Russian 16mm fish eye lens question

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TW - 14 Jul 2005 02:41 GMT

What is the angle of view when used with a dSLR with a 1.5x crop factor?

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Jeff R - 14 Jul 2005 03:53 GMT

> What is the angle of view when used with a dSLR with a 1.5x crop factor?

Can't answer for the 16mm, but the 8mm Peleng on a 1.5x shows the full 180°
across the long axis.

--
Jeff R.

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Stacey - 14 Jul 2005 05:14 GMT

>> What is the angle of view when used with a dSLR with a 1.5x crop factor?
>
> Can't answer for the 16mm, but the 8mm Peleng on a 1.5x shows the full
> 180° across the long axis.

I've been using a 8mm Peleng on my E300 and it's a pretty good lens,
especially for the money. It has the typical ex-soviet build quality (stiff
focus) but optically seems very good and the diaphram works well. It has a
"preset" ring to compose wide open then stops down to the preset fstop for
shooting. On 4/3 it covers the whole frame, sorry not sure what it does on
other size sensors.

This was shot is some pretty bad light but still is kinda neat. BTW this
wasn't "unfished" as some people have assumed it was.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-1/937049/lakewide.jpg

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Stacey

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G.T. - 14 Jul 2005 06:18 GMT

> >> What is the angle of view when used with a dSLR with a 1.5x crop factor?
> >
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-1/937049/lakewide.jpg

Maybe it's my eyes or the fact it isn't "unfished" but that doesn't look
like a wide angle of view.

Greg

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Stacey - 14 Jul 2005 06:52 GMT

>> This was shot is some pretty bad light but still is kinda neat. BTW this
>> wasn't "unfished" as some people have assumed it was.
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> Maybe it's my eyes or the fact it isn't "unfished" but that doesn't look
> like a wide angle of view.

In some ways the "fisheye perspective" isn't as distorted as a normal wide
angle lens is. With careful use on certain subjects, I almost like the look
better than you get with a superwide normal type lens. People assume the
only thing you can get with a fisheye is shots like this.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-1/937049/lunch.jpg

BTW here's another fisheye shot done with a 30mm Arsat on medium format.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-1/937049/duck3web.jpg

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Stacey

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Jeremy Nixon - 14 Jul 2005 21:40 GMT

> Maybe it's my eyes or the fact it isn't "unfished" but that doesn't look
> like a wide angle of view.

That shot looks cropped from the full 180-degree angle of view, probably
due to the smaller sensor, but it's definitely fisheye, she's not pulling
a fast one.

When you get a fisheye shot that doesn't present the "expected" fisheye
effect, it actually does create a mental illusion that it's not nearly
as wide of a view as it is -- this is because you're used to the "stretch"
effect you get in the corners of a rectilinear wide-angle shot, and you
don't get that in a fisheye. A fisheye projection is more natural and
less "distorted" than a rectilinear one, to the eye, *if* the shot
avoids lines that your eyes expect to be straight that aren't straight.

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Jeremy | jeremy@exit109.com

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Stacey - 15 Jul 2005 05:29 GMT

> A fisheye projection is more natural and
> less "distorted" than a rectilinear one, to the eye, *if* the shot
> avoids lines that your eyes expect to be straight that aren't straight.

That's the key, you have to avoid straight lines or compose in the finder so
they stay straight and crop later to move the horizon or whatever is
straight. I actually like fisheye projection when it can be applied this
way, most people never get to try this because they assume it can only be
used for "gimicky" shots so they never buy one..

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Stacey

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Jeff R - 14 Jul 2005 06:30 GMT

> >> What is the angle of view when used with a dSLR with a 1.5x crop factor?
> >
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-1/937049/lakewide.jpg

Interesting - and very distortion-free.
The smaller sensor size of the Oly certainly shows up here - to advantage.

Here are three full-frame shots using the Peleng 8mm on a Pentax 1st:

http://mendosus.com/jpg/3sisters.jpg
http://mendosus.com/jpg/wyangala-wetside.jpg
http://mendosus.com/jpg/wyangala-dryside.jpg
(all three reduced to 900px wide, but not cropped at all)

I'm having a ball with this lens - accepting and working around the
limitations.
A little judicious cropping can yield quite respectable results (as your Oly
shot shows).

--
Jeff R.

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G.T. - 14 Jul 2005 06:38 GMT

> > >> What is the angle of view when used with a dSLR with a 1.5x crop
> factor?
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>
> http://mendosus.com/jpg/3sisters.jpg

Ah, that's better as I now have a frame of reference since I've used a 28mm
lens on a 35mm SLR there.

