Fisheye len help!

btj288

I am a high school photographer (newspaper photo editor, and also taking photo classes). I am also really interested in fooling around with some fisheye stuff especially with architecture and portraits of people. Being that I am a student cash is a bit tight with me :rolleyes I have a Canon D60 (the older version) so I wanted to know what are some good fisheye lenses that are not insanely expensive (over $250) and will fit my camera. Thanks for all responses!

ziggy53

We just had a discussion regarding a very inexpensive, but reasonably high quality, fisheye lens:

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=154708

craig_d

With a 1.6x crop-format camera like the D60, fisheye can be kind of tricky because the fisheye effect is at its strongest and most interesting around the edges of the image, which is exactly the part that is cropped off by the sensors on most digital cameras. So you probably don't want a full-frame diagonal fisheye (usually about 15mm focal length). A full-frame circular fisheye or a fisheye specifically intended for crop-frame cameras will give you the effect you want. Looking around Amazon, the closest thing I see to your price range is the Opteka 6.5mm fisheye, $289:

http://www.amazon.com/Opteka-Aspherical-Fisheye-Digital-Cameras/dp/B002KLY9I6/

I have no idea how good this lens is; Opteka is not one of the major third-party makers of Canon-mount lenses, and their products generally seem to be aimed at the low end of the market. For comparison, Sigma makes a 10mm fisheye that looks to be intended for crop-frame cameras, but it costs $649 at Amazon.

There is also a Rokinon 8mm fisheye for $299 at Amazon. I've never even heard of that brand. There are no customer reviews, either:

http://www.amazon.com/Rokinon-Aspherical-Fisheye-Digital-Cameras/dp/B002LTXQUE/

This looks to be the same lens (under another name) that is discussed in the DGrin thread that Ziggy referenced.

Another possibility, much cheaper even than these low-budget lenses, is to get a fisheye adapter to attach to the filter threads on another lens. I've never used one of these, and I'm not even sure from the product descriptions how to figure out what lenses they fit onto, but they are super-cheap (under $50 in some cases) and several different ones are available. Search at Amazon for "Canon fisheye lens" and you'll find quite a variety.

run_kmc

The "Peleng" is a popular fisheye lens in the (I believe) M42 mount, with I also believe has Canon adapters available. Search for "Peleng" and see what comes up. I believe it usually sells for less than $400, and should be of much higher quality than anything from Opteka.

pyry

ziggy53 wrote:

We just had a discussion regarding a very inexpensive, but reasonably high quality, fisheye lens:

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=154708

That's the one to get. It's also commonly available under the name of Samyang. This is actually a crop sensor fish-eye like the sigma 10 mm, but uses a much less distorted projection. This is why the focal length is 8 mm, though the FOV and image circle match the 10mm Sigma.

btj288

Fisheye len help
I have a Canon EOS D60 (the discontinued version came out about 2002) and I was wondering what were some good fisheye lenses that wouldn't "break the bank" (because I am a student ) but I am willing to spend up towards $350ish. Thanks!

ziggy53

I merged this back into your original thread. Did you read the previous replies?

btj288

Yes I did but I don't think that those lenses will fit my camera because it is outdated a bit.

ziggy53

The only fisheye lens that I can find good documentation that it "will" fit the Canon D60 is the Sigma 8mm f/3.5 EX DG Circular Fisheye.

http://www.panoramas.dk/d60/index.html

http://www.johnhpanos.com/360tute.htm

The Sigma is way out of your price range, but the Bower that I linked to before is much closer. The Bower also seems to have a similar depth, compared to the Sigma, in which it enters the camera body.

I can't guarantee that the Bower 8mm fisheye will fit or even be safe on the D60, but it seems like the best choice that I could find. I suggest you contact Bower to find out for sure.

The contact information for Bower is:

sales@BowerUSA.com