What a fisheye lens. Fish for panoramic photography. Using distortion lenses

Varieties of Fisheye Lenses

It is generally accepted that all varieties of "fish" have an angle of view of 180 °, this is not the case. An image of a landscape with an angle of 180 ° gives a circular image, but the frame (film or matrix) is a rectangle. There are two ways to fix this discrepancy, and three types of "fish":

• Circular- on the resulting frame, the image does not occupy its entire area, but only an inscribed circle. This lens has a 180 ° angle of view in any direction (right-to-left, top-down, etc.). With this lens, you can take a picture that will depict, for example, the entire sky. Examples of circular fish:
  • "Sigma AF" 8mm f / 3.5 EX DG FISH-EYE
  • MS Peleng 8mm f / 3.5
  • Nikon 8mm f / 2.8
  • "Sigma" 4.5mm f / 2.8 EX DC Circular Fisheye HSM - for digital cameras with APS-C size sensor
• Diagonal(or "full-frame") - the resulting frame is entirely occupied by the image, but the 180 ° angle of view corresponds only to the diagonals of the frame. In other words, the full circle that the circular type gives, this lens does not show in the frame. In this case, the opposite is true: the frame fits into the circular image. Examples of this type of lens:
  • Canon EF 15mm f / 2.8 Fish-eye
• With an image circle of more than 180 °- usually also have a circular image and the angle of view can be 220 °, like the Fisheye-Nikkor 6mm f / 2.8, which weighs 5.2 kg.

Geometric distortion

With a very wide angle of view, strong perspective distortions inevitably occur: the background seems farther than it actually is, and when moving away from the center of the field of view, the shape of objects is distorted. Usually, when creating wide-angle lenses, they tend to reduce to zero distortion - the curvature of straight lines that do not pass through the center. However, in this case, it is fundamentally impossible to obtain an angle of the field of view of 180 °, since then the edge of the field of view will be infinitely distant (the image given by such a lens is equivalent to a gnomonic projection of a sphere onto a plane). In addition, the center magnification is less than the edge magnification, which can be inconvenient in some shooting situations. Therefore, in order to achieve a field of view angle of 180 degrees or more, a negative distortion ("barrel") is deliberately introduced into the lens during its development. Then the magnification in the center becomes larger, and in this area the lens acts as a less wide-angle lens. Nevertheless, such compensation introduces its own perspective distortions - bulging of the center, and also leads to distortions in the shape of objects: straight lines (except those passing through the center) are depicted as curves.

Blends

Fisheye blends are small (for diagonal ones) or none at all (for circular ones). It is not possible to increase the size of the hood, as the hood will be included in the frame. They are usually built into the lens.

An exception to this is zoom lenses. It is assumed that when shooting with such a lens at a short focus (that is, in the fisheye position) the hood will be removed, and for shooting at a long focus (when the lens no longer has such a wide angle of view and becomes wide-angle) the hood can be used. An example of such a lens: "Pentax SMC Fish Eye" DA 10-17mm f / 3.5-4.5 ED (IF).

Light filters

For the same reason as with hoods, traditional filters are not possible with fisheye lenses. Gelatin filters are installed not in front of the first lens glass, but behind the last one, which complicates their operational change and makes it impossible to rotate them (which is necessary for gradient and polarizing filters). Many fishies have built-in rotary filter systems with the usual set of yellow, orange and red filters.

Focus and depth of field

Photo taken using Fisheye MC Zenitar 16mm f / 2.8

The depth of field of the fish is such that even with a relatively small aperture of 5.6, a space from 40-100 cm to infinity will enter the depth of the sharply depicted space. In other words, for most cases, a lens set to infinity does not need autofocus or manual focus.

Other features

• Fisheye shots can easily be captured by a photographer's hand, for example, holding the focusing ring of the lens, the photographer's feet or the base of a tripod.
• If the center of the frame falls below the horizon line, then the horizon in the image is a line convex upward. In the opposite case (the center of the frame is above the horizon) - a line convex downward. If the center of the frame exactly coincides with the horizon line, then the horizon in the frame is straight.
• When using a circular fisheye on a smaller format camera, it becomes diagonal (Bearing on 4/3 cameras, for example), or the circle becomes partially cropped (Bearing on APS-C matrix).
• In 2007, the first circular fisheye for APS-C cameras, the "Sigma" 4.5 mm EX DC Circular Fisheye HSM, appeared on the market. When used on the respective cameras, the image circle is not cropped.

