fish eyes

Elevation · Posted: Sep 20, 2004 4:06 pm Post subject: fish eyes

hey. i was looking into buying a fish eye lens for my sony video camera this winter for snowboarding. i was wondering what makes one lens better than others. i know my camera has 37mm threads. I was looking on ebay at cheap lenses and saw that the majority of them were .42X conversion. i heard that the lower the number gets the wider the angle gets, is this right?? i found a .38X for pretty cheap. let me know what the specs on good lenses are. thanks.

Nephilim · Addict Joined: 09 Apr 2003 Posts: 658 City: Ephrata, WA

my fish eye is a .25x which is pretty wide, I usually use it zoomed in a little so what you see is a box not a circle. its a cheap 100$ pheonix but it does the job since im not a pro. Pretty much its all about the quality for the glass, so the more then likely the higher you pay the better the glass.

Elevation · Posted: Sep 20, 2004 4:56 pm Post subject:

do you think a .42X would be alright. i saw a picture online of a .42 and it looked pretty tight but .25 seems really wide, which would be awesome. well anyway, i am looking at them on ebay. the ones i am looking at are like from 10-30 dollars. i know you will probably say those will be very bad quality and get like a hundred dolalr one, but i am willing to do that for a low price. here is a picture of a lens that says it is .42X.

also, if you could tell me what u think of this, that would be great.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=43441&item=3840407831&rd=1

DC · Soul Rider Joined: 11 Mar 2003 Posts: 456

"Titanium" = CRAP!

I have the following lens from Century Optics (DS55WA37 - $79.95!) for my Sony PC-101. It's awesome and probably the most reasonably priced piece of quality glass out there!

It's very low profile, you get .55x, and it has 37mm threads so you won't need to use the step-up rings. The only thing.... it's not a zoom-through!! . Basically what that means is you can only zoom about half way before everything goes out of focus, but it you're just using it for wide shots while snowboarding you won't need to use the zoom anyway..

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/product/229934/CEDS55WA37/REG/2103

If $79 is too expensive, check out the other wide-angles from b&h..

1) Go here: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=search&Q=&a=327_2736&a=555_4687&shs=&ci=2102&ac=
2) Sort by price.
3) Consider the Kenko or Raynox lenses before buying a "TitaniumCrappy" lens....

I also have the Kenko SGW-043, but it's pretty bulky and not as nice or "low-profile" as the Century Optics DS55WA37.

DC · Soul Rider Joined: 11 Mar 2003 Posts: 456

Here are some videos stills with each lens

1) Stock Lens
2) Century Optics
3) Kenko

Elevation · Posted: Sep 21, 2004 12:47 pm Post subject:

i knew somebody would tell me that thing was a piece of crap, but i think its worth the 10 bucks. why is titanium so bad anyway?

DC · Soul Rider Joined: 11 Mar 2003 Posts: 456

Even if you get it for $10 (highly unlikely) you'll still have to pay $10 for shipping... That's $20 out the window. I guess if you enjoy the "Vignetting" look and bad optics it's cool....

Elevation · Posted: Sep 21, 2004 5:36 pm Post subject:

i am getting a $10 one and i think it will be worth it. if it sucks i can sell it to one of my friends for like 30 haha. if it looks alright ill get a shot up on here.

anyway, what do u think about this...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=64327&item=3840954262&rd=1

pyrocasto · Posted: Sep 21, 2004 9:57 pm Post subject:

I have a Digital Optics .45x fisheye and it does just fine. It costs around $50 or so on ebay. I went the cheap way because for my camera the lenses made for it were $150 a piece, and I dont have that money to dish out. Plus I'm not using it for work or anything, just for fun.

Elevation · Posted: Sep 22, 2004 1:34 pm Post subject:

pyrocasto, do u think .45X is wide enough, i am wondering if i should get a .3X instead of a .42X

BillJ · Posted: Sep 22, 2004 7:15 pm Post subject:

If you're just gonna post vids on the web then a cheap wide angle/fisheye will be fine. They aren't so good if you're trying to make DVDs though. I have a Kenko and it works fine and I also have a Sony wide angle. The .45x is really wide but for skateboard vids you might want the .3x. Since they are cheap get a fisheye and a wide angle and you'll be set.

Elevation · Posted: Sep 22, 2004 7:22 pm Post subject:

i just bought a .42X fisheye off ebay for $10, so im stoked on that. im not expecting much but hopefully it will do fine. this one is a screw on lens. if its a POS then im gonna get a slip on .3X for like $20 which will hopefully be better.

pyrocasto · Posted: Sep 23, 2004 10:02 am Post subject:

I think it would be wide enough, it all depends on what you are shooting. Just think, the .45 or so will give twice as much to see than normal, and will give you less of a skewed view than the .3. I think you will be happy, but if not, go smaller like you said. A .25x lens can go 170 degrees so basically it can see everything you can almost.

Elevation · Posted: Sep 23, 2004 1:07 pm Post subject:

i bought a .42X from ebay. im going to check it out and if i want wider ill get a .3X. im gonna be filming snowboarding mostly, so i might wanna go real wide.

Nephilim · Addict Joined: 09 Apr 2003 Posts: 658 City: Ephrata, WA

you might find that in snowboarding you wont need a fisheye that often, I thought i would use mine a lot but I hardly ever use it unless its rails. But when i film skateboarding I mostly always use it.

Elevation · Posted: Sep 23, 2004 7:26 pm Post subject:

i plan on doing a lot of street rails this year which it would be nice for. also just a nice rail line in a park or something.

Nephilim · Addict Joined: 09 Apr 2003 Posts: 658 City: Ephrata, WA

sweet sounds like the lens will work perfect for you then.

flukdfilms · Posted: Sep 28, 2004 12:34 pm Post subject:

ya for snowboarding we bought a 30 dollar piece of junk, but it works amazingly. for low budget stuff, the cheaper the better, unless you have a gl1 or some type of really nice camera.

Elevation · Posted: Sep 28, 2004 12:47 pm Post subject:

i just got my fish eye. the shipping took about a week or less and i was really stoked when i got home from school with a small package at my door. it looks pretty good, in an office i could only see a desk and with the lens i could see wall to wall. it is a .42X and i think that will be fine for snowboarding. $10 Twisted Evil

Elevation · Posted: Sep 28, 2004 1:52 pm Post subject:

here is the .42X fisheye i just got for $10. i did a little before and after effect of my room. I dont know how good it will be for snowboarding though, tell me what you think.

http://photos.wakeboarder.com/showphoto.php?photo=6262&sort=1&cat=500&page=1