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Rokinon 8mm Fish eye

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j.benziger
Posts: 688 - Karma: 8,007
I am a new fillmer and purchasing a dslr very soon. Was wondering if this fisheye would look shooting skiing. Or if you have any other suggestions. Help me out!
May 9 2012 9:29AM
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EC-Skier
Posts: 3899 - Karma: 668
every person is going to tell you the same thing most likely. Don't get the fisheye, save up your money and get the tokina 11-16 2.8. Listen to this, this is an amazing lens and i have never heard anyone say anything bad about it. Also wideangle shots look a lot better than the distorted fisheye look
May 9 2012 9:47AM
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michael_bc
Posts: 1317 - Karma: 417
The Samyang (Rokinon in US because of a dispute with Samsung) Fish Eye is excellent for filming. It is soft wide open, so it's not good for low light situations, but that's not the case when skiing. The manual aperture ring is also really nice for filming. Build quality is excellent.

The Nikon 10.5mm fish eye and the Tokina 11-16mm are a lot sharper and faster, but you pay for that. And then it depends if you want a distorted fish eye look or a rectilinear wide angle look...
May 9 2012 10:26AM
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ThunderousFilms
Posts: 674 - Karma: 2,317
I love the 8mm, however as they said above it has alot less as far as uses go. Your stuck with that same look no matter what. Both the videos below have shots with my 7d and the rokinon 8mm. You will be able to tell which ones they are.

http://vimeo.com/37936945

http://vimeo.com/31417745
May 9 2012 5:42PM
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MLeone
Posts: 725 - Karma: 72
This is the Truth: The Rokinon will look fine, and should look good. But if you want a super killer fisheye then get the tokina 10-17. If you want a pretty good wide angle with some(but little distortion) I'd look into the Sigma 10-20. If you want an AMAZING ridiculously amazing (the best on market) wide angle, get the Tokina 11-16. Don't hesitate to get that if you want a wide angle because that thing is killer
May 9 2012 5:59PM
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Brock.
Posts: 5698 - Karma: 1,327
Get the rokinon if you are into shooting skating and skiing. Although the quality can be fairly inconsistent they produce relatively good image quality for the price.

and jesus christ, don't let these people talk you into getting a UWA
May 9 2012 6:34PM
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MLeone
Posts: 725 - Karma: 72
loly?
May 9 2012 8:18PM
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CrotchKiller
Posts: 9037 - Karma: 6,940
wut? 8mm is the widest lens being discussed
May 9 2012 8:31PM
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Brock.
Posts: 5698 - Karma: 1,327
because if the man says he is looking for a fisheye it means he is looking for the intense barrel distortion that gives those types of lenses their signature look, which is heavily desired by a large portion of the action sports community. The UWA is completely different and would provide much less redeeming qualities for the uses that the OP outlined.

Or I could be wrong, maybe he digs UWA's... Anyways, they are immensely useful to have for photography despite the cost.

Moral of the story: Guy asks for good fisheye, don't recommend tokina 11-17. (I'm speaking from a strong bias against wide angles because i feel like the way people frame with them while filming skiing is just plain bat shit boring, *refer to DTF and Eheath's videos)
May 9 2012 8:37PM
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CrotchKiller
Posts: 9037 - Karma: 6,940
fair enough, i understand what your saying. I have a strong bias against fisheye's so i guess we are on opposite ends of the spectrum. I do however agree with you on the framing in some cases
May 9 2012 8:43PM
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IanAvery-Leaf
Posts: 9926 - Karma: 9,344
meh I really hope not, fisheyes look like ass compared to UWA


if you want a budget lens the Rokinon will be fine, if you want quality get either the Nikon 10.5mm (best crop fisheye) or the Tokina 11-16mm (best crop UWA)
May 9 2012 8:56PM
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MLeone
Posts: 725 - Karma: 72
they look like ass? that's your opinion. That's like comparing apples to oranges, theyre two completely diff lenses used for diff things....
May 9 2012 9:10PM
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Brock.
Posts: 5698 - Karma: 1,327
Fair enough, I guess that's the beauty of it. Everyone has different opinions and artistic preference.

Final words to the OP: I highly suggest you watch some videos that feature the lenses you are considering. Doing your own research is inevitably how you will learn the most about anything in photography/videography. It is highly important to develop your own ideas a preference.

I used a rokinon 8.5mm fisheye incrementally in this edit. I hope it helps you out in your decision!

 
May 9 2012 9:39PM
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j.benziger
Posts: 688 - Karma: 8,007
Everybody stop saying that tokina 11-16 is the best ultra wide zoom lens. It is very good it is just that i am a filming noob who is not ready to throw down $700 on a camera lens.
May 9 2012 10:04PM
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zbphoto
Posts: 7789 - Karma: 12,037
Your crew is killing it this year! Max has so much style.

But yah the rokinon/opteka is fine if your just messing around and filming, its actually quite easy to keep the camera steady just holding it. Its not the sharpest lens wide open, or at f8, and you'll get some chromatic aberrations one the edges of shadows/highlights as well as ghosting, but again you won't notice any of this if you just filming for NS and Vimeo. This really becomes a problem with photography. For less than $350 its a solid wide angle.
May 9 2012 10:45PM
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jason...
Posts: 9006 - Karma: 780
fisheyes are the shit fuck the haters. that one is manageable for filming but by no means top notch. get a tokina 10-17mm fisheye if you can
May 9 2012 11:18PM
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zbphoto
Posts: 7789 - Karma: 12,037
Quoting for emphasis.
May 9 2012 11:27PM
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j.benziger
Posts: 688 - Karma: 8,007
Are there any lower end UWA that produce a better product than a fish eye? That was what i was really trying to get at here. Also thanks for the help +k
May 10 2012 9:34AM
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EC-Skier
Posts: 3899 - Karma: 668
i havent tried it but i heard that the rokinon 14mm f/2.8 isnt that bad.
May 10 2012 9:55AM
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Utard
Posts: 2132 - Karma: 296
People worry too much about CA, sharpness, etc on newschoolers. A lot of the best skate edits are shot with shitty colors and exposure and super distorted lenses but that's the raw uncut look that these guys are going for. I think skiing needs more of that.
May 10 2012 11:19AM
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zbphoto
Posts: 7789 - Karma: 12,037
Try and convince zmox to film with a vx1
May 10 2012 11:23AM
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zbphoto
Posts: 7789 - Karma: 12,037
*vx1000. Good luck with that one…
May 10 2012 11:25AM
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j.benziger
Posts: 688 - Karma: 8,007
Haha there is no way that a good skiing videographer would go for that rough style in their edits.
May 10 2012 6:27PM
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zbphoto
Posts: 7789 - Karma: 12,037
Yah, because their outdated technology. Interlaced footage looks like shit, not to mention they're old, they freeze up in the cold, they break after like 6 months, they're expensive cus they don't make them anymore, and tapes are a bitch. I honestly which skate videographers would switch to the DSLR+HDFisheye+EasyHandle like Jason Hernandez. I'm tired of watching shitty, shaky, simple follow cam SD footage, like fuck, unless your SkateRat put down the VX!

May 10 2012 6:35PM
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zbphoto
Posts: 7789 - Karma: 12,037
^That edit wasn't filmed with his 5d2, my bad.

May 10 2012 7:07PM
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