History

The use of a fisheye lens is most often reflected in extreme outdoor sports photography (parkour, skateboarding, BMX, etc.). We can say that it is the "main" lens in such shooting, allowing you to capture from a short distance both the "rider" himself and the architecture used when performing tricks. Also, the use of a fisheye lens is very common in spherical panorama shooting, since it allows you to get the full scope of the panorama with a minimum number of frames.

Famous photographers and their works

see also

Notes (edit)

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

• Maxwell's fisheye
• Fish fur

See what "Fisheye (lens)" is in other dictionaries:

Fish eye- Fisheye: Fisheye projection view. A fisheye (lens) is an ultra-wide-angle photographic lens that has an image angle close to or greater than 180 °. Fisheye (optical system) (Maxwell's Fisheye) ... ... Wikipedia

Lens- Lens ... Wikipedia

Eye (disambiguation)- The eye is a part of the body, the organ of vision of humans and many animals. The human eye is a part of the body, the organ of human vision. Contents 1 Movies 2 Devices 3 Phenomenon ... Wikipedia

Ultra wide angle lens- Ultra wide-angle lens a lens with an angle of view of 83 ° or more, and a focal length less than small side film frame or matrix. Thus, for a 35 mm camera, all lenses with a focal length ... ... Wikipedia

Shift lens- The first 35 mm shift lens F mount 35 mm f / 3.5 PC Nikkor Shift lens from Bryansk

Kit lens- This article lacks links to sources of information. The information must be verifiable, otherwise it can be questioned and deleted. You can ... Wikipedia

Normal lens- Four "normal" lenses for 35 mm format cameras Normal lens is a photographic lens with a focal length approximately equal to the size of the diagonal ... Wikipedia

Varieties of Fisheye Lenses

It is generally accepted that all varieties of "fish" have an angle of view of 180 °, this is not the case. An image of a landscape with an angle of 180 ° gives a circular image, but the frame (film or matrix) is a rectangle. There are two ways to fix this discrepancy, and three types of "fish":

• Circular- on the resulting frame, the image does not occupy its entire area, but only an inscribed circle. This lens has a 180 ° angle of view in any direction (right-to-left, top-down, etc.). With this lens, you can take a picture that will depict, for example, the entire sky. Examples of circular fish:
  • "Sigma AF" 8mm f / 3.5 EX DG FISH-EYE
  • MS Peleng 8mm f / 3.5
  • Nikon 8mm f / 2.8
  • "Sigma" 4.5mm f / 2.8 EX DC Circular Fisheye HSM - for digital cameras with APS-C size sensor
• Diagonal(or "full-frame") - the resulting frame is entirely occupied by the image, but the 180 ° angle of view corresponds only to the diagonals of the frame. In other words, the full circle that the circular type gives, this lens does not show in the frame. In this case, the opposite is true: the frame fits into the circular image. Examples of this type of lens:
  • Canon EF 15mm f / 2.8 Fish-eye
• With an image circle of more than 180 °- usually also have a circular image and the angle of view can be 220 °, like the Fisheye-Nikkor 6mm f / 2.8, which weighs 5.2 kg.

Geometric distortion

With a very wide angle of view, strong perspective distortions inevitably occur: the background seems farther than it actually is, and when moving away from the center of the field of view, the shape of objects is distorted. Usually, when creating wide-angle lenses, they tend to reduce to zero distortion - the curvature of straight lines that do not pass through the center. However, in this case, it is fundamentally impossible to obtain an angle of the field of view of 180 °, since then the edge of the field of view will be infinitely distant (the image given by such a lens is equivalent to a gnomonic projection of a sphere onto a plane). In addition, the center magnification is less than the edge magnification, which can be inconvenient in some shooting situations. Therefore, in order to achieve a field of view angle of 180 degrees or more, a negative distortion ("barrel") is deliberately introduced into the lens during its development. Then the magnification in the center becomes larger, and in this area the lens acts as a less wide-angle lens. Nevertheless, such compensation introduces its own perspective distortions - bulging of the center, and also leads to distortions in the shape of objects: straight lines (except those passing through the center) are depicted as curves.

