I was wondering if I could gather the opinion of a few people who are more experienced with photography than me.. I've looked on the past discussion boards and seen quite a few examples of work but nothing that directly answers my query.
I'm looking to get a couple of new lenses to take to Vegas with me in August.. I wanted a long lens and a wide angle filter (or lens, price dependent.) so that I'm pretty much covered for a few possibilities.
My query is that, when searching for the wide angle filters on amazon there are quite a few that say 'fish eye' within the title... my past experiences are that these produce highly distorted images... because this is being advertised as a 'wide angle' fish eye filter... does this mean I can (excuse the beginners terminlogy and lack of knowledge!) zoom in and out therefore increasing or decreasing the level of distortion?
I've read a bit about them and I know I'm never going to get amazing quality with a filter but if someone can tell me if these are a static view or they allow to zoom in and out that would be good.
Sorry, I know I'm asking some stupid questions but any advice, personal experiences or examples would be really helpful!
Or if you think I should bite the bullet and spend more on the actual lens then please do say! :)
Someone else will be along shortly to clear this up, but I really don't think a fish eye is going to be what you're after. Those are for a very specific sort of distortion. I don't have one, but I have a fisheye setting on one of my cameras. Actually I was fiddling with it in the elevator at work and turned that into my avatar pic.
@ejlockett I have read that the fisheye and wide angle filters that you can buy cheaply on Amazon are close to rubbish in quality. What lenses do you have now and what type of camera will you be using?
Vegas rocks the wide angle, make sure you have at least a 35mm full frame equivalent. rent one if you have to. I can't wait to take my 16-35mm down there.
I'm a telephoto shooter, so I'll take my 28-300mm down as well, but the 16-35mm is going to be the star. An 18-200mm would be the equivalent on your DX crop Nikon 3100, it's a great walk around lens. (I'm selling my old one, now that I have my 28-300 for my FX full frame Nikon D600, if you're interested...)
I wouldn't recommend a filter; the distortion it will introduce wouldn't do justice to the photos that you're going to look at for the rest of your life.
Bring a tripod... night shots are amazing there. Bring a carbon fibre one, the walking distances are epic, and August is TOASTY in Las Vegas.
@aponi Yes I was wondering if it was what I wanted or not... I just wondered if there was a connection because the majority of wide angle filters you can buy have the fish eye part as well, so I was wondering if you can zoom out to lessen the effect...
@soboy5 I've read the quality isn't brilliant myself so I wasnt expecting anything tremendous.. I've heard a little bit about blurring edges and bad distortion etc but as I wrote above I was wondering if you could zoom out your lens to lessen the "fish eye" effect? I have a D3100 with an 18-55mm lens currently, I'm definitely planning on buying a new lens this month, hovering towards the 55-200 at the moment but I'm so easily swayed! Then I'd like a cheap wide angle of some sort!
@edpartridge That's really cool! I'd heard about those attachments but didn't know if they were a bit gimmicky! Your shots are proving that theory wrong though! It is cool but I'm just trying to encourage myself to use the DSLR a little bit more..
@cameronknowlton Yes I've heard it's rather warm in August... we were wondering why the flights etc were so cheap! haha.. oops! Thank you, all of that input was really useful as I'm also considering a long lens currently... what sort of price range am I looking at for an 18-200mm? I haven't seen many of those in the (little) research I've done so far. A tripod is also another something on my shopping list... I know, I know, It's a big list haha! This photography hobby was never going to be cheap haha, I think that's why I was swinging towards a filter really.. I wasn't sure if I'd use it and I suppose I was swayed by the "packs" of 3 different filters (fish eye, macro and something else...), a cleaning kit and a lens you can get on amazon!
I see you have a Nikon D3100, I have a Nikon D5000 and I have been reading loads about Lenses on-line , on here and wherever else I can get information about on what lens to next buy. It's quite a minefield out there but I have eventually fallen for a Nikon 16 - 85mm Lens. It's pricey so until I can afford it I will make do with my kit lens 18 - 55 and my 35mm Prime. There are a lot of lenses to choose from but for me the 16 - 85 had the best write ups as a 'walkabout' lens which once put on my camera will be the lens I will use most of the time. But, who knows maybe I will learn something more about another lens which will sway me towards it. Whatever lens you go for try and spend a lot of time reading up about lenses.
@thisisthefox Thank you that's really useful, I've read a lot on here but I am very new to lenses so the speak can go a bit over my head. I've mainly shopped on Amazon as I noticed the prices were much, much cheaper than in the shops. I've never heard of that lens either (starting to realise I need to do lots more research!) but that sounds like a good all rounder...
@ejlockett I have the same camera as you do, it is an excellent camera. I would highly recommend you get the 55-200 lens, then you will have all focal lengths between 18 and 200 mm covered. I have this combination and it works very well. I also have the Nikkor 35 mm prime which is a better lens than the other two. I highly recommend that one as well, life is fun at f/1.8! Feel free to ask any other questions or check out my project.
@ejlockett the Nikon 18-200mm retails around $850, I'm selling mine for $650 (but I'd drop to $600 for a 365er). that's the price range you should look for. camera equipment is a seller's game, hardware doesn't lose much value.
the 16-85mm would be a good lens, too... I might consider one in place of a 24-70mm, which I find is too distorted at 24mm, but impossible to ignore when doing portraits and weddings. hopefully a new generation 24-70mm f/4 VR is in Nikon's plans...
