| Nikon 10.5mm Fisheye lens and Aerial Photography |
© Mark LaMonica. All Rights Reserved.
| Assignment |
Text and Photography by Mark LaMonica
This assignment was photographed with a Nikon D80
I was out testing a Nikon D200 for overall performance. The owner of the camera kept complaining about "flat looking pictures" that didn't have any pop to them. He also said the sharpness wasn't that
great nor was the ability to make really big prints. The problems that are easy to solve is the sharpness and print size. All digital pictures need some kind of processing to obtain a sharp picture for
printing. Digital cameras have the option to add this sharpening as part of the conversion in camera to a usable image. I personally prefer to go with no sharpening and add what I need when editing
afterwards in Capture One or Lightroom. Print size is really a question of the file size. You can only go so big with any particular camera depending on the sensor size, how many megapixels you have
and the quality of those pixels. If you want to take that further, then you need to look at shutter speeds, apertures and quality of lenses being used.
great nor was the ability to make really big prints. The problems that are easy to solve is the sharpness and print size. All digital pictures need some kind of processing to obtain a sharp picture for
printing. Digital cameras have the option to add this sharpening as part of the conversion in camera to a usable image. I personally prefer to go with no sharpening and add what I need when editing
afterwards in Capture One or Lightroom. Print size is really a question of the file size. You can only go so big with any particular camera depending on the sensor size, how many megapixels you have
and the quality of those pixels. If you want to take that further, then you need to look at shutter speeds, apertures and quality of lenses being used.
Since i had a Nikon D80 with a 10.5mm fisheye lens with me, I took that up to grab a few super wide shots during the D200 test. I had it set to Aperture Priority and dialed in F8.0 for the aperture and
let the camera pick a shutter speed. I like to use the lowest possible ISO, so I started at 100 with the first interior picture and came up with a shutter speed of 1/60, which I thought was too slow, so I
bumped up the ISO to 400 for a second shot and had a shutter speed of 1/640, which is more than enough for doing wide work in the air.
let the camera pick a shutter speed. I like to use the lowest possible ISO, so I started at 100 with the first interior picture and came up with a shutter speed of 1/60, which I thought was too slow, so I
bumped up the ISO to 400 for a second shot and had a shutter speed of 1/640, which is more than enough for doing wide work in the air.
1/60 - ISO 100
1/640 - ISO 400
1/320 - ISO 400
1/1000 - ISO 400
1/1600 - ISO 400
What's really nice about using a Fisheye lens is that you can create that I'm on top of the world look or use a precise composition and create a beautiful sweeping landscape like the last picture below.
This is a specialized lens for sure and you can only do so much with it, but when you want a specific look, it sure helps to have that option in your bag. When I was using film, I had the 16mm f2.8
Fisheye, then Nikon was pushing digital, no full frame sensors and my 16mm Fisheye was now a 24mm almost Fisheye. When they came out with the 10.5mm Fisheye, to compensate for the 1.5X crop
factor of the DX sensor, a lot of people were happy to have a full feature lens again like the 16mm was on a film body. The lens was introduced in July of 2003 and by then, Canon already had
photographers dumping their Nikon gear for a "Full frame" 1Ds that was introduced in December 2002. One of the factors for the switch was the need for true wide angle and the hassle of buying DX
specific lenses to obtain that field of view. Nikon pushed the DX format as the way to go for years until they introduced the D3. with the FX full frame sensor. Suddenly full frame was the way to go and
luckily they were smart enough to incorporate the ability of FX sensor bodies to use DX lenses or you would have seen even more people jumping off the Nikon ship. Enough of the ranting and for my
conclusion. The 10.5mm Fisheye lens is real sharp, focuses fast and gives you a wonderful Fisheye look without light falloff in the corners. The lens was taking in so much light, that I had extremely
fast shutter speeds and no problems making large prints from these images.
This is a specialized lens for sure and you can only do so much with it, but when you want a specific look, it sure helps to have that option in your bag. When I was using film, I had the 16mm f2.8
Fisheye, then Nikon was pushing digital, no full frame sensors and my 16mm Fisheye was now a 24mm almost Fisheye. When they came out with the 10.5mm Fisheye, to compensate for the 1.5X crop
factor of the DX sensor, a lot of people were happy to have a full feature lens again like the 16mm was on a film body. The lens was introduced in July of 2003 and by then, Canon already had
photographers dumping their Nikon gear for a "Full frame" 1Ds that was introduced in December 2002. One of the factors for the switch was the need for true wide angle and the hassle of buying DX
specific lenses to obtain that field of view. Nikon pushed the DX format as the way to go for years until they introduced the D3. with the FX full frame sensor. Suddenly full frame was the way to go and
luckily they were smart enough to incorporate the ability of FX sensor bodies to use DX lenses or you would have seen even more people jumping off the Nikon ship. Enough of the ranting and for my
conclusion. The 10.5mm Fisheye lens is real sharp, focuses fast and gives you a wonderful Fisheye look without light falloff in the corners. The lens was taking in so much light, that I had extremely
fast shutter speeds and no problems making large prints from these images.