Question about fisheye lens

[LBrandt]

Hello,

I posted a question yesterday about using a Nikon digital SLR with older Nikor AF lenses, and I appreciate the replies that I received. Now, I have a question about using a fisheye lens with a digital Nikon SLR.

I know that most fisheye lens are very expensive, and I found a Rokinon ROK8MMNIK 8mm f/3.5 Aspherical Fisheye manual Focus for Nikon lens at Amazon for about $300. Does anyone know whether this lens would work with a Nikon D90?

The following is an excerp from the description of the lens, but my problem is, I don't know what an APS-C image sensor is, so I don't understand whether it means that it will or will not work with a Nikon D90.

This manual focus lens when used with cameras with an APS-C image sensor creates images with an expanded perspective including images with a creatively deformed outlook and a sharp pan focus that extends throughout the entire frame.

Can anyone help me with this?

Thanks again,
Louis

[zerodog]

Nikon 10.5s sell for $500 used all the time. It is an awesome lens too.

[Franglais]

A fisheye lens is an extreme wide-angle that draws a distorted, circular image.

When you use this sort of lens on a "full frame" camera the sensor is a 24x36mm rectangle which effectively cuts off the top and bottom of the circle and leaves you with an image that is obviously distorted, with the corners being the edges of a circle.

When you use this sort of lens on an APS-C camera (example: the D90) the sensor size is only 18x24mm so it's only taking in the center of the image circle and cutting off all the corners. The image looks wide-angle and distorted but you can't see the edges of the circle any more. So it's no longer a fisheye.

If you really want a fisheye for the D90 then take the Nikon 10.5mm. It's designed for the APS-C sensor.

[LBrandt]

Thanks for the replies. I still don't quite understand everything that you've told me. Are you saying that if I just buy a "standard" fisheye lens (like the one that I referred to), it wouldn't work properly as a fisheye on the D90?

Is the 10.5mm Nikon lens that you referred to considered to be a fisheye?

Another question: If I bought the fisheye lens that I referred to in my post and used it on one of my older 35mm Nikons (the 8008 for example), would it work as a fisheye on that camera?

Thanks,
Louis

[Chris350]

basically you need a fisheye that is designed for a DX sized (APS-C) sensor. The 10.5 is a DX fisheye. Also the 10.5 is corrected to be mostly rectilinear, it does not create a round image. It does cover nearly 180º. I've shot it on a D-200, it's a nice lens.

[n8]

One thing worth mentioning too is that the sensor in dx cameras have a x1.5 crop factor, meaning a 8mm lens effectively becomes a 12mm, a 35mm a 50mm and so forth.

[Don Schaeffer]

I have the Nikkor 10.5 mm fisheye. It cost me over $1,000 with tax. It makes a rectangular image. The horizon is curved to cover 180 degrees. I have to manually focus on my D40 but it will autofocus on your camera.

The bargain lens sounds interesting. Check out the cheap fisheye at Adorama camera. You won't use a fisheye often. Bargain lenses are probably worth the risk (IMO).

[LBrandt]

Thanks again, but I didn't get a reply to my other question which was:

If I bought the fisheye lens that I referred to in my post and used it on one of my older 35mm Nikons (the 8008 for example), would it work as a fisheye on that camera?

Thanks,
Louis

[Chris350]

Thanks again, but I didn't get a reply to my other question which was:

If I bought the fisheye lens that I referred to in my post and used it on one of my older 35mm Nikons (the 8008 for example), would it work as a fisheye on that camera?

Thanks,
Louis

Most likely it will. The main theme is that the full frame nature of the lens will make it mostly useless on a DX sensor.

[Don Schaeffer]

if it's a full frame lens it will work just fine on a film camera.