Nikkor 10.5mm Fisheye on FX

[Anthony]

Is that not with the D3S switching to DX mode?

Yes, I have checked and you are right.

[Seapy]

Thanks Anthony.

Still a valuable contribution for comparison.

[Erik Lund]

A Full Frame Fisheye like the 10.5 mm cropped on FX or a 16mm with a 1.4 TC on FX, is really useful as a super wide angle lens especially for groups of people close up, since there is less (almost no)  distortion of peoples faces etc in the corners.

[Seapy]

Interesting point Erik,  had never occurred to me to combine the 16 fisheye with a TC, does anybody have any examples?  I don't have a TC.

[Akira]

I'm not sure if Nikon has produced any 1.4x TC that doesn't interfere with the rear elements of shorter lenses including the fisheyes.  IIRC, Kenko made one of such kind, though.

[Erik Lund]

They did in the old days, that's why I stated it,,, TC14A and TC16A for instance 

[Fons Baerken]

The nikon afs 1.4 teleconverter doesnot fit

"unnecessary comment by now".

[Erik Lund]

They are not AFS lenses,,,


10.5mm is AF-G screw driver type,,, The 16mm is AF-D also Screw driver type,,,


The 16mm Ai and Ais, 8mm f/2.8 and even 6mm f/2.8 also take converters very well actually 

[Seapy]

My instinct is that the zoom would not be my preference, I feel that I would only use it either fully in or fully out, the mid range would miss out except for rare occasions.

Also I am very happy with my 16mm f2.8, I don't want to loose the speed which this lens provides for astro photography.

I don't want AF because it's a pain having to correct it all  the time to get the focal plane where I want it.

I need to look at either Sigma or the Rokinon/other Chinese lenses at 8mm to give me a full circle.  I don't completely dismiss  the 10.5 but would want to think hard before going that route.

I am surprised how I have found the 16mm fisheye so useful, indispensable even.  I bought it out of curiosity and because I wanted 'something different', it's that in spades!  It has opened up a whole new vista for my photography in a way my Sigma 10-20 DX never could.  I have hopes an 8mm fisheye may take this to another level, especially for garden photography.

[Akira]

They did in the old days, that's why I stated it,,, TC14A and TC16A for instance 

Oh, yes, you are right!  A was for the 200mm and shorter, and B was for the longer...  Thanks for the correction!

[Jakov Minić]

I have all 3 fish-eyes that you are mentioning. 16/3.5 - 10.5/2.8 and 8/3.5 Sigma.
I thoroughly enjoy all three, and wouldn't want to get rid of any.
They all have their own character and application.
You will most certainly enjoy a full circular fish-eye 

[Seapy]

Thank you Jakov,  It was Bob Friedman's fisheye pictures in forrest locations which aroused my interest in widening my fisheye collection to include a circular.  I occasionally visit large gardens and arboretums, frequently I find it almost impossible to compose an interesting and worthwhile  photograph because the scene is all encompassing almost spherical, the interesting views are often impossible with normal lenses.  When faced wit 50 or 60 Metre tall trees and no way of 'standing back', one has to resort to other means of capture.

I noticed Fons seemed to be struggling with alignment with his Doorwerth Castle 10.5mm fisheye stitching, which I was a little sceptical about.  I have a fix for that...  My new panorama head can easily be adapted to rotate the camera around the lens axis, at 90º to the normal mounting for panoramas.  Just needs a simple 90º block to mount the camera with the lens axis at the centre of the circular rail.

[Erik Lund]

Ahhh yes with a pano-head it becomes really fun!

Here from a get together at Jakovs place

These are with 16mm AF-D

_EGL4938 Planet Holland by Erik Gunst Lund, on Flickr
Planet Holland

_EGL4924 Planet Small by Erik Gunst Lund, on Flickr
Umbrella Biker

[Seapy]

Wow! Erik I love those...  better than the 360-180º images even.

What a can 'O' worms!

[Seapy]

I have made a little adaptor block to turn the Pano Head into a rotator for fisheyes, the 10.5 particularly but also could create collages of multiple partial circular images with the edges cropped.

Here are some pix of the camera set up for rotation in the pano head.