"Shaved" Nikkor 10.5 on D3

[belgiumreporter]

Recently i was able to buy a nikkor 10.5mm DX fish eye lens for next to nothing because the front element had a blemish. This happened when the previous owner had "shaved" the petals of the sunshade ( wich is an awkward job) and had a bit of an accident. Anyway it arrived t(his morning and the first thing i did was to put it on my D3 and got out in the garden to try it out. Here's my first result, i've cropped it to an elips format, the lens covers 200! degrees on full frame but not in a full circle (even with the sun shade shaved) The blemish on the front element does show in the full frame pictures if you know where to look, but it isn't anything dramatic. On DX the blemish falls out of the frame. Apart from being a "gimmick" lens it still delivers great quality and it is said that it is the best "fish" ever produced wich i am inclined to believe when inspecting my first results. And now if you'll excuse me i have to go out and do some photoghraphing  


The goodies



Sunrise in the garden

[truls]

I think the picture is awesome! Almost kind of religious, with the angel(?) in the garden and the sun rising behind. Also very nice composition, camera and lens looks spectacular. I would bet the image would have been very suitable for printing and framing.

[philbirch]

Jul 30, 2014 11:13:32 GMT -5 truls said:

I think the picture is awesome! Almost kind of religious, with the angel(?) in the garden and the sun rising behind. Also very nice composition, camera and lens looks spectacular. I would bet the image would have been very suitable for printing and framing.

I agree with Truls but he oval cropping looks odd - for a fisheye. At first I thought there was some kind of lateral compression...

[belgiumreporter]

Jul 30, 2014 17:08:38 GMT -5 philbirch said:

Jul 30, 2014 11:13:32 GMT -5 truls said:

I agree with Truls but he oval cropping looks odd - for a fisheye. At first I thought there was some kind of lateral compression...

Phil and Truls, thanks for your comments, here's a pic on how it looks "full frame" as you can see the image circle of the 10.5 is to wide to fit in the 24x35mm frame, i guess one would need a 30x30 mm sensor to cover the full circle. Anyway i did the oval crop just for fun, normally people expect fish eye pics to be circular, but i suppose i ain't breaking any laws (maybe in some southern states i would) by "bending" the rules

The narrow streets of old Antwerp

[philbirch]

I understand, you've got to try it. It does make you look twice! I dont think the slight crop above is too bad, it is after all a fisheye. Nice view of the street. I have a short CCTV lens that crops like this but as its not a fisheye so it looks wrong.

[truls]

I like photographes bending the rules. But how are you avoiding getting your feet in the picture?

[belgiumreporter]

Aug 1, 2014 12:56:20 GMT -5 truls said:

I like photographes bending the rules. But how are you avoiding getting your feet in the picture?

Well the D3 has a very good viewfinder just check all corners for feet and hands! when i'm not carefull on how i hold the (rather large) body of the D3 my hand holding the body will be in the picture. The 10.5 isn't the first fish eye i've used, i've got a nikon FC-E8 fish eye converter (wich by the way is as close as any converter can get to "the real thing") that has cost me more than the 10.5 and wich gives a full circle on my nikon E4500 (or 990) with an angle of 184 degrees. This extreme angle and the very small and dim LCD screen on the E4500 has caused me more than i would care for to photograph my own feet or forehead !


Matala beach with my and Evy's feet



carefull framing in Antwerp central station prevented any of my bodyparts showing in the frame

[philbirch]

I managed to get my foot in this fisheye shot. Front of lens adapter bought in 1975 I still use it today now and then. 1976 scanned from a Cibachrome print, shot on Agfa CT18 with my Exakta RTL1000 and Meyer Orestor 50mm lens. I remember! Cropped hexagonally. Obviously.

[truls]

belgiumreporter & phil: you are on the way creating a new selfie trend! Also you got me interested in wide angle, even if I struggle to get a composition with a 28mm lens.

Your images very good.

[philbirch]

Aug 2, 2014 5:39:58 GMT -5 truls said:

belgiumreporter & phil: you are on the way creating a new selfie trend! Also you got me interested in wide angle, even if I struggle to get a composition with a 28mm lens.

Your images very good.

Thanks. Truls, use a 21mm wave it in the general direction and crop hard later. Works for me.

[genazzano]

Sunrise in the garden is a beautiful photograph. I'm no fan of fisheyes because they are not often used well at all. Your image is remarkable. I like the flare and strong back lighting. It all comes together including the oval cropping. That's really hard to do without having it come out just another one of those weird cute boring fisheye shots. Complimenti.

David