Fisheye Lens

paigegreen916 · Sep 18, 2008

Hi! I am looking for a fisheye lens for my Sony A200. i don't want to spend more than $200. i'd be fine with a fisheye attachment if the quality is good, i just dont know how good it would be though. any advice would be much appriciated!

Bifurcator · Sep 18, 2008

How wide do you want?

Would these do?

http://reviews.cnet.com/lenses/sigma-zoom-lens-18/4505-13038_7-31412839.html $99 ~ $130

http://www.pricespider.com/buy/4329...-Minolta-Digital-SLR-Cameras-SAL1870-buy.html $195 ~ $235

paigegreen916 · Sep 19, 2008

are "wide angle" and "fisheye" the same thing?

Bifurcator · Sep 19, 2008

that depends who you ask.

Technically speaking "Fish Eye" only exists as a round image in the middle of a square frame and is 180˚ (± 5&#730

view angle. That was it's first definition and is it's proper meaning. Then lens makers and technical writers started calling severe barrel distortion "fish-eye effect". When the distortion was corrected in some designs the names weren't changed. I see people referring to 10mm and 14mm lenses as "fish-eye" ALLOT and I see many people referring to anything under ~35mm as "fish-eye" too.

I can't be expected to know if you actually know the technically correct meaning of the term "fish-eye" or if you're using the term to describe "ultra-wide angle". So, I asked my question. I guess i don't get an answer(?) or were you asking a serious question?

paigegreen916 · Sep 19, 2008

i was asking an honest question. i guess i dont know if they're what i'm looking for because i don't know what the images they take look like. i dont want the totally round image with the black frame, just the barrel distortion. a "round-ish" kind of look.

thank you for your help, though.

twozero · Sep 19, 2008

those adapters will almost always produce low quality images. they will without a doubt give you the effect you want, though. they are bad about ghosting and flaring from any light (mostly due to the extreme wide angle).

i used one that a friend had for a video camera once, it was next to impossible to focus and when properly focused, nothing came out sharp. i decided to just get a real fish-eye. it is well-worth the money if you plan on using it a lot.