shyroller Posted November 5, 2007 Share Posted November 5, 2007 hello, i am looking into getting a fisheye lens for my e-500, and i was wondering if there is a cheaper alternative to the Zuiko 8mm. otherwise, i've really gotta start saving up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrick j dempsey Posted November 5, 2007 Share Posted November 5, 2007 Wouldnt any 8mm lens for any of the number of film camera mounts that can be adapted to 4/3s mount work? There are often Russian variants of fisheye lenses which are much cheaper than the original brands. I doubt you even need to focus with a lens that wide so manual focus is not an issue. I think you should be able to get adaptors for just about any popular 35mm SLR mount to 4/3s for $50 or less. So if you just shop around for the cheapest 8mm you can find, you should be able to then buy a working adaptor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xato Posted November 5, 2007 Share Posted November 5, 2007 http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/peleng_8_35/index.htm is a good review. A reminder that the field of view will be even narrower than the APS sized sensor shown. Advice: save for the 8mm. Warren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wharridge Posted November 5, 2007 Share Posted November 5, 2007 Well I'd reckon the 8mm Peleng will have pretty much the same angle of view as the the 8mm DZ, so that's not an issue. I use the Peleng with a Nikon mount on my E-300 via a Nikon-->FourThirds adapter. With the original adapter I used the thickness was not quite right (too thin) so the lens focussing scale was out and it's almost impossible to focus using the camera's focussing screen. I have just purchased another adapter which is obviously closer to the correct thickness so I can use the lens focussing scale, just set it to .7m and f8 most of the time. I'm sure the image quality of the DZ is better but the Peleng is quite good enough for most work. As noted in the review, flare is not well controlled in the Peleng. ...Wayne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adwait Posted November 5, 2007 Share Posted November 5, 2007 You can search for the Peleng 8mm on ebay. There are many sellers who are selling them for almost all mounts. Its a complete manual lens but at 8mm you should not have any problems focussing this lens. I have a question though... Does a 17-40 at 17mm on eos 5d gives an image like 8mm zuiko? I want to start some landscape photography... so I was looking for a good lens for olympus like the 8mm zuiko. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidlong Posted November 5, 2007 Share Posted November 5, 2007 A fair number of the people at 43photo.com have tried the Peleng. You can get some more info on how it compares with the ZD by searching the forums there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip_williams Posted November 5, 2007 Share Posted November 5, 2007 Other than the Peleng, I had a OM-mount Sigma 8mm f/4.0 fisheye mounted on my E-1 for a while before I got the 8mm Digital Zuiko. Results are here: http://www.skipwilliams.com/olympus/fisheye-test.htm. It's pretty good, and the resulting image stopped down was fine. The downside is that those lenses aren't easy to find. There's also the 8mm f/2.8 Olympus Zuiko, but that's a $1200-1400 lens, hardly an economical option. Skip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrick j dempsey Posted November 5, 2007 Share Posted November 5, 2007 Adwait... the short answer is... sorta. You should be able to count on a prime ultra-wide giving you better image quality than a zoom. 8mm on 4/3s should be similar view angle as 16mm on full-frame. However, there are optical differences between a fish-eye lens and an ultra-wide non fish-eye lens. So the question there is, do you want the fish-eye distortions or just the wide view? Fish-eyes are not great for distant landscapes because of how small objects in the background become. They are better suited to subjects in the middle ground, where there is less distortion than in the foreground. JMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adwait Posted November 6, 2007 Share Posted November 6, 2007 Thanks Patrick for the difference between a fish eye and a WA lens. I believe we should look at the Vieving angle also and not just the MMs. So in that case 7-14 is a very good option. I believe the pros must be using this for their ladscaping work. This lens is however expensive. I read somewhere about the upcoming oly 9-18, Anybody has more info about that??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip_williams Posted November 8, 2007 Share Posted November 8, 2007 In the March 2007 Olympus Lens Roadmap there is an ultra-wide-angle zoom slotted in the consumer grade lenses to be introduced in 2008. That might be the "9-18" you mention. It will be a consumer grade lens, and constructed as such. Don't expect it to have the f/4.0 speed, edge-to-edge sharpness, or weather-sealing of the 7-14. I'd expect f/4-6.3. It also won't cost $1,600. Skip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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