Fisheye macro using P&S adapters?

Thagomizer · Post by **Thagomizer** » Mon Apr 22, 2019 9:20 am

Hi all;

A number of photographers who have done fisheye macro work, like John Hallmen https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnhallm ... 4444663445 and Gil Wizen http://gilwizen.com/wide-angle-macro-1/ have built macro rigs around small "board lens" optics, cell phone fisheye adapters, and door peephole lenses connected to reversed wide angle lenses and extension tubes. I know there have been several threads on this forum around this topic, but I don't recall seeing anyone trying this: I'm wondering if anyone has tried using OEM fisheye adapters made for point and shoot cameras, such as the Nikon FC-E8 https://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/access ... /index.htm
and FC-E9 https://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/access ... ter/fc-e9/ ?

Would they work, and if they did, would they offer better image quality than the other solutions noted above? If someone can point me to a site where somebody has tried this, that would be great.

Lou Jost · Post by **Lou Jost** » Mon Apr 22, 2019 11:55 am

Others on this forum have shown that some cameras with fixed (non-interchangeable) zoom lenses can do this very well. My favorite is the Panasonic FZ200/300/330 which differs from the solutions you mentioned in that it supports wireless focus-bracketing and is perfectly sharp at infinity as well as at very close distances. It accepts wide-angle add-on lenses as well, but it is already very wide without these. The lens has a very special optical property: the entrance pupil does not seem to move during focusing. This is not true of many interchangeable wide-angle lenses.

JL · Post by JL » Tue Apr 23, 2019 6:42 am

Have you checked the Laowa 15mm F4 (https://www.venuslens.net/product/laowa-15mm-f/). It is for interchangeable lens cameras, but it could be something of your interest.

Thagomizer · Post by **Thagomizer** » Sat May 11, 2019 9:46 pm

JL wrote:Have you checked the Laowa 15mm F4 (https://www.venuslens.net/product/laowa-15mm-f/). It is for interchangeable lens cameras, but it could be something of your interest.

This certainly looks like an interesting lens, but it's outside what I can afford at this point.

The results from DIY rigs assembled from repurposed items intrigue me, particularly as this approach is much cheaper! Harder to use, no doubt, but more in my price range. I was just wondering if anyone had tried either tried this technique with P&S FE auxiliary adapters, or knew of theoretical reasons why this approach would or would not work, as it would appear to have some similarities to the set-ups I linked to in my first post. Even at this lower end of the price spectrum, I'd rather not spend money (however little) on something that isn't going to work. Just wondering if the optical quality of the fisheye adapter would be better than the tiny board lenses, cell phone adapters and door peepholes used by others.

Lou Jost · Post by **Lou Jost** » Sun May 12, 2019 6:06 am

One advantage of those little alternatives is the ease of lighting the subjects. The fisheye attachments I have seen are huge and make lighting challenging.

Thagomizer · Post by **Thagomizer** » Mon May 13, 2019 5:47 am

Lou Jost wrote:One advantage of those little alternatives is the ease of lighting the subjects. The fisheye attachments I have seen are huge and make lighting challenging.

Excellent point I had not considered. I also wonder about the minimum focusing distances. The smaller lenses seem to be able to get much closer. If the P&S FE adapters do not allow a similar proximity to the subjects being shot, they aren't going to do the job I have in mind for them, as the subject will be too small in the image.