Which Fish eye attachment ?

[Tim L]

So, I've been planning on doing some skate-videos with a couple friends, but I feel like I need a fish-eye effect to achieve the best results.. Can't afford a full size fish eye at the moment, so I've been looking at "attachments" or whatever they're called.

I have a nikon d3100 with the standard 18-55mm I believe, and a 35 1.8/f.. ehm, the solid lens without zoom, can't remember the correct term. Both are 52ø

Amazon.com : Opteka HD2 0.20X Professional Super AF Fisheye Lens for Nikon DSLR Cameras : Camera Lenses : Camera & Photo

Amazon.com : Precision Design 0.25X Super AF Fish Eye Lens for Film & Digital SLR Lenses : Digital Slr Camera Lenses : Camera & Photo

What do you reckon would be the better choice? 0.20x or 0.25x? and how big would the difference be in terms of getting an oval picture.. I want a wide shoot, but not ridiculously wide, if that makes sense..

I'd be happy to get other opinions and alternatives, thx

 

[gsgary]

Don't waste your money on those they are rubbish

 

[480sparky]

Instead of wasting money on a cheap glass paperweight/doorstop, invest in some basic stitching software and use the lens you have. Take multiple images and import them to the software to simulate a super - wide lens.

 

[Tim L]

Instead of wasting money on a cheap glass paperweight/doorstop, invest in some basic stitching software and use the lens you have. Take multiple images and import them to the software to simulate a super - wide lens.

"So, I've been planning on doing some skate-videos with a couple friends"

Need it for videoing
If i were to save up some money, what would be the cheapest wide-angle/fisheye I could find?

 

[iolair]

I'm inclined to agree with gsgary - the fisheye attachments tend to be extremely poor quality. But then, you can pick one up for videoing on your smartphone for literally only a few eurodollarpounds - which is an okay price for a novelty so why not give one a try.

Anyway, the cheapest genuine fisheye lens on your Nikon ... probably the Rokinon manual focus: $225. Has pretty respectable amazon reviews. Amazon.com : Rokinon FE8M-N 8mm F3.5 Fisheye Lens for Nikon (Black) : Camera Lenses : Camera & Photo

 

[tirediron]

First of all, welcome to the 'site.

Second, please bear in mind that this is a public, open forum, and people are free to post their thoughts and opinions (which just might be based on facts/knowlege/experience you don't have), provided they do so with at least a modicum of politeness. You are not required to agree with those, but blatantly rude/hostile responses will not be tolerated.

Third, on to your question: Don't! As others have mentioned, these adaptors are generally of an optical quality that gives real junk a bad name. I agree with the suggestion of the Rokinon; hardly top quality glass, but light-years ahead of any of those adaptors. One rule with respect to the purchasing of photo gear: If it has the word "pro" or "professional" in the name/description, you can almost guarentee it isn't!

 

[480sparky]

Without clicking on any of the links, I'd say either one will work for you. Typically, cheap add-on lenses like this will greatly exaggerate their nnX value.

Meaning: they may say 0.2X or 0.25X, but you won't see anything near that. 0.5X or 0.6X is more likely

The makers and sellers of these types of accessories merely want to seperate you and your money. And their hope us you won't bother to seek a refund once you realize you've been had.

 

[petrochemist]

Many of the widest ones give very uneven factors so that a large proportion of the image is right at the edge of the image and effectively unusable.
I've picked up several more moderate 'wide angle' or 'semi fisheye' adapters over the years typically 0.5x (by far the best quality is a Olympus 0.8x). With the exception of the olympus 0.8x all my recent ones have been under $20 & all have been used.

Combined with the right focal length the results can be reasonable (certainly good enough for internet grade video) but they rarely give much more FOV than the kit lens - showing the inside of the adapter at the wider end of the zoom.
They're designed for 50mm primes...

Proper fish eye lenses are certainly better (Even the $100 olympus 9mmBCL for µ4/3, a fixed f8 body cap fisheye) but if you can't find an affordable fisheye for your camera one of these older models might be cheap enough to try.
There is a Flickr group specifically for these adapters see : Flickr: The Fish Eye Adapter Lens Pool

 

[wfooshee]

I can't imagine what video through a fisheye would look like without feeling myself getting a bit nauseated..... you can go wider then the 18 you have, but not inexpensively.

You might consider renting a lens, something with a minimum focal length of 10, 12, or even 14 millimeters. Such lenses are ultra-wide-angle but not fisheye; they retain the generally rectangular image.

 

[curly]

I'm inclined to agree with gsgary - the fisheye attachments tend to be extremely poor quality. But then, you can pick one up for videoing on your smartphone for literally only a few eurodollarpounds - which is an okay price for a novelty so why not give one a try.

Anyway, the cheapest genuine fisheye lens on your Nikon ... probably the Rokinon manual focus: $225. Has pretty respectable amazon reviews. Amazon.com : Rokinon FE8M-N 8mm F3.5 Fisheye Lens for Nikon (Black) : Camera Lenses : Camera & Photo

I recently bought this fisheye, and it is pretty decent for the money spent. I actually think it is the same as the Rokinon suggested here, just rebranded. I believe they were all built by a company called Samyang and go by other names as well. I haven't used it too much yet though.

Amazon.com : Vivitar 8mm Ultra Wide f/3.5 HD Aspherical Fisheye Lens for Nikon D3000, D3100, D3200, D3300, D5000, D5100, D5200, D5300, D7000, D7100, D40, D40x, D50, D60, D70, D70s, D80, D90, D100, D200, & D300 Digital SLR Cameras : Camera & Photo

 

[480sparky]

I recently bought this fisheye, and it is pretty decent for the money spent. I actually think it is the same as the Rokinon suggested here, just rebranded. I believe they were all built by a company called Samyang and go by other names as well. I haven't used it too much yet though

Vivitar, Samyang, ProOptic, Bower, Opteka, Bell & Howell, Rokinon, Falcon and Walimex