[Closed] Nikon fisheye help

Do you want a [u]true[/u] "bendy world" fish eye, or just a wide angle lens?

If it is the latter then the Sigma 10-20mm is a nice lens.

If it is the latter then the Sigma 10-20mm is a nice lens.

+ 1

I 've got one of these.Very good.

As is the nikon 12-24mm lens, again its a wide angle and not a, imo, rather gimmicky fish eye. Its aabout £600 though IIRC.

a bendy world prime lens is what i'm after as my kit lens goes pretty wide angle at 18. i'd probably be after a 16mm one

You want a 10.5mm Nikon fisheye if you want a bendy lens on a crop sensor camera. I quite fancy one myself for the odd whacky wedding shot...

Sigma also do a true fisheyes at 8, 10 and 15mm but don't know much about them other than they use rear mounted, tiny, gelatin filters and will be cheaper than the above. They are also slower than the Nikon.

A regular Nikon 16mm (made for 35mm cameras) just ain't gonna give you the distortion you want.

EDIT: just been having a quick gander on ebay and there's not much in it price wise between the Sigmas and the Nikon.

A fisheye is a lens designed with intentional distortion . . . NOT simply a wide angle lens.

on a crop sensor camera you need something like the Nikkor 10.5mm fisheye . . . a 10-20mm sigma is not a fisheye, it's a rectilinear wide angle (ie. one that tries to minimise distortion) . . . you should be sure you really want a fisheye tho' . . . personally I like them . . . but of overused they can look, well, very overused . . .

This is from a 10.5mm on a nikon crop . . .

[img] [/img]

I use a 16mm fish on a nikon full frame from time to time now which is basically the same but only on an FF camera, wouldn't work on a crop body . . .

I'd love to do some MTB action stuff on a fisheye . . . needs a bit of setting up tho . . .

Fd

a bendy world prime lens is what i'm after as my kit lens goes pretty wide angle at 18

Actually 18mm isn't very wide on a D80.

Tokina 11-16 f2.8 is a cracking lens, I love mine. It's not a fisheye though, just a very wide lens (the lens distortion corrects very well in PT lens)

For a true bendy then you could go for a Peleng fisheye, it's 8mm so full circular on a 35mm chip but just cropped on an D80 chip

they are cheap as chips too but i don't think they'll meter on a D80, obviously you get's what you pays for so the Nikon 10.5 fisheye will be far superior in quality.

Tokina 11-16 at 11mm

[url= http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4013/4410249235_298c4bfd6e.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4013/4410249235_298c4bfd6e.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

Peleng on D300

[url= http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3143/3084457722_f2f32462d1.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3143/3084457722_f2f32462d1.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

Peleng on a D70 (fully manual with wireless flash, takes some getting right)

[url= http://farm1.static.flickr.com/88/240310363_86b0dfa986.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm1.static.flickr.com/88/240310363_86b0dfa986.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

Realistically, how much usage are you going to get out of it. The effect palls pretty quickly, and since you say you want value for money, I'd say you won't get it from a fisheye because in all likelihood it's going to sit on a shelf most of the time.
Buy one of the wide angles mentioned above, especially if you're limited to the kit lens at 18mm on the wide end- going to 10 or 11mm makes a huge difference to what's in the frame, and the perspective.

Tamron have a tool [url= http://www.tamron.eu/en/lenses/focal-length-comparison.html ]here [/url]which gives you an idea of how things vary with the change in focal length.

i'd forgotten about the cropped sensor in the d80, it's a good point.
i'd not really thought about a super wide angle and you're probably all right in that it'd get a lot more use. that tamron tool is pretty cool, i didnt think 8mm would make that much more difference!

thanks for the ideas guys, decisions decisions! i may go for the sigma 10-20mm after all altho i DO like the above fisheye shots 😀

I've got both a normal wide angle (Sigma 10-20mm) and a proper fisheye (Pentax 10-17mm fisheye zoom). Both are great lenses but the Sigma gets used for at least 20x as many shots as the fisheye does. The fisheye is small and light so is always in my bag though. It wasn't too expensive and it's a really fun lens:
[img] [/img]

If you keep the horizon in the centre then you can get normal looking shots with it as well:
[img] [/img]

You can also de-fish using software, although it does introduce some optical aberations:
[img] [/img]

I got mine from Singapore as my wife was there with work and I'd arranged with one of the shops to get the lens in.

The Sigma 10-20 is excellent for the price - it's one of my most used lenses:
[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

looks like the sigma would be a wiser choice then and arranging for it to be in one of the shops there would be a good idea too. is there a way of 'fisheyeing' a normal photo through post processing?
how bulky/heavy is the sigma?

I did see an attachment that would convert a normal lens to a fisheye style in a non photography shop, think it was about £60-70, so not cheap, but I had a look round the internet & couldn't find any information.

Nikkor true fish-eye lenses are stupidly expensive new; even second hand they can be silly money. I don't even know if fish-eyes are made any more. I think the 6mm one was £30,000 made to order or something!

[img] [/img]

A bit bulky, too!

+1 for the Sigma here too (although the Canon variety) it's a cracking lens!

I do still have an odd hankering for a fisheye too though, not too sure why either as people say they are a bit gimicky and I'm trying to travel with fewer lenses rather than more!

Got the Sigma 10-20 and love the wide angle it gives on a Canon crop sensor, but hate the bendy eye look

Makes me feel queasy looking at those pics, bloody glad I ain't a fish

Another option is the Tokina 11-17mm fisheye zoom.

It's a fisheye, but also zoom (clue in the name!). The zoom makes it much more flexible and you can 'wind down' the fisheye effect, which is very specific and easy to overplay.

I love it and have some of my favourite shots from it. Very crisp and sharp too, build quality it great.

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

Originals on my Flickr stream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gravity_slaves/