Canon 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye... Too Wide?
Canon 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye... Too Wide?
Author
Discussion

MikeGTi

Original Poster:

2,726 posts

230 months

Thursday 18th August 2011
quotequote all


I've been looking at this thing thinking, "ahh yes, must have, so wide.. so wiiiide.." but.. is it too wide?

Before I saw this I was considering jacking in my 24-105 for a 17-40, 16-35 or 24-70. Am I merely caught in the grasps of the shiny shiny - I'm off to New York in a few weeks and figure that a wide lens would work a treat.



This chap has some nice shots from his, http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwischnewski/60228392... .

roverspeed

700 posts

225 months

Thursday 18th August 2011
quotequote all
I would imagine its uses to be fairly limited, unless you were doing interior design shots.


RobDickinson

31,343 posts

283 months

Thursday 18th August 2011
quotequote all
MikeGTi said:
but.. is it too wide?
No. Its exactly how wide it needs to be, for a Full frame camera.

At 15mm it covers the whole frame, at 8mm it produces a circular view.

If you want a fish eye look this is exactly what you need (its less effective on a crop).

A less wide fisheye is useless.


If you just want wide the 16-35, 17-40 are much better deals. And the 24-70 is poorer at 24mm than the 24-105!

Edited by RobDickinson on Thursday 18th August 23:08

LongQ

13,864 posts

262 months

Friday 19th August 2011
quotequote all
If you are not sure about really wide and the zoom aspect is not too significant ....

Samyang do some very reasonably priced manual only primes at 8mm and 14mm.

I have the 14mm f2.8 which is great fun to experiment with and remarkably sharp. I have not tried the 8mm but it seems to get equally positive comments at the price.

If you are not sure about going really wide it would be a low cost way to find out.

mrmr96

13,736 posts

233 months

Friday 19th August 2011
quotequote all
LongQ said:
If you are not sure about really wide and the zoom aspect is not too significant ....

Samyang do some very reasonably priced manual only primes at 8mm and 14mm.

I have the 14mm f2.8 which is great fun to experiment with and remarkably sharp. I have not tried the 8mm but it seems to get equally positive comments at the price.

If you are not sure about going really wide it would be a low cost way to find out.
links?

Oakey

27,981 posts

245 months

Friday 19th August 2011
quotequote all
If you're going to NYC, surely you want to buy it there? It'll save you a packet, I know it certainly did when I went on my spree in B&H.

LongQ

13,864 posts

262 months

Friday 19th August 2011
quotequote all
mrmr96 said:
LongQ said:
If you are not sure about really wide and the zoom aspect is not too significant ....

Samyang do some very reasonably priced manual only primes at 8mm and 14mm.

I have the 14mm f2.8 which is great fun to experiment with and remarkably sharp. I have not tried the 8mm but it seems to get equally positive comments at the price.

If you are not sure about going really wide it would be a low cost way to find out.
links?
Photozone.de seems to be a popular place to visit and has a good selection of reports.

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

Separate tests usually for different sensor sizes and different body manufacturers.

If you want retailers .... try Google/eBay.

I got my 14mm at Focus on Imaging from a stand populated with guys from Poland. I think they may have the wholesale rights rights for Europe and seem to offer a rapid mail order option if a local reseller seems to be unavailable. I haven't checked who is offering the lenses since I bought mine in March so things may have changed.