Fisheye or rectlinear?

Hi all,

I'm asking a quote for a housing for my Panasonic GH2.

Given that I have no wa lens which is better to start for video works?

On m43 (crop factor 2x) there are:

7-14mm f/4 rectilinear wa lens (very expensive)

8mm f/3.5 fisheye lens

Then there are Zuiko, samyang and other things but basically which lens to choose?

I will shot mainly deep wrecks.

There is also the new 14mm f2.5 but it has a 75° aperture only (actually a 28mm)

Pros and cons?

Thank you in advance

Yuhhhh Huuuuuu!!!

Is there anybody out there?

Hi,

You're definitely along the right lines there, with the fisheye or rectilinear zoom. While I have no experience with the Olympus M43 system I would say that in general fisheyes are easier to get sharp corners with, but you have to live with the fisheye distortion (which is a matter of taste really) and in your case the lack of zoom on that 8mm lens. Many users prefer a rectilinear lens which will keep straight lines straight (perhaps useful for wrecks?) especially for video, but often you find you need to use a large dome port and/or shut the aperture down somewhat to achieve sharp corners.

Hope this is some help. Ideally you'd want someone who has used those exact lenses to chime in.

Hi,

Ideally you'd want someone who has used those exact lenses to chime in.

Thank you for your reply.

Actually, on the net there are really few examples (less than five ) of panasonic m43 video. Here on wetpixel thare are several users who gets very nice photos with GF1 and GH2. The system is new and beside 10Bar only Nauticam placed a bet on panny camera with really nice and professional housings.

So for fisheye video shots my only reference are those shots with the combo 7D + 10-17mm. I don't know if the distortion is comparable.

Bye

Thank you for your reply.

Actually, on the net there are really few examples (less than five ) of panasonic m43 video. Here on wetpixel thare are several users who gets very nice photos with GF1 and GH2. The system is new and beside 10Bar only Nauticam placed a bet on panny camera with really nice and professional housings.

So for fisheye video shots my only reference are those shots with the combo 7D + 10-17mm. I don't know if the distortion is comparable.

 

Bye

This guy (http://vimeo.com/28087011 ) has both lenses, I suppose the closer shots were taken with the 7-14mm. The 8mm however has a rear filter holder which would be useful to shoot with a Magic Filter for the wreck.

I always set the lens at the widest angle when shooting wrecks, the curved lines in the video is not too noticeable especially if you keep it in the middle of the frame, so I would say the 8mm would be better.

But if you want flexibility, the 7-14mm with the gear port from Nauticam will give you that, the lens is about $200 more than the 8mm. Not sure about the port prices though.

But if you want flexibility, the 7-14mm with the gear port from Nauticam will give you that, the lens is about $200 more than the 8mm. Not sure about the port prices though.

Too expensive, I'll go for the 8mm

Thanks