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14 Responses
I’m normally a huge fan of primes, but super-wide is one place where a fixed focal length can really limit your options. This lens is also three-quarters the price of Panasonic’s 7-14mm zoom… a fantastic lens.
Is there anything about a “fisheye” lens that makes it optically unique, or is that merely just describing it being very wide angle?
“Is there anything about a “fisheye” lens that makes it optically unique, or is that merely just describing it being very wide angle?”
Well, yeah, it has the ‘fisheye’ effect which a rectilinear lens like the 7-14 doesn’t have. The 7-14 has some distortion, but it’s controlled and for the most part you simply get to see more of the scene. The fisheye lenses are all about distortion to capture as much field of view as possible. When you see stadium shots that capture the entire stadium, and it all looks distorted and curved, that’s a fisheye.
Thanks – so the 8mm fisheye would have the same focal length (and therefore capture the same field of view) as the 7-14 set at 8mm, only the fisheye lens would exhibit more barrel distortion?
(Sorry, I know there’s already a lot of info about this topic online, but everywhere i look, people always like comparing lenses of completely different focal lengths when discussing fisheye vs wide angle).
Gonna answer my own question here LOL! I found some photos taken with the lens online and it really has a 180 degree field of view — the technical “focal length” apparently cannot be directly compared to a non-fisheye lens. Very striking images!
Fisheye lenses are sort of style thing. Some people like it, some don’t. Personally you would never see me shooting with a fish eye. I’m the kind who would go to Lightroom and straighten a photo if it’s off by 0.2 degree. 😀 (*straightens his shoe laces*)
While I’m sure the Panasonic fisheye is rather nice, there is really no need for such a lens to support AF. You can do much faster using zone focusing. If I needed a fisheye I would probably choose the Samyang 8/3.5. It has great reports and costs less than half the price.
Maybe it is just me but this is the part of m43 that bothers me. An $800 piece of plastic does not feel like good value. (I have a few m43 lenses and all of them feel overpriced.)
its time to moan about the price … UK price
– Oly 8mm (43) fisheye is £699
– Pan 8mm (m43) fisheye is £699
Nikon have two fisheyes:
– 16mm f2.8 (FX, full-frame) £596
– 10.5mm (DX, APS-C) £519
Why are the small 43 & m43 fisheyes more expensive than Nikon?
Probably because Nikon sells so many more lenses than any m43 does that the price has come down a lot. When you pay a ton for m43 lenses it is because so much R&D had to go into a lens and it isn’t going to sell in huge numbers.
I paid £549 for my Olympus 8mm fisheye brand new…
and Panasonic’s 8mm can easily be found for £599
yep, those prices were all from one store as a comparison … I’m sure the Nikon can also be found for less than stated
the question is: why are 43/m43 lenses (which are smaller) more expensive than Canon/Nikon?
Sure things like the f2 zooms don’t exist, but the fisheye lenses are comparable.
8mm 4/3 = 16mm FF
Am I right?
Yes!
Btw- For those of you wondering what this fisheye might be used for- Fisheyes are used almost exclusively for VR photography (those “virtual tours” you see online for hotels, real estate and such). As someone who specializes in that type of photography, I can tell you that from the few sample images I have seen thus far, the quality of this lens far surpasses that of the Oly 4/3 fisheye and it looks like it may even have an edge over the Nikon 10.5mm fish I currently use.
I am very glad to see this lens and can’t wait to get my hands on one for closer inspection. As the options for m4/3 are very limited with regards to these this type of lens.