has anyone tried the samyang 8mm lens for close up wide angle work? the manual apeture should not really be a problem as i will just shut it down to f11 -f16. however the manual focus may be more of an issue however but i assume i can just set it to 1m and let the DOF do the work. has anyone tried this lens for photography? i found a video posted here but it's a bit difficult to judge image quality etc. the canon and sigma lenses are outside my budget so this looks like the best option.
anyone used one or got any images they can post.
Roddy
The manual focus distance would have to take into account the effect of the dome port in water - so a much closer focus distance would be needed. The exact distance would depend on the size and curvature of the dome. You'd have to test it in the pool/bath.
For example, with my Nikon 16-35mm and Zen 230 dome (and correct port extension) I know (from tests) that I can fix the lens focus at 0.35m and a large subject (pelagic) will be in focus when it is about 0.6m or further away underwater.
Alex
Thanks Alex
i would be hoping to rig some sort of focus ring using a zoom ring but failing that some playing around in the pool would be needed. I take it you don't have any personal experiance of the lens however. what about using an 8mm on a cropped sensor? online reviews of the image quality are actually quite good and the manual apeture/focus does not bother me as i'm used to old school film camera's with manual everything.
Roddy
I've tried one with a Kenco 1.5 Teleconverter in my Ikelite housing I used it with a Precision 5" Dome. The results were fairly promising, I used the Ike focusing ring to change apeture. Unfortunately I have'nt managed to try it again.
Hey aquakiwi sounds promising any chance of posting up a sample image? Which camera are you using it with FF or cropped sensor?
Does not have to be an amazing picture im just looking to judge the amount of distortion and sharpness at this stage before buying the lens.
Roddy
Word has it, a more electronically controlled one may be announced soon, an E mount one too I hope
Hey aquakiwi sounds promising any chance of posting up a sample image? Which camera are you using it with FF or cropped sensor?
Does not have to be an amazing picture im just looking to judge the amount of distortion and sharpness at this stage before buying the lens.
Roddy
I can post one of the three or four total before I noticed a leak in the dome. which cut my dive very short. Only a couple of drops and no damage done. One thing I had to do before using with the Kenco Teleconverter, was grind back the petals protecting the lens. If this is not done they show up in the image.
Hi Kiwi
that would be good if you could post an unprocessed image and a crop of one of the corners. i'm also now considering going the extra and getting a sigma 8-16mm.
Roddy
Hi Kiwi
that would be good if you could post an unprocessed image and a crop of one of the corners. i'm also now considering going the extra and getting a sigma 8-16mm.
Roddy I've also got the Tokina 10-17mm which is brilliant with the Teleconverter and a Sigma 10-20 which is great as well apart from the size.
Hi Kiwi
i have the sigma 10-20 as well and had the old tokina 12-24 is the tokina 10-17 much wider than the sigma? originally wanted the 8mm just to try the full wide angle effect especially for CUWA with diver in background. might just try the samyang 8mm as there's no focus gear to worry about and with manual focus and apature there should be zero shutter lag as well.
does anyone else think the rings on this version look very familiar?
Roddy
Hi Kiwi
i have the sigma 10-20 as well and had the old tokina 12-24 is the tokina 10-17 much wider than the sigma? originally wanted the 8mm just to try the full wide angle effect especially for CUWA with diver in background. might just try the samyang 8mm as there's no focus gear to worry about and with manual focus and apature there should be zero shutter lag as well.
Roddy
I use both the Sigma and Tokina with the teleconverter, the Tokina seems to focus right to the glass and seems wider.
Hi Kiwi i ended up ordering the 8mm samyang with toothed rings from ebay. Just hope it gets here before im of on holiday.
Roddy
not the 8mm but the 7.5mm FE MFT on my E-PL1 (in the Precision 8mm port). Most shot at F11-1/125-ISO100. Distance ring set to 0.5ft:
uncropped
cropped (different shot, though)
still working on focus and strobe positioning but my first attempts at using this were less than stellar...hope this helps.
Hi Chile
shots look pretty good to me this is defiantly the kind of effect i'm looking for and should be even more extreme on the SLR due to the 1.6 crop factor rather than 2 on the EPL1. best of all in the coral shots it looks like you are pointing almost directly into the sun with no lens flare which was one of my main concerns with such a wide lens.
Roddy
Far nicer images than what I managed. With the teleconverter on the lens protection petal show up. I carefully ground them smaller.
the other thing i did was set my LCD to 7x magnification so i could check focus...easy when there is not surge/current but even a little of it makes it a bit difficult.
I took the dome hood off for some shots today and didn't have any lens flare...just the vignetting from the dome edge but none of the petal/hood unsightliness...is that a word?
yeah i think it looks better without the hood. the corner vignetting would be easily removed with a small crop or a frame effect. my hoods removable and rotatable so i will experiment once the lens arrives and have a play with the toothed ring to see if it can be interfaced with the zoom ring. i think the apeture ring would be easy enough but obviously i would rather get the focus working and just leave the apeture fixed at F8 of F11.
Roddy
Here's some images I took today at a local spot with Samyung and 1.5 teleconverter behind a 6"Ikelite dome port. The bigger of these fish are over a meter long.
