Fish eye for skating pictures

What would be a good fish eye for skating pictures for a Canon 40D? I know there are a few brands out there Sigma,

Tamron, Tokina. Tokina has what seems to be a nice one and a zoom at that 10-17mm 180 deg but dose anyone

know how they hold up when it comes to skateboarding pictures? I'm leaving Canon out because of cost plus I read

somewhere the Sigma is better.

hi there. i myself am a photographer and a bmx flatlander, i do photograph street and flatland riding with a couple slaves and my opinion is to go for the tokina 10-17. on the 10mm end it's REALLY wide (with distortion) and can have a very good field of view if the skater's doing hip transfers and you stand ON the hip corner, so you have take off and landing on left and right bottom corners of the frame, with the rider in the middle/top of the pic. and then there are places where it's just not possible to get the camera that close to the rider (you don't want a 360 flip happening 20cm away from your lens) and having that 17mm end is very useful - i even use it as a normal super wide angle (albeit some pin cushion distortion) sometimes. the motor's loud and not the quickest i have to admit, but for the price they go at, that focal length+distortion flexibility is really nice to have.

 

as for the sigma, i believe it has a 10mm circular and a 4.5mm circular, both of which would give a century death lens kind of distortion which, to me, seem excessive and is too much for regularly taking skateboarding pics.

 

i wouldn't consider the canon 15mm for your 40D because the distortion is minimal and you can't really take advantage of what it's good for.

hi there mate i'm in the same situation but i do climbing photography. The Canon would be my first choice but the price is crazy for such a specialized lens. Sigma would be my second but to be totally hnest i don't know much about them i was kinda hoping some more people would have reponded on this subject. Keep me posted on what you go with and how good it. Cheers

Sigma do the 10-22 also.. but it's rectilinear and dosent have the distortion, it stretches the image instead. The Canon 15mm is awesome... but you really need a full frame sensor for it. Keep in mind if you end up eventually getting a FF camera you wont be able to use the Sigma 10-22 and the Tokina you will only be able to use it from 15mm to 17mm...

 

for skating or even climbing a fisheye isnt really that specialized.... you will use it alot more than you think.

 

Sigma do make a 15mm f2.8 fish eye, just like the Canon but if there is a Canon option for the lens you want, i could never bring myself to get another brand for the sake of a few hundred bucks... but i'm sure there are plenty who would disagree.

Hey thanks guys

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tokina/10-17mm.htm