Blends

Fisheye blends are small (for diagonal ones) or none at all (for circular ones). It is not possible to increase the size of the hood, as the hood will be included in the frame. They are usually built into the lens.

An exception to this is zoom lenses. It is assumed that when shooting with such a lens at a short focus (that is, in the fisheye position) the hood will be removed, and for shooting at a long focus (when the lens no longer has such a wide angle of view and becomes wide-angle) the hood can be used. An example of such a lens: "Pentax SMC Fish Eye" DA 10-17mm f / 3.5-4.5 ED (IF).

Light filters

For the same reason as with hoods, traditional filters are not possible with fisheye lenses. Gelatin filters are installed not in front of the first lens glass, but behind the last one, which complicates their operational change and makes it impossible to rotate them (which is necessary for gradient and polarizing filters). Many fishies have built-in rotary filter systems with the usual set of yellow, orange and red filters.

Focus and depth of field

Photo taken using Fisheye MC Zenitar 16mm f / 2.8

The depth of field of the fish is such that even with a relatively small aperture of 5.6, a space from 40-100 cm to infinity will enter the depth of the sharply depicted space. In other words, for most cases, a lens set to infinity does not need autofocus or manual focus.

Other features

• Fisheye shots can easily be captured by a photographer's hand, for example, holding the focusing ring of the lens, the photographer's feet or the base of a tripod.
• If the center of the frame falls below the horizon line, then the horizon in the image is a line convex upward. In the opposite case (the center of the frame is above the horizon) - a line convex downward. If the center of the frame exactly coincides with the horizon line, then the horizon in the frame is straight.
• When using a circular fisheye on a smaller format camera, it becomes diagonal (Bearing on 4/3 cameras, for example), or the circle becomes partially cropped (Bearing on APS-C matrix).
• In 2007, the first circular fisheye for APS-C cameras, the "Sigma" 4.5 mm EX DC Circular Fisheye HSM, appeared on the market. When used on the respective cameras, the image circle is not cropped.

History

The use of a fisheye lens is most often reflected in extreme outdoor sports photography (parkour, skateboarding, BMX, etc.). We can say that it is the "main" lens in such shooting, allowing you to capture from a short distance both the "rider" himself and the architecture used when performing tricks. Also, the use of a fisheye lens is very common in spherical panorama shooting, since it allows you to get the full scope of the panorama with a minimum number of frames.

Famous photographers and their works

see also

Notes (edit)

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

• Maxwell's fisheye
• Fish fur

See what "Fisheye (lens)" is in other dictionaries:

Fish eye- Fisheye: Fisheye projection view. A fisheye (lens) is an ultra-wide-angle photographic lens that has an image angle close to or greater than 180 °. Fisheye (optical system) (Maxwell's Fisheye) ... ... Wikipedia

Lens- Lens ... Wikipedia

Eye (disambiguation)- The eye is a part of the body, the organ of vision of humans and many animals. The human eye is a part of the body, the organ of human vision. Contents 1 Movies 2 Devices 3 Phenomenon ... Wikipedia

Ultra wide angle lens- An ultra-wide-angle lens a lens with an angle of view of 83 ° or more, and a focal length that is less than the small side of a film frame or matrix. Thus, for a 35 mm camera, all lenses with a focal length ... ... Wikipedia

Shift lens- The first 35 mm shift lens F mount 35 mm f / 3.5 PC Nikkor Shift lens from Bryansk

Kit lens- This article lacks links to sources of information. The information must be verifiable, otherwise it can be questioned and deleted. You can ... Wikipedia

Normal lens- Four "normal" lenses for 35 mm format cameras Normal lens is a photographic lens with a focal length approximately equal to the size of the diagonal ... Wikipedia

The main difference between ultra wide angle lens and the fish eye is that the fish itself does not correct distortions at all and therefore has a viewing angle of about 180 degrees.

