Fisheye

Hi,

I was always amazed with the beautiful pics taken by fisheye lens the still photography.

Is it possible to reach the same (or almost the same) kind of pics in videography?

I have made some research. It answered some questions and raised some new.

Sealux offers a fisheye lens for the V1 housing. It has 145 degree FOV. (6x zoom) appr. 2455 USD

Fathom offers the SWP44B, 120 degrees. (Full zoom.) appr. 3965 USD

They are much less, than a 170-180 degrees fisheye.

Then I found the Raynox lens , which offers 180 degrees on diagonal. This lens can be attached directly the camcorder. (3x zoom.) appr. 395 USD

Century Optics also offers fisheye lens. 595 USD

My question is the following: is it possible to use this kind of lens with a standard dome port - as the still photographers use? Amphibico has a standard dome port assembly for the Endeavour, e.g. The summarized costs would be much less (395/595+595 USD) as the other two solution.

Pros:

price

much greater FOV

it is much easier (cheaper) to change the dome port - in case of injury, scratch etc.

weight

Cons:

less or no zoom possibility

no macro

one setup for one dive

I would be very interested in your opinion, experiences...

Jules

Gyula

Like any specialty lens, the fisheye has its moments but it gets old VERY quickly due to the super distortion. How many times can you bare to see a fat fish with distorted surroundings or the barrel distortion of the reefscape or wreck?

Not this boy.

That said, fisheyes do clean up turbid water like nothing else. 10ft becomes 30ft with fisheye.

The problem with a fisheye is the port. And you need a big domeport to make it work since it's super wide. The standard dome ports merely reduce the water magnification. Their FOV is usually in the 60° range. So no such thing as a cheap alternative.

Thanks Drew,

you are drawing me back to reality:-)

You were on the point: the very clean images impressed me so much. If I understand right, you says that long seconds of fisheye sequences would be tiring and boring?

Jules

Jules,

I have a Gates FX7 housing and 2 Raynox lenses, .7x and .3x semi-fisheye.

Both lenses w/ UR-Pro screw on filter, fit under my dome, but with the .3x you can see the dome fins. The .3x is smaller than the .7x and doesn't extend as far into the dome as the .7x. If I extended it further, I might not see the dome fins. I'll have to experiment with this.

Do you know if the lens coverage specs on the Sealux and Fathoms are horizontal or diagonal ? Raynox lists both. The Raynox full fish-eye lens is 180 degrees diagonal, 138 horizontal.

Ron

Most lens manufacturers list diagonal as the drawcard... BIG NUMBER!

Remember also that without a proper virtual image of a domeport, you lose a lot of the advantages of using a fisheye in the first place.

Gyula

What I say is my opinion. If you like the fisheye look, then by all means shoot with it. I treat fisheye lens as a specialty lens for special shots. I think of the best shots of kids swimming in water as a great example of using a fisheye.

I was in Indonesia when we happened upon 12 kids swimming at a pier. My buddy had a 10.5 fisheye lens and his stills were awesome. My video with a 105 degree lens was ok but I wish I had a fisheye then.

Ron

Most lens manufacturers list diagonal as the drawcard... BIG NUMBER!

Remember also that without a proper virtual image of a domeport, you lose a lot of the advantages of using a fisheye in the first place.

 

Gyula

What I say is my opinion. If you like the fisheye look, then by all means shoot with it. I treat fisheye lens as a specialty lens for special shots. I think of the best shots of kids swimming in water as a great example of using a fisheye.

I was in Indonesia when we happened upon 12 kids swimming at a pier. My buddy had a 10.5 fisheye lens and his stills were awesome. My video with a 105 degree lens was ok but I wish I had a fisheye then.

Well, if there is no cheap solution, in this case next the a standard wide ange port, it seems to me, it is worth to have a special fisheye lens. I can ask Subal, whether they can produce a special dome fort video using with fisheye lens.

Ron: do you have some stills grabbed ffrom the timeline? I would be interested in both lenses. Or a couple seconds video...

Jules

Nothing UW yet. Last trip was mainly macro and closeup.

I can post some topside stuff if you want.

Nothing UW yet. Last trip was mainly macro and closeup.

 

I can post some topside stuff if you want.

Thanks,

topside is also interesting, so I would appreciate it.

Here are frame grabs of the .7x and without. To get the area covered the same, I was several feet further back when the .7x was off.

test pic

testpic2

Here is a frame grab of the semi-fisheye.

semifisheye

.7x costs $150, semifisheye cost $90 USD.