Rokinon FE8M-C 8mm F3.5 Fisheye - Any good?

[Izzy]

I am looking for a fish eye I dont want to break the bank. This is the one that I am looking at.

Amazon.com: Rokinon FE8M-C 8mm F3.5 Fisheye Lens for Canon (Black): Camera & Photo

The price is right and the fact that is all manual means nothing as this is easy to overcome. My question was to if this was worth it IQ-wise. It has rave reviews. Does anyone here have this lens?

[inkista]

Nope, don't have it (I've got the Sigma 8mm f/3.5), but it's got a decent reputation among the pano folks, and is certainly a step up from the Peleng, particularly in flare control and sharpness. Just be aware, this isn't like my 8mm circular. This is a diagonal crop-only lens. It's more similar to the Nikkor 10.5mm or the Sigma 10mm.

[Izzy]

Originally Posted by inkista

Nope, don't have it (I've got the Sigma 8mm f/3.5), but it's got a decent reputation among the pano folks, and is certainly a step up from the Peleng, particularly in flare control and sharpness. Just be aware, this isn't like my 8mm circular. This is a diagonal crop-only lens. It's more similar to the Nikkor 10.5mm or the Sigma 10mm.

Thanks for clearing this up for me. I do have to wonder how well the tiny planet deals would work with photos stitched together from this lens. I wonder if I would get similar effect.

[inkista]

It'll do just fine making equirectangulars and little planets, but you're more likely to be in the situation where you need six shots around in yaw, and zenith/nadir shots to cover the scene, vs. my 8mm circular being able to cover everything in four shots around. So, handheld shooting is going to be tougher. Not impossible, but tougher. OTOH, more shots means higher resolution and better overall sharpness. And more coverage gives you more opportunity to eliminate ghosts and clones.

Here. I did a "little planet" search in the Samyang group pool on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/search/groups/...=little+planet

[Izzy]

Originally Posted by inkista

It'll do just fine making equirectangulars and little planets, but you're more likely to be in the situation where you need six shots around in yaw, and zenith/nadir shots to cover the scene, vs. my 8mm circular being able to cover everything in four shots around. So, handheld shooting is going to be tougher. Not impossible, but tougher. OTOH, more shots means higher resolution and better overall sharpness. And more coverage gives you more opportunity to eliminate ghosts and clones.

Here. I did a "little planet" search in the Samyang group pool on Flickr:
Flickr: Search Samyang

Thanks for the pointers and swift response. Now I must pine for this lens

Meanwhile I will do panos with the 18-55 I have. Not sure if my machine will crash with that many shots in pano? It nearly did last time I did it in photoshop (limited ram). Maybe I will have to do it in two groups... now there is an idea.