And if we consider standard wide-angle lenses, they have special lenses in the optical system that correct the image, but because of this, the viewing angle is very much reduced, and photos are obtained with minimal distortion, not at all the same as with fisheye.

It should also be understood that depending on the camera (crop or full frame), you need to different, for a crop, a fisheye is needed with a focal length of 8-10mm, and for a full frame - 15-16mm. And be sure to pay attention to which camera the fisheye was created for, for crop cameras or full frame, the viewing angle depends on it.

For SIGMA lenses, if the name contains DG, then it is for a full frame, if DC is for a crop.

One more important point, all fisheye lenses fall into 2 categories: diagonal and circular fisheye. The first ones are more popular due to the fact that they have a coverage of 180 degrees diagonally and almost the entire area of ​​the frame is filled with an image.
A circular fisheye creates a circle right in the center of the frame, and the rest of the frame is just black without an image.

Fishye: practical application

Every aspiring photographer knows, or at least has heard of, a lens such as a fish-eye. But how to find a use for it, besides photo entertainment and experiments? Not many will answer this question, confining themselves to standard phrases, such as: "Well, an ultra-wide angle, there, spherical panoramas, etc."
But this would not be enough to buy an expensive "fish eye", - is not it?

The wide angle is quite common in artistic and technical photography. From this point of view, fish-eye would be very useful, if not for one "but". This type of lens has strong geometric aberrations that do not always lend themselves to normalization by software... Therefore, the technical field, where geometric accuracy is important, is unlikely to be interested in such a lens. An exception may be specific industries such as aerial photography or surveillance.

Art photography finds more uses for the ultra-wide angle of view and the specific aberrations associated with it. Monstrous barrel distortions can be played up, getting very extraordinary and interesting pictures.

The fisheye lens is different from the usual wide-angle optics the ability to capture an angle of up to 180 degrees or more (in practice, up to 200 degrees). This means that you can make a half-circle panorama with it in one shot. True, such efficiency is associated with the appearance of distortions that resemble the reflection in Christmas tree toy.

Often, advertisers and filmmakers find it amusing, using fish to create creative products. By and large, something similar can be done from an ordinary (geometrically correct) image using Photoshop filters. But imitation of fisheye will always be inferior to the original, since no plug-in is able to fill the missing degrees of the viewing angle.

By the way, the fisheye lens is a powerful creative tool for advertising and various media products. It can make even a construction waste dump interesting, not to mention something more attractive. In addition, you can shoot with fisheye cool spherical panoramas, simulate the image from the door peephole or surveillance cameras, take pictures of the interiors of cramped rooms.

In architectural photography, it would seem, there is no place for geometric distortions. But sometimes you just can't do without an ultra-wide angle. You can only remove the entire interior of a small room with a fisheye eye. Of course, barrel distortion and vignetting will make their own adjustments, but the human brain has a wonderful ability to arrange distorted objects. No matter how the fishy "twists" the interior, the floor plan and the original appearance of the objects will still remain understandable for the observer.

When presenting a property for sale, modern agencies increasingly include ultra-wide-angle shots in their portfolios. They make such objects more attractive, but at the same time, advertisers always have an ironclad excuse that this is not a deliberate embellishment, but a technically forced optical effect.

The simplest optical device capable of covering an angle close to 180 degrees is a peephole.

Even in the cheapest design, it invariably exhibits an ultra-wide angle. Some amateur photographers even manage to adapt the peephole to their camera to get the desired fish-eye effect. The quality of pictures taken with such an optical system, of course, leaves much to be desired. in this sense, at an unattainable level. Already at a focal length of 10-15 mm, the fisheye demonstrates the whole range of ultra-wide-angle optics effects.

For amateur photographers, a fisheye lens opens up a host of new possibilities. It reveals a previously inaccessible creative layer with inexhaustible potential. On tourist trips, at exhibitions, concerts, in nature and at the zoo, at the stadium or at the playground - fishay can be used everywhere. In this case, the pictures will not only be funny, but also more informative.

We recommend not chasing a cheap product, but buying SIGMA fisheye lenses: they are exclusively Japanese assembly, have excellent optical characteristics and are made of very high quality.

Good luck with your pictures!

