Fellowship of the fisheye

Geoff_M

DIS Veteran, DVC Member, "Cum Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
Joined
Sep 13, 2000
Well, we're back home now after a 2+ week stay. Here's some stuff I took in the last couple of days:

The Briar Patch shop next to Splash:
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Dumbo:
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Lights, Camera...:
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Wilderness Lodge:
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Test Track (no rain storm outside this time!):
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My new Pentax 10-17mm fisheye lens (identically optically to the Tokina one available in other mounts) arrived Saturday and I was able to use it on a trip to Seabreeze, a small local amusement park, later that day. I ended up using it a lot of the time and had a real blast with it - it's really a fun, fun lens!

Seabreeze is kind of a neat old park. It's very old (opened in 1879) and fairly small but this gives it a nostalgic charm. The tragedy of the park is that in 1994, they had a terrible fire which destroyed their 1915 carousel as well as the one-of-11 Wurlitzer 165 organ. Fortunately, just two years later, the new carousel and organ were in place. The carousel re-used the horses that survived the fire, and all the others were hand-carved - possibly the last carousel that will ever be made this way. The organ is a Belgian-built replica constructed around an original Wurlitzer tracker, and they now have the largest collection of Wurlitzer 165 rolls in the world.

Our trip was the first time we let my son Jack ride any amusement rides rides by himself, which he enjoyed...

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He also got his very first rollercoaster ride, on the kiddie "Bear Trax" coaster. That's him in the second-to-last row with his mommy.

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He had so much fun that he ended up riding it five times! And he was always pretty unhappy to get off when the ride was over. Poor kid! Fortunately lines were short...

Here's a fisheye photo from the carousel...

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A detail photo from the top of the carousel.

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Here's a shot of the organ, this is with the fisheye lens at 17mm for minimal fisheye distortion.

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The other real showpiece of Seabreeze is the Jack Rabbit, built in 1920 and now the fourth-oldest coaster in the world. And it's still a blast!

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One last carousel shot, more fun with the fisheye... no tripod here, just resting the camera on the rail surrounding the ride.

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And a final park shot, here's the train with the log flume ride in the background.

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All in all, a fun afternoon and a really fun new lens, I can't wait to play with it at Disneyland! :thumbsup2
 
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the lens looks good...one of the ones i am considering so glad about that:lmao: and looks like the family had a good time!
did you do much pp? wondering how the ca is straight from the camera as it looks good on the posted photos
 


the lens looks good...one of the ones i am considering so glad about that:lmao: and looks like the family had a good time!
did you do much pp? wondering how the ca is straight from the camera as it looks good on the posted photos
I haven't noticed any shifted colors yet but I have seen a little purple fringing, which was was my biggest concern as that was the only real knock I could find on the lens - and it's apparently nearly unavoidable once you get a lens as wide at 10mm. I did find one or two shots that had a little bit, but usually you had to look very closely. Most shots were like this one, with little to no PF: edit: replaced many years later with better-processed photo!

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This is probably the worst one so far, and it could be cleaned up with a little post-processing and isn't too distracting... but it is definitely there, especially on the bars farthest to the right.

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You can check out them in my Seabreeze gallery if you want to look at a few in more detail, up to 1280x1024.

Still, the lens is so darn fun that I can probably live with that. :) My bigger issue with some of the posted photos is noise, the lens is relatively slow (unlike my F2.8 Zenitar fisheye) so I was shooting at ISO 800, and because of the bright outdoors in the background, some shots were underexposed, so they show a little more noise than I'd like once I brightened them up in post-processing. I did switch to spot metering and that helped a lot, but I still have a couple that weren't ideal.

Overall, the ability to zoom in and out is handy and it gives you the chance to look at things in a slightly different way. It helped that it was a pretty good deal, I got it for $327 after rebate (thank you, Beach Camera), which is downright cheap for an OEM fisheye. I'm very happy so far. My only regret is that I didn't order it a couple weeks ago, I could have had it for $309 after rebate! Oh well...
 
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thanks, i noticed in the album it said you used your ist or does it just call your new camera that as well...wondering what the crop factor would be like with my 1.6 crop as far as fish eye appearance.
 
No new camera, still using my ol' DL... I advertised it on one Pentax forum, I'm going to give it a couple days then toss it on eBay if it doesn't sell on there, and order a K100D to tide me over until Pentax announces their next round of cameras in October.

I think I should still be able to sell my DL for more than I paid for it... we'll see!

I'm not sure that you'd see too big of a difference on the Canon as the sensors aren't really that much different in size... but you'd probably have to find some reviews of the Tokina with the Canon mount to see what they say, and check out some sample photos.

Part of me wishes that the lens was just a plain 10mm since then it would probably be faster, plus it might have slightly less PF, but on the other hand the zoom is pretty neat (allowing you to take almost normal photos, so you don't have to switch lenses constantly - some good extra versatility) and while a closer look at some of the photos does reveal a bit of PF here and there, it's not so awful as to be a deal-breaker, and can always be cleaned up in post-processing if need be...
 


Nice- Nikkor 10.5/2.8 fisheye is getting close to the top of the menu for me. These shots make me want it even more now. ;)
 
I remember Seabreeze and the traditional trip to Don & Bob's (or Vic & Irv's) pickle buckets afterwards. Roseland was better but now I'm showing my age a bit. I'm glad the Syracuse mall saved the last carousel at least.

The world needs more clean trolley parks.
 
