Wide Angle / Fish Eye

[urbexdevil]

So it's about time I upgraded my kit lens for something more suited for urbex. At the moment I only have the kit zoom and macro lens for my Sony A350 but both have a very narrow field of view which is far from ideal when I tend to enjoy shooting in tight locations.

The camera being a Sony, has a rather expensive A-Mount system which narrows the selection right down. I don't really want to be using an adapter or anything which again narrows it right down...

The budget is around £200 and the only thing worth getting that I have spotted so far is the Samyang fisheye which seams to go between £180 - £240 depending where I look.

Anyone else got an A-Mount camera or know of any other lenses to look into?

 

[krela]

In all honesty I cannot stand fisheye pictures and skip through them without looking. I would not advise buying one if you're on a limited budget, save for longer and buy a decent wangle.

This really isn't the best place to ask, a camera/photography forum is the place.

 

[Gromr]

I've got a Samyang 8mm Fisheye F2.8 and more recently the Samyang 12mm F2.0 Wide angle for my Fuji X camera and they both brilliant, and about your budget. I believe they make they for the Sony camera's too.

 

[Malenis]

Also have samyang fisheye 8mm....i take very few photos with it so If you are not set on fisheye i'd also recommend saving a little more for a wide angle lens.

 

[mrtoby]

Sayang 8mm, Sony fit. Manual Focus/Aperture but good lenses if used properly. Just don't over-do it once you have one, use wisely.

 

[Judderman62]

I'm with Krela on this. I have never seen a fisheye shot I haven't loathed - for me it's on a par with badly done (which much of it is) HDR.

 

[urbexdevil]

I've got a Samyang 8mm Fisheye F2.8 and more recently the Samyang 12mm F2.0 Wide angle for my Fuji X camera and they both brilliant, and about your budget. I believe they make they for the Sony camera's too.

Got any pictures from your 12mm? Guessing thats fully manual as well?

Against everyone's replies above I quite like the fisheye look but only in certain applications, but on the other hand I don't want to be exploring and every shot I walk away with is a fisheye.

So in that respect perhaps a wide angle would be best suited...

 

[mookster]

Save for longer and buy yourself a Sigma 10-20mm wide angle, it's used religiously by many of us (myself included) for the simple reason is it is an absolutely outstanding piece of kit. One of the widest angles with no ugly vignetting and little distortion compared to some others out there.

 

[UrbanX]

What Mookster said. Just check out his photos! It keeps straight lines straight, but gets more than you think in the shot
I used a Sigma 10-20mm for a good 5 years also

 

[urbexdevil]

Save for longer and buy yourself a Sigma 10-20mm wide angle, it's used religiously by many of us (myself included) for the simple reason is it is an absolutely outstanding piece of kit. One of the widest angles with no ugly vignetting and little distortion compared to some others out there.

What Mookster said. Just check out his photos! It keeps straight lines straight, but gets more than you think in the shot
I used a Sigma 10-20mm for a good 5 years also

Would this be the beastie?

Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC Lens for Minolta/Sony AF: Amazon.co.uk: Camera & Photo

Looks good to me actually, looked at a few shots taken using it and it looks perfect.

 

[Judderman62]

that looks like the fellow - think there's been a few different versions of it - I think mine is a little different.

 

[urbexdevil]

Epic Going to save for that instead haha, looks like more of an investment than the Sigma one.

Damn photography is expensive haha.

 

[krela]

Epic Going to save for that instead haha, looks like more of an investment than the Sigma one.

Damn photography is expensive haha.

They are investments, generally lenses like that keep their value so you can always sell it on if necessary.

 

[urbexdevil]

Sold, as soon as I have the money anyway

Cant make do with what I have anymore haha.

 

[ReverendJT]

Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 EX DC HSM Lens - Canon Fit (201927) - Wex Photographic

If you don't mind 2nd hand, there are some bargains to be had! If you haven't bought it by the 23rd I will...

 

[ReverendJT]

God damn it Urbexdevil, I can't afford a new lens and now I'm going to buy one anyway!

 

[night crawler]

Not a fish eye fan and not something I would buy if it was just to use now and then. I use a Canon 10-22 but sigma do a nice 10 -20 which I can vouch for. My every day lens is a 15-85 which gives a good wide angle and I see Sony do a similar one which gives you a good option as well. Do you need a fish eye? if your just starting out you better going for something you can use on most things everyday

 

[Dirus_Strictus]

The 'fish eye' is a specialist lens and you would be better off with a Sigma 10-20 - which I really like after looking at the results from my sons' example. If you really fancy playing with the fish eye 'effect', there are plenty of fish eye converters around at cheap prices that one can have fun with and save money for a more useful range normal wide angle. The fish eye was the one lens I would never buy in my working days, if I needed one I hired it in because its use was so specialised.

 

[ReverendJT]

I picked up a Sigma 10-20mm f/4 on ebay for a bargain at the weekend, looking forward to giving it a proper test on Friday Night.

 

[Lavino]

Tokina 11-16 is my choice of wide angle lens...