I apologize if I missed this discussion elsewhere on the board. I am wanting a fisheye lens. But I have noticed my editor software will produce a fisheye effect. So what is the advantage to shoot video with a fisheye lens or can I achieve the effect as cleanly with my software?

thanks

The advantage of using a wide angle lens on your camera is that you can get physically closer to your subject. The fisheye effect in your NLE probably just stretches the pixels out. This will lower the quality of the video. Using a wide angle lens on your camera bends the light, it doesn't mess with the pixels, so you won't get a pixelated image.

Thanks I was wondering in the HD age how the software does it. I was going to use a wide angle that I currently own and try to not buy a fisheye. My real concern is the quality of the software fisheye and not being able to compose the picture as well without the lens.

thanks

With a fisheye lens you get the ultra-wide angle of view. Your subject will appear bigger in comparison to your background, and there will be more of the background included as a result. A fisheye lens also lets you shoot in very confined spaces such as cars where you cannot just back up to get the shot you need. DOF will also be extremely deep.

With the fisheye effect added in post, it basically just warps each frame to mimic the circular image created by a true fisheye lens. It will be convincing enough for certain effects, but it basically gives you the negatives of the fisheye look (distortion) without any of the positives (wide view, background separation, deep DOF, etc).

Adding the fisheye effect in post is fine if you just want to give the footage a specific look (eg to emulate security camera footage), however it is no substitute for the real thing.

Thanks guys. That is pretty much what I thought... now which lens was I looking at..........??

heard good things about the opteka 6.5mm

Steve, are you specifically after the "fisheye look" (ie a circular image with extreme barrel distortion)? Or are you just looking for a really wide angle view. One of the great things about DSLR's is it opens up a whole world of rectilinear WA lenses that have been available to still photographers for years - in many cases this is preferential to using fisheye lenses.

A rectilinear WA lens will give you the ability to get shots in confined spaces and to capture wide-open vistas. However there will be not circular vignetting, and straight lines will not be unnaturally curved.

If you specifically want the fisheye look, then I'd check out the Samyang/Rokinon 8mm - it's the same lens but sold by a number of manufacturers (I think Bower and Vivitar also sell the same one). I'm not familiar with the Opteka though. I'll have to check it out myself.

If you just want a really wide angle lens (rectilinear) then check out the Tokina 11-16mm, Canon 10-22mm or Sigma 10-20mm.