#235500 - 28/09/2004 22:02
new toy: fisheye lens
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 30/04/2000
Posts: 3810
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I've been itching to get one of these for a while now, so I finally broke down and ordered it. The best part is that you can "defish" the results in software (using the freeware PanoTools), getting you a fantastic rectilinear wide-angle lens as well. You start with this (pardon my ugly office...):  Then, you end up with this:  I'm not sure which I'd call more distorted, but at least all the straight lines are straight...
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#235501 - 28/09/2004 22:03
Re: new toy: fisheye lens
[Re: DWallach]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 24/01/2002
Posts: 3937
Loc: Providence, RI
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Quote:
Then, you end up with this:
Dude, I want that flat panel.
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#235504 - 29/09/2004 00:13
Re: new toy: fisheye lens
[Re: DWallach]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 12/02/2002
Posts: 2298
Loc: Berkeley, California
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Which one did you get? I've been looking at the Peleng as a fun toy to play with. Do post a defished picture so we can see how that works.
Matthew
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#235505 - 29/09/2004 08:53
Re: new toy: fisheye lens
[Re: matthew_k]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 17/01/2002
Posts: 3996
Loc: Manchester UK
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Do post a defished picture so we can see how that works.
Isn't that what the second one is?
_________________________
Cheers,
Andy M
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#235506 - 29/09/2004 10:14
Re: new toy: fisheye lens
[Re: andym]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 16/04/2002
Posts: 2011
Loc: Yorkshire UK
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At the moment, it looks more like a dentist's job than a de-fisher.
I had a fisheye in the age of my enthusiasm to be a top name in 35mm. photography, but once you've pointed it up all your friends nostrils, I'm, afraid the novelty wore of.
Those parallax, estate agent's lenses are much more fun.
_________________________
Politics and Ideology: Not my bag
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#235507 - 29/09/2004 12:36
Re: new toy: fisheye lens
[Re: boxer]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 27/02/2004
Posts: 1919
Loc: London
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I had a fisheye in the age of my enthusiasm to be a top name in 35mm. photography
I too bought a Fisheye many years ago it was a Zuiko 16mm with three built in filters for my OM4Ti at great cost, used it twice from what I remember. Any offers....
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#235508 - 29/09/2004 12:52
Re: new toy: fisheye lens
[Re: andym]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 12/02/2002
Posts: 2298
Loc: Berkeley, California
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Quote:
Isn't that what the second one is?
Damn, I don't know how I missed that. I guess I was expecting a bit less distortion, or perhaps I've forgotten how to read.
Matthew
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#235509 - 29/09/2004 12:56
Re: new toy: fisheye lens
[Re: tahir]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 16/04/2002
Posts: 2011
Loc: Yorkshire UK
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OM4Ti
I can't remember if it was my OM2, or the Canon immediately before the EOS. However, none of them turned me in to the Henri Carter Bresson of the age: I fear it could have been the guy at the viewfinder end that was not up to the job!
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Politics and Ideology: Not my bag
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#235510 - 29/09/2004 13:09
Re: new toy: fisheye lens
[Re: matthew_k]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 30/04/2000
Posts: 3810
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Quote:
Which one did you get? I've been looking at the Peleng as a fun toy to play with. Do post a defished picture so we can see how that works.
This is the 10.5mm Nikon DX fisheye, meant to work with the Nikon digital camera's smaller image sensor, defished with the freeware PanoTools (although Nikon will be happy to sell you their own defishing software as part of the $100 Nikon Capture).
The goal really isn't to point it up people's nostrils, although it's certainly tempting. I'm more interested in various and sundry artistic effects. When you use these things outside, you don't necessarily even realize that you're looking at a fisheye image. Of course, the ability to defish the lens was the real clincher for me. Back in high school, I owned a 17mm super-wideangle Sigma lens that I loved (although the yearbook editor chastised me for overusing it). Now, I can get either weird fisheye effects, or defish it and have a fantastic super-wide, all in one lens (and for much less money than the 12-24mm wide zoom).