I am glad to welcome you again, subscribers and guests of my blog. We are in touch with you, Timur Mustaev. On the pages of the blog, you could already read an article about, as well as about. It tells quite well about their types, features and purpose. Today's article will tell you what a fisheye lens is, or, as it is called in the west, fisheye.

To begin with, it is worth identifying what this wonderful set of lenses is, and also why it is called that. To be precise, it has a viewing angle close to 180 degrees. In the general classification, it can be designated as ultra wide angle. Where did the name come from? It's simple: the principle of its operation is similar to the structure of the fish eye.

Can fisheye be different from each other?

Of course. Moreover, there are several types of them.

• The first, the most common, is circular. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that it does not cover the entire area of ​​the frame, but shows only an inscribed circle. Why is it needed? For interesting panoramas or 360-degree panorama effect. It also does an excellent job of capturing the firmament.
• The second type is diagonal. Why diagonal? The 180-degree angle of view is spread horizontally across the frame to fill it completely. This time, the full frame fits into the maximum angle of view of the lenses, and not vice versa, as in the previous case.
• The last type is mechanisms with a viewing angle of more than 180 degrees. There are very few such lenses, but they exist, and you shouldn't forget about them either.

Why did you come up with such lenses?

In general, they have been used for quite some time: from about the beginning of the last century. But the “fisheye” was used extremely rarely: photos of small streets, narrow corridors, cramped rooms. Now it is actively used by athletes, most often, representatives of street trends, for example, BMX. Why Fisheye?

It's simple: it allows you to capture a large space around the athlete, which allows you to better convey the atmosphere of the performance of the trick, capturing the architectural structures that served as a support for the bicycle, rollers or the soles of sneakers. In addition, such a solution is relevant for both photography and video filming.

In addition to sports, fisheye is used in architecture photography, as before, as well as for creating 3D panoramas of any objects. By the way, the corporation used Fisheye to create the Goolgle Earth service.

Fisheye lens design

Due to the location of the lenses in the mechanism, the images taken with it will have several disadvantages. The first, the most obvious, is barrel-shaped. The image will be strongly stretched "forward", and the butt plan will seem too far away. In other words, this is what the manufacturers are deliberately going for.

Yes, it distorts straight lines, "removes" the background from the foreground, enlarges the latter, but this allows you to get rid of the limitation of the viewing angle, which is what most of them need target audience such lenses.

Another drawback is related to the Fisheye hood. As a rule, their fastenings are extremely small. They may not be suitable for both Canon and Nikons, and adapters that increase its size will also make the hood part of the frame, so, as a rule, manufacturers install them during production.

This can be called the reason for the impossibility of installing different light filters on the lens. In addition, they are of little use if placed in front of a convex glass. Because of this, gel filters are usually installed behind the last lens and cannot be replaced promptly. To remedy the problem, manufacturers began to equip Fisheye with a rotating filter system consisting of a standard set of colors.

What can you mount such a lens on?

There are many variations of the fisheye. The most common is the fisheye phone version. These are sold in almost every mobile store and cost a penny, which makes them very easy to buy. There is a huge selection on Aliexpress. This is what an on-demand aliexpress search gives fisheye lens for phones.

There are also models for the iPhone, and they are well equipped. Sometimes there is a doubt that the picture was taken with an iPhone. They can also be found on request on aliexpress, fisheye lens for iphone... They cost mere pennies, and the result is obvious.

In order not to buy a fisheye lens for a phone, some craftsmen manage to create them with their own hands. Sometimes the result exceeds all expectations, but more often than not, such crafts will not be successful.

Don't forget about cleaning your lenses, whether it's on your phone or your camera. Fingerprints, dust and other debris, it is best to clean up special pencil, and you can also use special cleaning cloths... I have both. I also bought these on aliexpress.

Do you want to understand your SLR camera? Want to take amazing photos? Do you want to finally understand which button on the camera is responsible for what? Then the video courses below will help you. The best video courses for beginners!

My first MIRROR- who has a CANON SLR camera.

DSLR for Beginner 2.0- who has a NIKON SLR camera.

In general, the article can be finished. I told you everything I knew about Fisheye in its general sense. If you were interested in the article - tell your friends about it, subscribe to my blog, if you haven't already, and keep reading my articles. They will tell you about many photography techniques, its technical and practical sides. See you later!

