Fisheye advice for Canon 1100D

[The Char]

Lucky enough to be getting some money towards a Canon 1100D for Christmas. Getting it with the 18-55mm lens, but really want to get a fisheye.
I've seen the cheapo screw on things but would rather have a proper one.

I looked at a Canon 15mm lens but the review said it won't work with a 1100D, really confused as to why- if someone can explain and make some recommendations please?


Thanks

[LongQ]

The Char said:

Lucky enough to be getting some money towards a Canon 1100D for Christmas. Getting it with the 18-55mm lens, but really want to get a fisheye.
I've seen the cheapo screw on things but would rather have a proper one.

I looked at a Canon 15mm lens but the review said it won't work with a 1100D, really confused as to why- if someone can explain and make some recommendations please?


Thanks

Hmm.

Why do you want a fisheye lens? Not many people would want something like that at the start of their DSLR days so I assume you have a specific purpose.

An effective fisheye 'look' to a photo, assuming that is what you are seeking, really needs a lens that is about 8mm or smaller. But that's on a full frame body like a 5D.

Most manufacturers offer one or two full frame (ie almost like old 35mm film cameras as you probably know) bodies but the rest ar smaller sensors and therefore use the lenses differently. Canon bodies that are not 'full frame are, with the exception of the 1D, 1D2, 1D3 and 1D4 iirc, all 1.6 crop factor.

So the 'look' of a 10mm focal length would be the same as a 16mm focal length on a full frame body.

Reversing that, if you want the complete full frame 8mm 'look' from a 1.6 crop factor body you would need something like a 5 or 6mm lens. (It starts to get a little ridiculous to calculate accurate numbers at that level.

That may be an interesting and expensive challenge ... hence the question about what you want the lens for. There may be alternatives to what you want to achieve .... or there may not.

[markmullen]

I recently had a play with the new Canon 8-15mm fisheye.

For the purposes of clarity I was using it on my 1Ds Mk2 which of course is full frame so YMMV.

I'll be honest, as cool as it was I don't think I would get £15-1600 of use out of it. At the wide end it was so astonishingly wide, it was difficult not to get my feet in shot. At the 15mm end it was like using an ultra ultra wide angle but of course with loads of distortion.

[The Char]

My friend has one of the lomo fisheye cameras, so I guess it's to have a play at getting some similar shots but using a DSLR.

Is it correct that a 15mm won't work with a 1.6? Think I am starting to understand why...

Any advice on alternatives if the 15mm is not for me? I don't have the money for an 8mm I'm afraid, hence going for the 1100D, seems to be the best for a beginner? Did some photography at night school- that was before the days of widely available digital cameras though!

[LongQ]

The Char said:

My friend has one of the lomo fisheye cameras, so I guess it's to have a play at getting some similar shots but using a DSLR.

Is it correct that a 15mm won't work with a 1.6? Think I am starting to understand why...

Any advice on alternatives if the 15mm is not for me? I don't have the money for an 8mm I'm afraid, hence going for the 1100D, seems to be the best for a beginner? Did some photography at night school- that was before the days of widely available digital cameras though!

My 400D tends these days to live with a totally manual 14mm lens fitted. Totally manual is of course more affordable and at 14mm (approx 20mm in real full frame terms) it's really not much more than a fairly wide prime. Easy to use as you just set the aperture watching the screen for a few test shots. (After a while you get a good feel for the settings anyway) and focus is ... well, not vry critical unless you have something very close to the camera to include, in which case a little care and checking is beneficial.

But it's not a fisheye. One can get a 8mm for about the same price from the same manufacturer (Samyang) which may be of interest. Not tried the 8mm so far.

Here's a link to a test of the 14mm lens.

http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos/533-samyang14f28...

and another for the 8mm.

http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos/526-samyang8f35e...

Edited by LongQ on Sunday 11th December 22:41

[flat-planedCrank]

The Char said:

Is it correct that a 15mm won't work with a 1.6? Think I am starting to understand why...

As long as it is EF mount lens it should work with any EF mount camera, including 1.6x crop body's?
There is a review of the 15mm fisheye on a 350D on photozone so afaik there is no reason it wouldn't work on a 1100D: http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos/150-canon-ef-15m...

Alternatives? Well there are a few on warehouse express: http://www.warehouseexpress.com/search/Default.asp...


I've not used any so can't comment on them specifically. As other have said, fish eye lenses are a bit of a niche tool, I guess most people tend to go for one of the 10mm ultra-wide angles.

[flat-planedCrank]

The Char said:

My friend has one of the lomo fisheye cameras, so I guess it's to have a play at getting some similar shots but using a DSLR.

Just spotted this ^ - Maybe the style of those lomo shots might fit best with the Lensbaby Scout with Fisheye?: http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-lensbaby-scout...

Cheaper option as well


Some info on their site:

http://www.lensbaby.com/lenses-scout.php

[-Pete-]

As you're trying something fairly specialist, don't forget 35mm film cameras. You can buy a Canon 35mm body with EF lens mount for peanuts.

[The Char]

Here's the review that has caused my confusion:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/lenses/15mm-fishe...

So if going for a fisheye it needs to be a 2.8...

Those Lensbabies look nice, thanks for all the help so far.

[flat-planedCrank]

The Char said:

Here's the review that has caused my confusion:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/lenses/15mm-fishe...

So if going for a fisheye it needs to be a 2.8...

Those Lensbabies look nice, thanks for all the help so far.

He is just pointing out that you get less 'fisheye effect' on a crop body camera - it is like cropping out the middle of a shot taken with a full-frame camera. For a fisheye lens, most of the distortion effect is at the borders of the image.

Either way I'd go to a camera store and see which lens suits you best - I'd take a look at the non-fisheye wide angles (like the Sigma 10-20mm) as well.

[LongQ]

The Char said:

Here's the review that has caused my confusion:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/lenses/15mm-fishe...

So if going for a fisheye it needs to be a 2.8...

Those Lensbabies look nice, thanks for all the help so far.

The Samyang 8mm is a special design for APC-C cameras (so the regular Canon 1.6 crop and Nikon 1.5 crop bodies and similar from other manufacturers. Hance why it is worth a look if rather wide, but not too extreme, images take your fancy.

[JDRoest]

The Char said:

I looked at a Canon 15mm lens but the review said it won't work with a 1100D, really confused as to why- if someone can explain and make some recommendations please?

Had the use of a Sigma fisheye for a few weeks earlier in the year. A lot of fun. Not sure about the whole crop vs ff thing though as the lens had a ring that made a circular picture on my 400D. Can't remember which one though, it wasn't current. Manual vs autofocus really doesn't matter if you go for the alternatives.

However, it's a really difficult lens to work with and you have to be careful a little bit with resolution (in my opinion). Whilst a 10M 400D or the 12M 1100D (i think it's 12M) is okay for most things, you really only got half of that with the fisheye when running with the full circle. So you were really quite limited in some respects.

The other issue is that it's a really tricky lens to use. The stuff you think it'll be good for (eg landscapes) it's absolutely rubbish as everything is so far away. To get good shots you have to really work the lens and know what works and what you are wasting your time with. However, when a shot comes together, you are a rock star.

[Matt..]

Rent one from www.lensesforhire.co.uk and see if you really want one.

[craikeybaby]

The EF15mm fisheye will work on a cropped sensor camera, however it will not have the full fisheye 180 degree field of view, so kind of pointless. Sigma make fisheye lenses aimed at crop sensor cameras, a 10mm and a 4mm iirc.