Fisheyes what are they good for?

[Nick Zentena]

So I bought a Kiev Fisheye. When it shows up what will show it at it's best/worst? In other words what is something this wide good or bad for?

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Here's a gallery of fisheye shots at photo.net (I've got a self-portrait in there)--

http://www.photo.net/photodb/user?user_id=464639

I used to like to do street photography with it. You could walk right up to someone so that they were the largest thing in the frame, aim the lens somewhere else, and they would have no idea they were being photographed and you could get some interesting juxtapositions that way.

They can be interesting for small tunnel-like spaces, like inside a kitchen freezer or a mailbox. I believe they were originally designed for inspecting pipes.

 

[Nick Zentena]

Thanks. The group of photos in the fisheye group were interesting.

 

[Huram]

Are these cheapo screw-in fisheyes any good? Will there be loss of image quality? Something like this? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=30066&item=7520654735&rd=1
The prices on the fixed fisheye lenses are out of my ball park, but I have wanted to try one of these things. If they suck though, I won't waste my money. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

Dave

 

[rbarker]

. . . what is [a fisheye] good or bad for?

They keep the fish from bumping into things?

I'm not sure of the angle of view of the Kiev fisheye, but I've seen variations on the concept ranging from what might best be described as "super-wide with field curvature" up to "true" fisheyes that produce round images of 180° or slightly more. They produce a unique perspective when used thoughtfully and creatively, but the look tends to get old rather quickly, IMHO.

 

[Nick Zentena]

It's full frame 180 degrees. At least that's the specs. You never really know with a Soviet lens until you hold it -) The price is low enough that if I use it once a year it won't break my heart. Only real problem from my point of view is the goofy filter size. I guess I'll get real good at cutting up gel filters to fit the back.

Huram which camera? The Kievs aren't that much more money then that adapter. Somebody I think makes a less then full frame one for 35mm cameras to.

 

[jjstafford]

It's full frame 180 degrees. At least that's the specs. You never really know with a Soviet lens until you hold it -) The price is low enough that if I use it once a year it won't break my heart. Only real problem from my point of view is the goofy filter size.

Very small or large filter? Maybe we can come up with a solution.

 

[Nick Zentena]

38mm. I'm not sure if it's some wierd thread or not. The filter is part of the optical design and must be used so the lens comes with four filters.

1) A cooling filter for use with incadenscent lights. Not sure how blue the filter is.

2) green. This is supposed to be the standard Soviet YG but the seller called it green.

3) Orange. I wonder if this is really a dark yellow.

4) A clear neutral filter. This is the one I'd like to fit gel filters to.

 

[Woolliscroft]

They were originally built to let meteorologists photograph the whole sky in one shot. They are good at that.

David.

 

[Flotsam]

In the golden days of Skateboarder magazine, they were practically cumpulsory:

http://www.superxmedia.com/issue312/dogtown/dogtown.html

 

[Huram]

Huram which camera? The Kievs aren't that much more money then that adapter. Somebody I think makes a less then full frame one for 35mm cameras to.

I use a Canon Eos Elan with a 28-80mm zoom (has a 58mm threading for filters/etc).

 

[jjstafford]

38mm.

http://www.surplusshed.com/pages/item/m1603.html
???

 

[Nick Zentena]

Close John but it's 2mm short-) It's okay not a big problem cutting filters for the rear.

http://www.rugift.com/photocameras/peleng_fisheye_lens.htm

That's an 8mm fisheye for 35mm cameras. It's not full frame and it'll need an adapter [M42 mount I think] for a Canon camera. You might want to check what the lens averages on Ebay.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

They were originally built to let meteorologists photograph the whole sky in one shot. They are good at that.

David.

That's right, they were also called the "full sky" lens early on.

 

[jjstafford]

Close John but it's 2mm short-) It's okay not a big problem cutting filters for the rear.

It was confusing: "Mounting is 38mm diameter with 36mm diameter threads"

 

[wfwhitaker]

Absolutely nothin'.

Say it again...

 

[127]

Are these cheapo screw-in fisheyes any good? Will there be loss of image quality?

There's some loss in quality - but they the image is so distorted it really doesn't matter. They're a lot of fun.

They're great when you're right in the middle of things - get in close and catch then environment (actually they are good for doing environment maps for computer graphics).

They're also good for making CD labels:

(I didn't take this, but I am in it...)

Ian

 

[modafoto]

This photo is THE no. 1 reason to get a fish-eye lens

Dead Link Removed

 

[Nick Zentena]

So the lens came and it came with the wrong mount. Ooops. The seller said send it back so I've sent it back. Other then holding it in front of a camera I didn't get very far with it. I didn't see much distortion in the corners on 6x6. Oh well. Lets see how quickly I get my money back.