@cameronknowlton ohhh so many choices! I'm so confused... I think I need to do a lot more research! Thank you for your help and I will go see what is out there...
@soboy5 Thank you! I'm in the stage of looking through your photos now! Your help has been really useful! I will do some more research and perhaps may fire some more questions your way! Do you think the 18mm on my lens is wide enough to not bother buying another wide lens? Do you have any opinion on perhaps spending £15 on a cheap wide filter to see how I go (seeing as i'm not a pro) i suppose it's not throwing hundreds away then if it doesn't do what I want!
@ejlockett You are very welcome. I think the 18mm is wide enough. Good quality wide angle lenses are very expensive. If you don't mind throwing away the $15, get the wide filter and try it. Who knows, you might like it!
@ejlockett I have a Nikon 5100 with the standard kit lens. When I bought it the 55-200 mm lens was part of a special deal, so I got that too - but I wish I'd waited to get the 300 rather than the 200. For my surfing shot last week, eg, I couldn't zoom as close as I'd like to have done.
@ejlockett, the 12-24mm is a really nice wide lens on your DX body (it has the same zoom range as my 16-35mm on my FX body), but you won't be able to use it when you upgrade to a full frame. (although you *can* sell it.)
if you're thinking 'wide', the 12-24mm is a good way to go. but, you really can't beat a nice long range walk around like the 18-200mm. I went nuts until last week when I could afford the 28-300mm lens that works on FX bodies.
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this is the sort of thing it does
I have one on my iPhone5 ...
Fish Eye:
Macro:
Wide Angle:
I'm a telephoto shooter, so I'll take my 28-300mm down as well, but the 16-35mm is going to be the star. An 18-200mm would be the equivalent on your DX crop Nikon 3100, it's a great walk around lens. (I'm selling my old one, now that I have my 28-300 for my FX full frame Nikon D600, if you're interested...)
I wouldn't recommend a filter; the distortion it will introduce wouldn't do justice to the photos that you're going to look at for the rest of your life.
Bring a tripod... night shots are amazing there. Bring a carbon fibre one, the walking distances are epic, and August is TOASTY in Las Vegas.
@soboy5 I've read the quality isn't brilliant myself so I wasnt expecting anything tremendous.. I've heard a little bit about blurring edges and bad distortion etc but as I wrote above I was wondering if you could zoom out your lens to lessen the "fish eye" effect? I have a D3100 with an 18-55mm lens currently, I'm definitely planning on buying a new lens this month, hovering towards the 55-200 at the moment but I'm so easily swayed! Then I'd like a cheap wide angle of some sort!
@edpartridge That's really cool! I'd heard about those attachments but didn't know if they were a bit gimmicky! Your shots are proving that theory wrong though! It is cool but I'm just trying to encourage myself to use the DSLR a little bit more..
@cameronknowlton Yes I've heard it's rather warm in August... we were wondering why the flights etc were so cheap! haha.. oops! Thank you, all of that input was really useful as I'm also considering a long lens currently... what sort of price range am I looking at for an 18-200mm? I haven't seen many of those in the (little) research I've done so far. A tripod is also another something on my shopping list... I know, I know, It's a big list haha! This photography hobby was never going to be cheap haha, I think that's why I was swinging towards a filter really.. I wasn't sure if I'd use it and I suppose I was swayed by the "packs" of 3 different filters (fish eye, macro and something else...), a cleaning kit and a lens you can get on amazon!
Decisions Decisions!
I see you have a Nikon D3100, I have a Nikon D5000 and I have been reading loads about Lenses on-line , on here and wherever else I can get information about on what lens to next buy. It's quite a minefield out there but I have eventually fallen for a Nikon 16 - 85mm Lens. It's pricey so until I can afford it I will make do with my kit lens 18 - 55 and my 35mm Prime. There are a lot of lenses to choose from but for me the 16 - 85 had the best write ups as a 'walkabout' lens which once put on my camera will be the lens I will use most of the time. But, who knows maybe I will learn something more about another lens which will sway me towards it. Whatever lens you go for try and spend a lot of time reading up about lenses.
the 16-85mm would be a good lens, too... I might consider one in place of a 24-70mm, which I find is too distorted at 24mm, but impossible to ignore when doing portraits and weddings. hopefully a new generation 24-70mm f/4 VR is in Nikon's plans...
@soboy5 Thank you! I'm in the stage of looking through your photos now! Your help has been really useful! I will do some more research and perhaps may fire some more questions your way! Do you think the 18mm on my lens is wide enough to not bother buying another wide lens? Do you have any opinion on perhaps spending £15 on a cheap wide filter to see how I go (seeing as i'm not a pro) i suppose it's not throwing hundreds away then if it doesn't do what I want!
if you're thinking 'wide', the 12-24mm is a good way to go. but, you really can't beat a nice long range walk around like the 18-200mm. I went nuts until last week when I could afford the 28-300mm lens that works on FX bodies.
... and here is one from this week off my 28-300mm at 300mm (200 mm equivalent on your DX body):