Fisheye for Mamiya 645

[SeanPuckett]

A great many of my successful images start out as fisheye lens exposures.  I'm thrilled with the Nikon 10.5mm fish for what it is, but when I move to 645 I'll be seeking a similar lens almost immediately.  Any experience with the various 645 fish out there, and particularly -- which is the sharpest?

[haefnerphoto]

Sean, I've used the 24mm Mamiya for 2 years now.  It helped create a number of images that I couldn't have made any other way.  Rarely do I used the images uncorrrected,  I use Image Align to resolve the barrel distortion issue.  Unfortunately, the edges lose alot of image integrity (sharpness decreases, chromatic aberation problems are magnified).  If you allow for that in your crop and come in a bit left and right, it works very well (and still gives a greater field of view than anything else).  I'm now experimenting with the 28mm that just came out.  It out performs the 24 easily in terms of sharpness and lack of barrel distortion.  At this time, it has communication issues with the P45 when used in manual mode (exposure).  Hopefully, Mamiya will resolve this issue shortly.  Attached are some examples.  Jim [attachment=2899:attachment][attachment=2900:attachment][attachment=2901:attachm
ent]

[SeanPuckett]

Jim,

Nice work.  I'm looking for lenses that allow me to do things like these, but at higher resolutions (of course).  Both images were taken with the Nikon 10.5mm and dewarped by my own software.  

[haefnerphoto]

Sean, I don't see why it wouldn't work and I don't think there are too many options.  Try renting one and see how it works for you.  Jim

[Anders_HK]

Sean,

I am new to the Mamiya ZD camera body and have the 24mm fisheye. Last saturday I did my first real shooting (landscape is my preference). The lens is rather prone to flare, which may be true for fisheye lenses due to the large angle of view. It is honest my first fisheye. It is lovely working with the lens. Using it stepped down was no issue for me.

Attached is one photo that I made slightly defished in Silkypix. ImageAlign can do more. This photo demonstrates other things of the camera that I can mention. I am impressed with the image quality and the capabilities of the ZD. Silly me I propably should have spot metered. The meter based much on the center portion, thus image was too dark. The ZD has great latitude and I adjusted exposure by +1.5 in Silkypix. The image also shows the large DR. The light was too strong and bright, DR shadows to light too large for even the ZD. My prior camera was D200 and it would have been complete dead in same circumstance. Image quality is impressive and there is not the harsh transitions at black or blow out.

The 24mm fisheye is a firm keeper for me. It gives me option of fisheye or to defish it (rather than the $$$ 28mm, also lighter than its weight  ). I got the 24mm in Hong Kong and was able to find one in one shop new for less than 1000usd. It is else per the Hong Kong Mamiya agent discountinued since one year ago. It does show up sometimes on Ebay.

Regards
Anders