WDW Fish-eye Fun!!!

[Geoff_M]

We're at WDW for a two week stay. In addition to my D70 with 18-70 kit lens, I opted to bring along what's become one of my favorite lenses: my Nikkor 10.5mm f2.8 fish-eye. This is a great little "special purpose" lens.

Star Tours:

MGM:

Tower of Terror:

Phantasmic:

CR:

HoP:

Barn Stormer:

 

[bostran1]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing and I can't wait to see some more of the fisheye since we don't get to see those very often...

 

[YEKCIM]

We're at WDW for a two week stay. In addition to my D70 with 18-70 kit lens, I opted to bring along what's become one of my favorite lenses: my Nikkor 10.5mm f2.8 fish-eye. This is a great little "special purpose" lens.

Really nice, and interesting shots. I don't have a fisheye, but do have the Sigma 10-20 which I had decided would not be among the lenses I take to the park in a couple weeks. Well, that was before I saw your shots. Oh, well, what's another pound or so...

~YEKCIM

 

[vickxo]

those pictures look incredible

 

[SueInBoston]

Wow, what a fun lens, awsome pics.

 

[Geoff_M]

Really nice, and interesting shots. I don't have a fisheye, but do have the Sigma 10-20 which I had decided would not be among the lenses I take to the park in a couple weeks. Well, that was before I saw your shots. Oh, well, what's another pound or so...

The Nikkor is very compact and lightweight. I was looking for an easy to tote lens to add to the WDW arsenal and I thought that would fit the bill nicely. With some care you can really minimize the distortion in the images with composition. All of the images above are full-frame.

 

[Groucho]

I really enjoy my fisheye lens although it's a 16mm so you don't get the full effect on a DSLR. However, I did bring along my film SLR... be kind, these are just scans off my flatbed, I hope to get a proper film scanner one of these days.

I may pick up the 10-17mm zoom (available as a Tokina for most mounts) to get the full 180' on a DSLR one of these days... but for now, I'll just have to keep bringing along the ol' film camera! Either way, a fish-eye lens can really be an awful lot of fun. You have to adjust your thinking a little bit though, and be careful not to get your feet in the shot!

 

[tinksdad]

Darn you!!

I've got the 12-24mm, which I like a lot and have had the 10.5mm on my wishlist for awhile. But those shots just push it up a notch or 10!!!

 

[Groucho]

If you're willing to give up SOME of the fishiness, you can pick up the Zenitar 16mm fisheye (the one I have) in a Nikon mount for around $150 or so. It's very sharp and fun to use, but you won't get the full effect on a DSLR, and it's 100% manual, so you have to use stop-down metering and focus by hand. The latter isn't a big deal due to the huge depth of field. It's also fast, F2.8.

The Tokina 10-17mm is worth considering too, as you can choose from full fish or the not quite-as-extreme look that the Zenitar (or other 35mm fisheye) will give you, and it costs less than the Nikkor (though not hugely so) while still being autofocus, etc. It is a little slower, F3.5.

 

[Miss Kelly]

Love the shots. I'm such a Fisheye fanatic. I desperately want a 5D and the Sigma 8mm Fisheye lens. Imagine what that baby could do. 180 degrees or more!

 

[Master Mason]

lol...they make me dizzy

 

[Gdad]

Nice- I have the Sigma 10-20 also but it is not a fisheye and does not have the same punch.

 

[tinksdad]

Love the shots. I'm such a Fisheye fanatic. I desperately want a 5D and the Sigma 8mm Fisheye lens. Imagine what that baby could do. 180 degrees or more!

Ya, no kidding!! You'd have to watch for your feet in the frame!!!!

 

[Cricket2]

lol...they make me dizzy

LOL, I was just thinking that. I need a pill now.

 

[jann1033]

lol...they make me dizzy

the only one that really did that to me was the contemporary lobby shot minus the monorail..but that is my favorite as well, so guess i have a natural affinity for dizzy...or is that ditsy?

g-dad, could you explain why your 10-20 doesn't work as a fish eye? I thought it was just the angle that made it but obviously i was wrong. i'd like to get an ultra wide but would like to be able to use it as fisheye on occasion.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

the only one that really did that to me was the contemporary lobby shot minus the monorail..but that is my favorite as well, so guess i have a natural affinity for dizzy...or is that ditsy?

g-dad, could you explain why your 10-20 doesn't work as a fish eye? I thought it was just the angle that made it but obviously i was wrong. i'd like to get an ultra wide but would like to be able to use it as fisheye on occasion.

Non-fisheye wide angle lenses are typically rectilinear lenses. That means that they keep straight lines straight. That is hard to do with really wide angle lenses. In fact, many wide angle lenses (parcitularly zooms) suffer from barrel distortion. That's where lines at the edges of the picture are curved.

Fisheye lenses aren't designed to be rectilinear. They don't correct for the curvature, which is obvious when looking at the pictures above. If you really want straight lines, you can "de-fish" the image in software.

Back in the film days, there were two basic types of fisheye - full frame and circular. Full frame fisheye images look just like what you see posted here. Circular fisheyes project a round image on the frame, leaving the edges of the frame black. I suppose that both types still exist for DSLRs, but the circle would get cropped with a cropped sensor. I wonder if anyone makes a circular fisheye designed for 1.5x or 1.6x sensors?

 

[handicap18]

Nice shots Geoff. These are the first pics I've really seen with that lens. Nikkon did pretty will with a DX fisheye lens. I really like the Fantasmic shots. All the shots are very sharp. Well done!!

 

[jann1033]

so tokina 10-17 fisheye is a real fisheye at the 10 but would it be just "normal" at the 17 and canon 10-22 wouldn't be fish eye, just normal throughout?

 

[Master Mason]

The front element in a fish eye is typically curved, a UWA that is not listed as a fish eye won't give you this effect, but it will usually curve some of the edges... fish eye and UWA are two different things.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

so tokina 10-17 fisheye is a real fisheye at the 10 but would it be just "normal" at the 17 and canon 10-22 wouldn't be fish eye, just normal throughout?

I would think that the tokina 10-17 fisheye would be a fisheye throught it's focal range, but that the effect would be more pronounced the wider you went with it.