The canon 8-15 is a formidable beast, and it's one that I tried and know I will purchase one day.
 
Park cameras are doing the 8-15 with 2 years interest free for around the £600 mark.
 
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