Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM

On Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:54:29 +0100, Bruce wrote:

I saw the announcement for this lens about a week ago but don't recall
it being discussed in the rec.photo.* newsgroups. As the header says,
it is a zoom fisheye lens. It has full frame (24x36) coverage at 15mm
and the usual circular fisheye image within the full frame at 8mm.

I'm not a fisheye fan, so would be unlikely to buy one. But it must
appeal to some, otherwise why design, develop and manufacture it?

For the same reason that I use an excellent (zero CA) fish-eye adapter on
my superzoom cameras to seamlessly zoom from 9mm-36mm. For one simple
example, when shooting aurora. I can instantly go from a horizon to horizon
9mm full-sky inventory to a more moderate 16mm wide-angle, to more closely
frame some of the important or interesting and colorful areas of the
auroral activity. Or documenting meteors during strong storms. It's also
great for capturing, and properly framing, sunset/rise and mountain vistas,
or wide sweeps of colors in fall-foliage. Some sunrise/sets can easily take
2-5 frames done at 16mm and then pano-stitched. For example, this sunset
shot with four 16mm frames in portrait orientation and stitched.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4133/4952676314_9a6cfb0a6a_z.jpg (N.E.
Quetico Nat. Park) Some cropping after-stitching for better composition. Or
macro photography where you wish to frame a deep subject (now all in focus)
with wide washes of background hues.

There are many uses, once you use one. This is generally not something the
typical pretend-photographer troll can imagine in their mind unless they've
actually put one to use. The other added advantage is that this is all
available for under $100 at f/2.0 or f/2.4. (Depending on which superzoom
camera the fish-eye adapter is used on. It does not detract from the
camera's own original widest aperture.) That's a $1,300 savings with a
2-stop advantage. Not to mention the extra seamless non-vignetted zoom
range of 16mm-36mm that's not covered by this $1,400 8-15mm lens. Oh, one
other thing. I won't be getting my cameras' sensors dirty nor any
condensation on the mirror and focusing-screen by changing to my fish-eye
and super-wide-angle range. Nor will my camera have to make special
auto-focusing allowances to prevent front/back focusing problems inherent
in all phase-focusing cameras.

I suspect that DSLR owners will finally learn how a lens of this range can
be put to good use. Like I've been using regularly for all manner of
subjects for the last 9 years. Better late than never, I guess. They're
always so far behind though.