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#235511 - 29/09/2004 14:52
Re: new toy: fisheye lens
[Re: boxer]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 30/04/2000
Posts: 3810
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Quote:
Those parallax, estate agent's lenses are much more fun.
Nikon offers two such lenses: an 85mm f/2.8 and a 28mm f/3.5, both manual focus, and both over $1000 (although the grey market 28mm lens is a bit cheaper).
Unfortunately, with the 1.5x crop, the wide angle lens just isn't terribly wide angle any more. The poor man's solution is to fix the perspective digitally. There's a nice page at photo.net that details the whole process. If I had a bigger budget (both in time and in money), then I'd probably investigate the large format world. If you want to tilt your lens and do all kinds of other corrections, nothing beats a view camera. Of course, you give up a certain amount of convenience.
Still, think how much fun you could have wearing a trenchcoat and a fedora and carrying around a Horseman with those big flash bulbs.
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#235512 - 29/09/2004 14:56
Re: new toy: fisheye lens
[Re: boxer]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 27/02/2004
Posts: 1919
Loc: London
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the Canon immediately before the EOS.
The T90 maybe? That was about as high spec a camera you could get in manual focus. Had a couple of EOS's too, a 600 and an RT (almost silent)
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#235513 - 29/09/2004 15:07
Re: new toy: fisheye lens
[Re: DWallach]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 24/01/2002
Posts: 3937
Loc: Providence, RI
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Still, think how much fun you could have wearing a trenchcoat and a fedora and carrying around a Horseman with those big flash bulbs.
Homeland Security would be all over you.
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#235514 - 29/09/2004 17:01
Re: new toy: fisheye lens
[Re: DWallach]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 30/04/2000
Posts: 3810
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Here's a slightly better looking example. First, the original:  And, defished with perspective correction:  There's some chromatic abberation around the left edge of the statue's pedistal which was exasperated by the image processing, but it's still pretty cool that it's possible at all. I think I actually prefer the original fisheye version.
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#235515 - 29/09/2004 17:03
Re: new toy: fisheye lens
[Re: DWallach]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31600
Loc: Seattle, WA
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What's the field of view, from edge to edge, on those images?
Seems to me like you could almost do a complete skybox for a video game background with only two or three photos.
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#235516 - 29/09/2004 18:57
Re: new toy: fisheye lens
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 30/04/2000
Posts: 3810
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For this lens, the horizontal field of view is 142 degrees and the vertical field of view is 94 degrees -- typical numbers for a "180 degree diagonal fisheye" lens. The other style of fisheye is a "circular" fisheye. These get 180 degrees in every direction. The resulting image is a circle rather than a rectangle. If you have two photos in opposite directions, then you've got a complete 360-degree environment map.
The guys who do kite photography do this to get beautiful panoramas. The kite shoots down at the ground, and then the photographer, holding the same camera later, shoots straight up in the sky.
Another way you can do it is to have a mirror ball. Here's a fascinating page with closeup mirror-ball panoramas.
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#235517 - 29/09/2004 19:13
Re: new toy: fisheye lens
[Re: DWallach]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31600
Loc: Seattle, WA
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I was wondering how they got those kite photos to show the sky without the kite in it. Heh.
Okay, those mirror-ball things are cool.
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#235518 - 29/09/2004 19:31
Re: new toy: fisheye lens
[Re: tfabris]
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old hand
Registered: 20/03/2002
Posts: 729
Loc: Palo Alto, CA
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I was wondering how they got those kite photos to show the sky without the kite in it.
Looks like they got sloppy with this one. 
_________________________
- trs
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#235519 - 30/09/2004 06:03
Re: new toy: fisheye lens
[Re: DWallach]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 13/02/2002
Posts: 3212
Loc: Portland, OR
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Quote:
I think I actually prefer the original fisheye version.
Same here. I think it's because the background building balances the photo out much better than when it's all tiny. 
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