wide angle lens vs. fisheye lens

jumalian · Ladies Man Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 7625 City: san diego

what's the difference between the 2?

Goob · Outlaw Joined: 01 Jul 2003 Posts: 146 City: S/W Minnesota

wide angle shoots a wide shot in a normal frame and a fisheye will shoot way wider then a wide angle but it curves the images on the outside of the frame and i dont think it fills the frame entirely. go on canonusa.com and look at the different images that the lenses produce itmight help ya a little

Elevation · Posted: Jan 09, 2005 8:40 pm Post subject:

i bought some real cheap fisheyes off ebay and they work great. i think a wide angle might not have the black curves in the corners of the frame.

Mariognarly · Addict Joined: 14 Jan 2003 Posts: 853

Also, I believe the fisheye lens doesnt perform as well in high levels of zooming compared to the wide angle.

Josh R · Posted: Jan 10, 2005 4:52 am Post subject:

Generally wide angle lens are totally or mostly zoom through, which means you can still zoom in and out withough losing focus. This isn't the case with most fisheyes.
Fisheye's pull things in the foreground into your view, while the background becomes less prominant. They also feature barrel distortion and may display vignetting, which is the little dark corners Elevation is talking about. Basically they warp the view, while standard wide angles attempt to display the scene in a rectilinear fashion

ie. straight edges become curved and you see an enourmous field of view vs. straight edges remain pretty straight, and you can see a pretty wide field of view.

Hmmm, thats the best way I can think of explaining it on the spot, I'm sure others can do a better job.

PS. Oh yeah, I was approaching that from a video cam P.O.V. but most still applies to photography, apart from the zoom through bit...

RD · Addict Joined: 22 Apr 2003 Posts: 626 City: Discovery Bay

The fisheye lens when on a DSLR actually provides very high quality images. On a video camera it's normally a converter which has to work in conjunction with the builtin lens. The Century Optics model is widely considered the very best for video (of course you've got to pay big $ for it). Because it's not a rectilinear lens the lens's optics can be much simpler. I've been using a Canon fisheye on my 20D/1D and then debarrelizing for a very nice wide angle image which is sharper then my 17mm will give me. There are probably plugins which correct barrel distortion for video as well although the fisheye effect has been a very popular look. It really accentuates the foreground object in relation to the back ground which is why it's been so popular for sports videos.

MattyBoyR6 · Outlaw Joined: 09 May 2003 Posts: 239 City: Mesa

RD which fisheye do you have/recomend. I am looking at picking one up for my 20D. Offcourse I don't want to drop $250+ on a fisheye, but thats about hte cheapest I found.

Elevation · Posted: Jan 10, 2005 4:51 pm Post subject:

MattyBoyR6, i got mine for $10 Very Happy

RD · Addict Joined: 22 Apr 2003 Posts: 626 City: Discovery Bay

Elevation, if you got an Canon ef mount fisheye lens for $10 then you got the deal of the century - no matter what brand it is.

Mattyboy, I sprung for the Canon 15mm FE because I've just had too many bad experiences now with Sigma lenses plus I went for the triple rebate buying the Canon FE, an 85 f1.8 and a 100-400L. That saved me $270 total on those 3.

But the Sigma 15 is over a hundred cheaper then the Canon and is considered to be every bit as good by most people. Below that you've got that russian model which is even less but I haven't seen any good quality shots from it yet. If you're really looking for the strong fisheye effect on the 20D you'll probably want to look at the Sigma 8mm. The fish effect with a 15mm on a 1.6X crop is not real pronounced. It does however make a great wide angle with a little barrel correction.

Maestro · Posted: Jan 10, 2005 7:24 pm Post subject:

I believe Elevation is referring to a video camera lens.

Elevation · Posted: Jan 10, 2005 9:24 pm Post subject:

Maestro, yea i am ha. but hey, its still a deal and it looks fine.

RD · Addict Joined: 22 Apr 2003 Posts: 626 City: Discovery Bay

Good FE convertors like the Century Fisheye are over $600 for my video cam, I think I'll pass on Elevation's $10 special. I don't have good vision anymore like you young guys! (I'm having a hard time keeping up with his dancing Bear!) Smile

jumalian · Ladies Man Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 7625 City: san diego

thanks for all the help!