I remember Seabreeze and the traditional trip to Don & Bob's (or Vic & Irv's) pickle buckets afterwards. Roseland was better but now I'm showing my age a bit. I'm glad the Syracuse mall saved the last carousel at least.

The world needs more clean trolley parks.
We did leave the park briefly to go eat dinner at Vic & Irv's - that place is great. :)

Roseland is back as a water park now but I haven't been there, I do remember going to the original when I was just a kid, but I don't remember much about it.

Gdad, good luck - I actually was looking at Nikkor reviews for comparison before buying, to get an idea of how the fisheye zoom's shortcomings compare to a prime of similar focal length. It sounds like it may have slightly less PF than the Pentax/Tokina, but probably not significantly so (it still has it). It's mostly speed vs zoom, I think. If the 10-17mm was F2.8, it'd be nearly perfect. :teeth: Either way, they're a lot of fun!
 
That really does look like a fun lens - and your son. Oh my gosh! He is adorable.

Thanks for sharing - your pics make me want to get one.... the lens - not another kid. :scared1:

;)
 
Geez Groucho, I think your a little hard on the PF. Either that or your eyes are really really good. Mine are only surgically optomized. I didn't see anything wrong with the pics. Even the noise isn't somthing that pops out. Maybe on a larger screen or a big enlargment. But I think you'll be ok. It looks pretty sharp too.

Nice pics once again. Thanks for sharing.
 
Great pictures, as usual! Funny - I had never thought of a fish-eye for taking "everyday" or "normal" situation type pictures - always thought they were used exclusively for those super-wide shots off the top of buildings! I'm learning something new every day. It does look like a fun lense - I gotta add that to my list too!
 
Nice- Nikkor 10.5/2.8 fisheye is getting close to the top of the menu for me. These shots make me want it even more now. ;)

My DD just got that same lens last week and she says she loves it and HIGHLY recommends it. she said on a scale of 1-10 she gives it a 10. :thumbsup2
 
Geez Groucho, I think your a little hard on the PF. Either that or your eyes are really really good. Mine are only surgically optomized. I didn't see anything wrong with the pics. Even the noise isn't somthing that pops out. Maybe on a larger screen or a big enlargment. But I think you'll be ok. It looks pretty sharp too.

Nice pics once again. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks! Yes, I'm being a little hard on the PF and noise. Ideally, of course, the lens would have no PF but I think that's nearly unavoidable with a fisheye. I don't find it to be distracting from what I've seen so far, but it definitely does exist, and pixel-peepers may be distracted by it.

As for noise, well, a couple have more noise than I'd usually get at ISO 1600 (thanks to post-processing boosting) and I wanted to explain that.

DVC Jen, thanks! We think he's awfully cute ourselves. :teeth:

Lizziejane, I think I'm going to be using this lens a lot... actually, I was thinking that at Disneyland in a few weeks, I may even see if I can get by without the normal camera bag and just carry the camera around my neck and have two belt pouches for lenses - the three lenses that I think I'd use 99% of the time are my 28-75mm F2.8, 50mm F1.4, and this one for wide shots. At 17mm, the fisheye effect isn't too distracting and can be straightened out in post-processing if I really want. And the full 10mm-wide shots are a lot of fun! I'll definitely be taking of lot of them.
 
Wow, Seabreeze...Jackrabbit was the first coaster I rode, and I think I was 16 at the time. Was terrified of them, then I got on this and I think I rode it 20 times in one day. Good times, good times.
Roaseland is now open again, and it is a waterpark. My Mom and Dad took my Niece and Nephew there a few weeks ago when they were up for vacation. I remember it vaguely from when I was a kid, but I know my Mom and Dad spent a lot of time there.
Great shot, from what looks like a fun lens.

BTW, saw the Ansel exhibit last week while I was up. It was pretty cool. Lots of photos and really helped me "see" a little better.
How bout that weather up there last week too, man it was nice.

Cheers
 
Hi Furgus, glad you liked the Ansel exhibit... maybe I'll get a chance to get up there before it's gone. Usually when I go to the Eastman House, it's to the movie theater but I should make another trip to the museum proper one of these days!
 
Well- I will have to blame this thread for my weakness. Mine just came today. :rolleyes: Nikkor 10.5mm/f2.8 :)

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Gdad, good luck - I actually was looking at Nikkor reviews for comparison before buying, to get an idea of how the fisheye zoom's shortcomings compare to a prime of similar focal length. It sounds like it may have slightly less PF than the Pentax/Tokina, but probably not significantly so (it still has it). It's mostly speed vs zoom, I think. If the 10-17mm was F2.8, it'd be nearly perfect. :teeth: Either way, they're a lot of fun!
 
Well- I will have to blame this thread for my weakness. Mine just came today. :rolleyes: Nikkor 10.5mm/f2.8 :)

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:lmao:
your bathroom has the same color walls as my "photography room" ( which right now is empty so much nicer sounding than it is) if my local camera shop had the tokina in a canon mount when i went in to buy my replacement lens cap yesterday ( no dobut i will find the old one today) i might not have been able to resist the temptation;)
 
I love being a bad influence! :cool1: :rotfl:

Here's my version of the self-portrait... it was a little dark hence the flash. Not my bathroom but that's OK. :)

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Looking at yours, I wonder if you were having the same problem as me when I tried the same shot in my bathroom... I think that because of the lighting, it was "strobing" slightly so things like the camera's lettering were repeating themself (not blurring), and it looks like a similar thing happened with the Nikon logo on yours. Darn fluorescent bulbs!
 
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