Posted by TJ Dinsmoor on Wed, Dec 16, 2009 @ 10:23 AM
During the PDN Photographers' Virtual Tradeshow a few questions had surfaced regarding what the best fisheye lens is for a Canon 40D and up. We will take a look at three different lenses and give insight into them.
Tokina 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5
Tokina AT-X lenses are built for quality. The lense is made of medal which reduces the lense bobble once attached to the camera body. Focus and zoom operate very smoothly and the lens extends a few millimeters at 10mm and 17mm. It is impossible to mount any filters despite the extreme field-of-view. A new WP (Water Proof) coating has been applied to the front element making it easier to resist water and smudge marks.
The lens has no internal AF motor and relies on a slotted drive screw operated by the camera. As a result, it will generate a moderate degree of noise. The AF speed is quite fast, but being a fisheye lens it is quite meaningless.
Sigma 8mm f/3.5 EX DG
This lens is the only 8mm lens with a full autofocus capability. The lens' only controls feature the manual focus ring with a distance scale and the standard AF/MF switch. There is no filter thread, or, for that matter, a hood bayonet as the
coverage of the lens, being a full 180°, stops any accouterments
forward of the front element being permissible. The lens cap/hood consists of a stopped sleeve and a fairly normal lens
cap that fits onto it.
The sleeve sports a 72mm filter thread and cap.
And 72mm filters can be used in this thread, albeit at the expensed of
further vignetting. Under manual focusing, the ring requires a quarter
turn to go through the full range and the ring does turn during
autofocus, which is fairly quiet during operation and quick enough for
any purpose this lens could be put to.
A spring loaded holder is fitted to the rear element of the lens to
accept gelatin filters and the lens comes with a metal template to
assist in the cutting of these from gelatin sheet.
The lens is
not the kind of thing you would want to carry on the camera all day,
but it is light enough and compact enough to fit in the camera bag with
hardly any penalty.
Peleng 8mm f/3.5
The Peleng lens is a T-mount lens. It can be used on both T-mount to MAF adapter or with T-mount to M42 adapter, even M42 to MAF adapter. One of the biggest problems photographers face when using DSLRs is the ability to focus properly. Small viewfinders are not really optimized for manual focusing. However, in the case of this 8mm lens, you can set the aperture at f/8 and you will have everything in focus.
Besides the all metal build, there is an additional ring for opening or closing aperture blades which is used for stop down metering process.
Even though images are sharp at f/8, the lens really rocks at f/11 and f/16. Image quality is best at center of the frame, with the sharpness and contrast decreasing in the corners.
Another strength of the lens is the color quality. The lens is multi-coate, which means that it should be resitant to flare but we are talking when used at wide focal lenghts.
Posted by Cory Grassell on Mon, Oct 26, 2009 @ 10:00 AM
The new Leica lens - Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 asph - is a quality buy, and you 
certainly get your money's worth (a complimentary lens case is even included when you make a purchase). But it'll cost you. The average asking price for this state-of-the-art lens is approximately $10,000. Let's take a look at some of the features that make this camera so highly touted.
The manual-focus, full-frame lens is made of ground and polished glass, not hybrid or molded glass. The glass is surrounded by anodized matte-black aluminum. Due to its sheer size and weight, the lens will make the complementary Leica M8 and M8.2 cameras a bit top heavy when combined. Also, Popular Photography magazine reports that the lens barrel blocks some of the viewfinder.
With a built-in lens shade/hood, the Noctilux lens is a step up from the Canon 50mm f/1.0. Why? In tests, "barrel distortion edged close to imperceptible, outdoing the Canon by a big margin." The Noctilux also showed signs of vignetting, "but Leica says that on full-frame, M-series bodies, such as the M7, it shows 3.2 stops of light falloff in the corners at f/0.95." Unfortunately, the lens only has focus capabilities of 38 inches. But here's a photo tip that will help you get more out of your new lens: "Adding a neutral-density filter in broad daylight lets you place a sharply focused subject against a radically defocused background - even when they're only a few feet apart."
Leica Noctilux-M specifications:
- Diagonal-view angle: 36 degrees (focus ring turns 130 degrees counterclockwise)
- Size: 2.83 inches x 2.95 inches
- Weight: 1.71 pounds
- Filter size: E60
- Mounts: Leica M
- Distortion: 0.12 percent
- Light falloff: None
- Close-focusing distance: 38 inches
- Maximum magnification ratio: 1:16:28
