I do have one and have had a great time with it, but it is a very specialized lens so it's not one that I would invest much in. I find it fun to use for architectural shots -- columns and other structural play. But after a while I get tired of the effect as there's a sameness about it, put it aside for a few months, and then take it out again for a few shoots. I have not found it useful in any natural settings even with really tall trees. Bottom line, I do like having one but even as much as I've used it, it's not a key lens. I would compare it to a Lensbaby in some ways. For what it does, it's great.
I mentioned the Olympus 9mm body cap in response to your previous post, which is I suppose is a pseudo fish eye, having an angle of view of 140 degrees rather than 180. If you use a fish eye you can 'defish' using software - I use an open source program called Hugin. Here is an example of one photo taken with the 9mm and defished - http://365project.org/laroque/365/2016-03-12 . As you can see, effectively the fish eye becomes a standard wide angle lens. The Samyang 7.5mm fish eye for micro 4/3 has good reviews and is quite cheap. I preferred the cheaper body cap, mostly because it is so small and easy to carry around, in a shirt pocket even.
Yep! I love my fisheye - it's not an everyday lens but it can be a lot of fun. It tends to be a holiday lens for me (I took mine all the way to Australia). The Lensbaby comparison is a good one. Bags of fun, but not a must have.
This is a bit spooky timing actually. I've found my Canon-fit one a bit cumbersome on my NEX so have just nabbed a bargain Sony-fit Samyang 8mm f/2.8 on eBay. It came this morning so I'm going to be taking it out today hopefully. :)
Here are a few of my 8mm shots if they are any good to you: http://365project.org/humphreyhippo/tags/8mm
I do like using it for star trails shots.
If you want to "try before you buy," you can rent a fisheye from Borrowlenses.com. They are super easy to work with and have a huge selection. I have rented several lenses from them in the past, if I have a special trip or need, without having to spend a bunch of money for a lens that I may not use often. I rented a fisheye from them for the Chicago trip we took in May. I was happy with some of the fun effect, especially for architecture in an urban environment, but I agree with @taffy. There is a sameness about the effects.
Yes, I have one, the 10.5mm Nikkor, actually a native APS-C Lens. I use it probably more than my super long telephotos. It can be surprisingly versatile. When you keep the exaggerated, distinctive distortion, it can be surprisingly difficult to shoot "well framed" shots, there are so many things to balance, exaggerated by the distortion. I find I search for crops and use the "rotate" button a lot in post.
You can also "correct" the distortion in Lightroom/ACR with the lens profile by a single click, or be more subtle with the Wide Angle Distortion Filter in PS. I don't know about the new "guided" upright transform tool in LR, not having tried it. Such work can give you surprisingly nice "super wide angle" views. You'll have to crop or fill the resulting holes around the borders, but that's not too difficult. You can correct all or some of the distortion, correct some of the straight lines and not others, all to maximum or a lesser degree. I find you can get a lot of variety if you work at it just a little,,,
Sigma have several nice lenses, circular and diagonal. Go for the Diagonal variety unless you want the fisheye black circle in the frame. The 10mm f/2.8 DC or the 15mmf/2.8 DG (for full frame) have Canon Mounts.
Yes, I really like the Samyang lenses - 7.5mm.. They are fairly good value for money and I find them better than a full circular fisheye. I've a few shots taken with the Samyang this month.
I've got two; a Samyang 8mm and a Lensbaby Scout (lens body) with the 12mm Fisheye Optic. Honestly, the Lensbaby gets too extreme, but I'm very pleased with the Samyang. It's fully manual, but fast and easy to use. I've mostly used it for street photography.
I have one ( a cheap one) for my android phone. I enjoy playing with it and the investment wasn't going to break my piggy bank. To have another tool in the bag is for me a different level of creativity worth exploring. Here is one I did recently with my fisheye and photoshop. http://365project.org/joysabin/365/2016-07-12.
tx all... yeah - it does seem like a very specialized lens with perhaps limited use... i have a lens baby and almost never use it so it's helpful to know that a fish-eye may fall into the same category... to be honest, i never really wanted one... but then @studiofifty started posting using a fish-eye and i kind of liked how he approached using it... here's one of my fav's of his... http://365project.org/studiofifty/365/2016-03-04
unfortunately he seems to have dropped off his project or i would ask him for his input as well...
anyway - thanks for giving me plenty to think about, and for showing me your examples...
