Fish eye lenses?

[wayne4court]

iv been looking for a fish eye lens that has a wider view than 0.45x (which is what i have at the mo)
but I'm not finding much. (more like i don't know what I'm looking for!)
i don't want to spend a lot just yet. i want one that i can play with.

any suggestions? where to look? what to look for? etc

[robski]

do you really mean fisheye or Rectilinear Lenses ?

a cheap Rectilinear wide angle than maybe worth looking at is Canon EF-S 10-18mm f4.5-5.6 IS STM Lens for less than £200 new.

Otherwise an 8mm fisheye is a common lens from the likes of South Korean Samyang

www.photozone.de is a good site for getting information and reviews on lens.

Also I like www.bobatkins.com/photography/ for information

[petrochemist]

Your 0.45x lens is actually a wide angle adapter rather than a fish-eye one. I have seen 0.17x adapters and something around 0.25x on e-bay but quality for all of these is not impressive. If you have an interchangable lens camera (DSLR or Mirrorless) a true fish-eye lens such as Rob suggests will give you much better results. If your camera is a fixed lens model then these adapters are the only hardware option. Combining multiple images (the software option) works very well for more static subjects but is useless with action shots!

[wayne4court]

thanks guys.

i have a nikon d3300. 18 - 55mm lens and a 55 - 200mm lens

i got the 0.45x from eBay as it was cheep and it was so i could have a play around. it also came with a macro lens. (again to play with)
at the moment i don't want to buy something to expensive and not know how to use it. but i am aiming to buy some more kit once i have done some research and know how to fully use my camera the right way.

thanks again!

[postcardcv]

I had a fisheye for a few months and initially really liked it. However they really are a one trick pony and unless your style of shooting works with the curved lines that a fisheye gives then they can be hard to use. I ended up selling mine on go a friend, on occasions I have regretted it but not enough to buy another one. In my experience the screw on fisheye adopters to not give a true fisheye view, they just distort the image to give the look.

A wide angle rectilinear lens as Robski suggested might be a better way to go. These ultra wide angle lenses will allow you to keep your lines straight while still giving a distorted reality. They tend to be easier lenses to use though it is important to keep your camera level as any wonkiness will show up. (I am bad at this so am writing it to remind myself to think about it when my ultra wide arrives).