Greg

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Jeff R - 14 Jul 2005 06:44 GMT

> > Here are three full-frame shots using the Peleng 8mm on a Pentax 1st:
> >
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>
> Greg

Just one minor caveat, Greg.
That shot was taken at one of the "secondary" lookouts, a couple of hundred
metres down the track from Echo point (hence the cheap fencing).
Not a *direct* comparison with a shot from the top.

--
Jeff R.

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G.T. - 14 Jul 2005 07:02 GMT

> > > Here are three full-frame shots using the Peleng 8mm on a Pentax 1st:
> > >
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> metres down the track from Echo point (hence the cheap fencing).
> Not a *direct* comparison with a shot from the top.

Yes, but I get an idea of the angle of view much better than from a place
I've never been.

Greg

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Stacey - 14 Jul 2005 06:46 GMT

> "Stacey" <fotocord@yahoo.com> wrote in message

>> This was shot is some pretty bad light but still is kinda neat. BTW this
>> wasn't "unfished" as some people have assumed it was.
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> Interesting - and very distortion-free.
> The smaller sensor size of the Oly certainly shows up here - to advantage.

I think it's pretty close to a "full frame" fisheye on an E300 and this is
the same focal length olympus is making their fisheye. The trick to
controlling the distortion is the camera MUST be level, avoid anything with
straight lines away from the center of the lens and the horizon has to be
centered in the lens, crop to move it after shooting. I think you could
crop a really cool shot from that first one you posted.

This is another fisheye shot, using the ex-soviet 30mm arsat on medium
format..

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-1/937049/duck3web.jpg

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Stacey

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rbehunin@alumni.weber.edu - 14 Jul 2005 18:12 GMT

> What is the angle of view when used with a dSLR with a 1.5x crop factor?

Hi TW,

If you are looking for a fish-eye lens on a digital camera go for the
8mm.
There were a couple of them from a couple of places. KievUSA is a
really good dealer, and there is a dealer in Canada. Saul at KievUSA
normally runs a quality check on the stuff he sells. The dealer in
Canada will arrange for direct shipment from Belaruis. The dealer in
Canada is a little less money. KievUSA, or is it KeivUSA (I forget
which way that goes...) normally has the stock on hand, but is more
money. I almost bought from the dealer in Canada, but found out it was
a direct shipment from Beleruis. I was not sure if the folks at
Customs would add money to the shipment. The dealer said they
wouldn't, but this is our government we are talking about here, so you
never know what they are going to do.
If you do a search on Google for the Peleng 8mm Lens the dealers for it
come up.

Both of them sounded like they were okay to deal with. I also bought a
Kiev 88 years ago from Saul at KievUSA. So I had dealt with them
before.
They seemed fairly good then. They seem to know a bit about what they
are selling.

The other dealer, and I don't remember the name of the other dealer
did know a bit about the lens, he just had to have it shipped from
overseas.
I was not real sure about this.

As far as the lens, the glass on the Ukrain/Belaruis/Russian lenses is
really clean glass. These factories are converted soviet arms
factories. They used to make equipment for the soviet military. When
the old soviet union fell, they converted the factories to making
cameras and camera lenses. The Kiev 88 and the lenes for it are really
high quality. When I found out they had a fish-eye lens for the
Digital Rebel, I was really happy that I could use this quality of
glass on this camera. The down side to the Kiev Cameras is the
mechanics in the cameras. They jam a little bit, and have a 1/30
second flash sync.

I have shot some photos with the 8mm fish-eye with the Canon Digital
Rebel. These were just playing around photos, and not anything really
great. Send me email at roland [remome] at readytek.net and I can
email you a couple of them.

An 8mm lens is going to give you something in the 15mm range if you
compare it to 35mm, and a 16mm is going to be somewhere close to a 24mm
lens.

The 8mm and 16mm only work in the all manual mode on the Canon Digital
Cameras. The instruction manuals are in Russian, so you have to have a
little understanding of how the lens works in order to use the lens.

The markings on the lens are not the same as here, they are a bit
different.

roland

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Stacey - 15 Jul 2005 05:26 GMT

>> What is the angle of view when used with a dSLR with a 1.5x crop factor?
>
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> really good dealer, and there is a dealer in Canada. Saul at KievUSA
> normally runs a quality check on the stuff he sells.

They are good people.

> The dealer in
> Canada will arrange for direct shipment from Belaruis.

That's what I did and was able to get mine in native OM mount which was a
bonus for me.

> I was not sure if the folks at
> Customs would add money to the shipment.

They didn't for me, never had that issue and have bought a BUNCH of stuff
from eastern europe over the years.

> If you do a search on Google for the Peleng 8mm Lens the dealers for it
> come up.

I can say DO NOT under any circumstance purchase anything from Kievcamera.
He's not a honest person to deal with.

> The other dealer, and I don't remember the name of the other dealer

It's "East Wave Products Inc" <support@eastwave.ca>

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Stacey

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