Studio Fifty is using a "circular" fisheye, they leave the fisheye enclosing black circle, which you can't do much with other than live with it as is "out of the camera.". A "diagonal" fisheye has the distortion presented in a regular 3x2 (or 4x3 for mft cameras) from where you can do a lot to change/correct the distortion as needed, a little, a lot, selective, total or none. Much more flexible and generally useful.
A good (properly optically engineered, which "off-brand" lenses often are not) f/2.8 fisheye lens at maximum aperture will typically have the "focus to infinity" no more than 8-10 inches from the focal plane, so you can shoot so that everything is in focus, like this one, from 8 inches in front of you all the way to infinity. And the angle of view after "correction" will be very wide, much wider than a "straight" 10mm super wide angle. since it "looks around corners" so to speak. The effect is sort of like a one frame panorama, instead of having to stitch several "straight" frames.
There's a link to another "corrected" fisheye shot at the same terminal referenced in the "description" of the link above.
@northy@frankhymus The one I'm borrowing is the diagonal and the one I bought is the circular. I don't really like the circular as much at all, but thanks for sharing Studio50's work. It gives me ideas of how to make use of it. I also hadn't realized the difference and thought it had to do with full frame versus crop sensor lens.
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This is a bit spooky timing actually. I've found my Canon-fit one a bit cumbersome on my NEX so have just nabbed a bargain Sony-fit Samyang 8mm f/2.8 on eBay. It came this morning so I'm going to be taking it out today hopefully. :)
Here are a few of my 8mm shots if they are any good to you: http://365project.org/humphreyhippo/tags/8mm
I do like using it for star trails shots.
You can also "correct" the distortion in Lightroom/ACR with the lens profile by a single click, or be more subtle with the Wide Angle Distortion Filter in PS. I don't know about the new "guided" upright transform tool in LR, not having tried it. Such work can give you surprisingly nice "super wide angle" views. You'll have to crop or fill the resulting holes around the borders, but that's not too difficult. You can correct all or some of the distortion, correct some of the straight lines and not others, all to maximum or a lesser degree. I find you can get a lot of variety if you work at it just a little,,,
Sigma have several nice lenses, circular and diagonal. Go for the Diagonal variety unless you want the fisheye black circle in the frame. The 10mm f/2.8 DC or the 15mmf/2.8 DG (for full frame) have Canon Mounts.
I have no experience with your new Olympus purchase and lenses, but here is an 8mm mft lens for it.
http://www.getolympus.com/us/en/lenses/zuiko-lens-ed-8mm-f3-5-fisheye.html
Also have the Samyang 14mm which is hugely good value for money, just doesn't do a full circle like the Canon one
tx all... yeah - it does seem like a very specialized lens with perhaps limited use... i have a lens baby and almost never use it so it's helpful to know that a fish-eye may fall into the same category... to be honest, i never really wanted one... but then @studiofifty started posting using a fish-eye and i kind of liked how he approached using it... here's one of my fav's of his... http://365project.org/studiofifty/365/2016-03-04
unfortunately he seems to have dropped off his project or i would ask him for his input as well...
anyway - thanks for giving me plenty to think about, and for showing me your examples...
http://365project.org/frankhymus/365/2015-11-09
A good (properly optically engineered, which "off-brand" lenses often are not) f/2.8 fisheye lens at maximum aperture will typically have the "focus to infinity" no more than 8-10 inches from the focal plane, so you can shoot so that everything is in focus, like this one, from 8 inches in front of you all the way to infinity. And the angle of view after "correction" will be very wide, much wider than a "straight" 10mm super wide angle. since it "looks around corners" so to speak. The effect is sort of like a one frame panorama, instead of having to stitch several "straight" frames.
There's a link to another "corrected" fisheye shot at the same terminal referenced in the "description" of the link above.