All the best to you, Timur Mustaev.

Various media are used to create interesting effects in pictures and make them more expressive. For example, unusual lenses. Fisheye, or fisheye, is a type of short-throw, ultra-wide-angle lens with barrel distortion.

What is distortion?

These are geometric distortions that can occur in a photograph, curvature of lines and objects. The most common option is barrel-shaped, the lines seem to bend outward, while objects become convex. Pincushion distortion is the inverse effect, objects begin to appear concave.

Otherwise, the barrel distortion is also called positive, and the pincushion distortion is called negative. In classical photography, distortion is a flaw, so photographers try to prevent it from happening. Special corrective lenses are built into wide-angle lenses in order to avoid this effect.

However, if distortion works for the photographer's purpose, it can be an interesting artistic trick, a way to get unusual, vibrant images.

Fisheye (lens) specifications

The main difference of this lens is the angle of view. It is at least 180 degrees, so it becomes possible to fit half of the space in one frame. It is believed that this is how the fish sees objects, which is why the name “fish-eye effect” stuck.

The next characteristic is focal length. It is short, 6-15 mm.

Hoods for such lenses are very small or not used at all. This is due to the fact that due to the huge angle of view of the lens, the hood can get into the frame. Also, the traditional installation of a light filter on a fish-eye is impossible.

Lens varieties

There are two types: circular and diagonal. A circular fisheye (lens) provides a circular perspective, but the image does not fill the entire frame. At the edges of the frame on a full-frame camera, you can see that part of the image is missing and replaced by black corners. This type of lens is used only in applied areas of photography (for example, meteorology).

The diagonal type is otherwise called full-frame. The image from such a lens fills the entire frame; this is achieved by slightly reducing the viewing angle. This type of lens is also the most popular.

The history of the lens

The term "fisheye" was coined by the American physicist Robert Wilms Wood, who was the first to think about how a fish can see the world around it. He hypothesized and conducted an experiment involving a sealed box filled with water and containing a small hole. The first photographs taken with such a box were published in 1906.

The fisheye lens has been in use since the 1920s and has been used in meteorology to photograph cloud cover. Also, lenses were required for astronomical photography.

Today, there are already dozens of such lenses, the viewing angle of some models reaches 220 degrees, and the scope of their use has expanded significantly. In addition to the lens, there is also a fisheye camera. These are panoramic models with a 360 degree viewing angle.

In the USSR, the first photographer to use such a lens for his work was L.A. Borodulin, a master of sports photography.

What is the fisheye effect used for?

Lenses with this effect are often used for shooting extreme sports, this makes it possible to show in the frame not only the athlete himself, but the whole trick in full. In this case, you can take pictures from a short distance.

The lens is good for shooting spherical panoramas. You can find the use of such a lens for interior photography, especially when it comes to small and narrow spaces (corridors, bathrooms). If you need to create a virtual 3D panorama, you also can't do without fish.

To achieve a comedic effect when shooting portraits of people or animals, such lenses are also used. It turns out funny and bright shots.

To summarize, this lens provides an opportunity to see familiar things from an unusual point of view, and this can be very interesting. You can shoot architecture, landscape, trees from unusual angles. The strange pictures evoke a very lively and emotional reaction from the audience.

You can also shoot people, for this you need to place the person in the center of the frame and move away from him. At the same time, the human figure will turn out to be in full growth, small in size and without distortion, but the space around the subject is curved very interestingly.

How to choose the right lens

If you have decided that you need a fisheye lens, here are some tips to help you avoid post-purchase disappointment.

Consider the size of your camera's sensor when purchasing a lens. For a full-frame camera, a focal length of 15-16 mm will be sufficient, for a camera with a crop matrix, a lens with a focal length of 8-11 mm will be required.

Of the existing two types of lenses - diagonal and circular - the first is the most preferred. Examples of suitable lenses: Canon EF 15mm f / 2.8 Fish-eye, MS Zenitar-M.

This lens is unlikely to be your primary working lens, the scope of its use is too narrow. But for replenishing the arsenal of means of artistic expression, he is really good and worthy to take his place in the photographer's bag.