To fisheye or not to fisheye?

ic0n · 10 Jan 2009 at 19:28

hi guys well i have been posting lots on photography section at the mo but hay its always fun right

the other day i was looking for wide angle for my k10d the 2 that i found was a pentax 10-17(i think) and a sigma 10-20 now the extra zoom on the sigma dont bother me as i have a 18-250 so either of the lenses will over lap nicely with what i have so far.

but the pentax lenses is a fisheye and the sigma is not now i cart decide if i should go for the fisheye or not

it will be used as a first or second lenses so will get used a lot

now i do like the look of fisheye but dont know if i will get sick of it after abit

so need some opinions

greengiant · 11 Jan 2009 at 09:54

A Zenitar 16mm f/2.8 fisheye in pentax mount from the 'bay is quite a fun lens. Not too expensive.

D.P. · 11 Jan 2009 at 10:07

The fisheye look is easy to fake with good results, unwarping a fisheye image gives poor results. Fisheyes are a lot harder to work with, I very rarely see a good fish eye image. Always the same standard skateboard shots. DULL

EternityEight · 11 Jan 2009 at 10:33

I would get an ultrawide over a fisheye any day for the reason you said - The fisheye would probably get boring fairly quickly, and while its nice if thats a category you havent filled yet, If you dont have an ultrawide its an easy choice

Gaffer · 11 Jan 2009 at 10:46

D.P. said:
The fisheye look is easy to fake with good results, unwarping a fisheye image gives poor results. Fisheyes are a lot harder to work with, I very rarely see a good fish eye image. Always the same standard skateboard shots. DULL

I won a round of the Ocuk competition with this fisheye shot on the theme "Power", about a year ago:

But the reality is that it is not something you want to use often. I would recommend a regular lens first.

Andrew

PESolution · 11 Jan 2009 at 12:11

great shot andrew

ic0n · 11 Jan 2009 at 12:22

thats a wkd shot and well done on the win

yer think i will go for the sigma lense for now and look for a cheap fisheye when i got some more money

A.N.Other · 11 Jan 2009 at 12:29

Fish-eye lenses are great to play about with for a bit, but I'd be wary of spending much on one, as they can get quite boring pretty quickly.