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Wide angle and fisheye
Since this is my first post I’ll include a short intro then ask my question. I have been doing SD video for 4yrs and just landed my dream project as DP for a independently produced TV show. We just ordered an hvx200 for the project including tons of accessories. Mattbox, 4×4 filters, varizoom monitor, 2 16GB cards, tripod and glide crane.
I have been researching this stuff for weeks and can’t make up my mind about the lenses. If you have any experience with these lenses please let me know what you think. Also if you know of any other products in the price range that would help too.
I will likely purchase a zoomthrough wide angle:
Century has a lens for $1000
16×9’s lens is $850I will either puchase a fisheye or rent one.
Century adapter. $500
16×9 adapter. $650I couldn’t find any online reviews of these except a negative review of the 16×9 fish eye, although the user was complaining that as you zoom the picture gets real bad, but the fisheye’s aren’t zoomthrough lens so I can’t trust it.
thanks for the help!
JayDigg -
4 Replies
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[jaydigges] “I couldn’t find any online reviews of these except a negative review of the 16×9 fish eye, although the user was complaining that as you zoom the picture gets real bad”
priceless
There are usually reasons you need a specific lens and in your case a wide angle. If you absolutely must have a very wide angle of view as in you need to show certain elements in the same shot and can’t get back far enough a fisheye is the widest angle available and can be used with the trade off of a lot of distortion. However it can see wide enough to get more elements in one shot or wider field of view than anything else. Because of the bending of the linear lines particularly at the edges, the use of the fisheye is obvious to most viewers who will make a mental note while viewing your production ie: “the camera man used a fisheye lens here”. Viewers should be drawn into your story line and not thinking of how or why you took a shot. There are times you can use a fisheye without it being immediately recognised and in those cases it works well. Any other time they usually appear gimmicky and over used. They do have a certain “wowie zowie” factor the first times you use them or a viewer sees them but if that is what your credibillity is riding on you’re in trouble. I’m hearing them being called “the death lens” I think because the second time you use one you will be fired. Can you count how many times you’ve seen a fisheye lens used in a feature film?
Wide Angles don’t have the obvious distortion so are far less recognised by the viewer. They allow you to shrink a background and hide it behind the subject. They allow you to get in very close to the action. They stretch the distance between things creating drama. You get far more use from a wide angle. I’ve had a fisheye for 20 years and I’ve gotten 3 or 4 great shots with it and a lot more useless ones. I might use it once a year now, maybe. Wide angles distort also so you must be carefull about keeping talent near the edges, especially close ups.
I would go with the century (schnieder) .75 zoom for the price difference as they have been making superb glass for many years. 16:9 is fairly new and I don’t know much about them. I just got a century .75 myself on thursday but haven’t used it enough to give an opinion on picture quality. I’ve had other century wide angles though so that’s why I went with it. Cavision is supposted to be good too. The century weighs a ton so if you use it with a steadycam you may have trouble balancing it.
I think your idea to rent the fisheye is a wise one. I think there is a high quality one around $2500.00 so you can rent it instead of the $500.00 one.
[jaydigges] “Also if you know of any other products in the price range that would help too.
“A steadycam is always nice and a dof device like the red rock would be usefull too.
There is a good article on the ken stone web site about shooting with P2. The 32GB cards should be out soon too.
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Thanks… Im doing a sitcom, in 16×9, for release on the web only, and the subject matter could only be called bizarre. There are a bunch of dream sequences, and my plan was to use the fish eye on these. Perhaps the wideangle lens shooting close ups will offer the effect im looking for, while the fisheye might be too much.
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I’ve had the Century .75 for a little over a year and have been very happy. IIRC, Century also came out with an extreme fisheye about 9 months ago. Runs $2000 or so.
The only area I’ve seen fisheyes used constantly and extensively is for skateboarding-style videos (or other “extreme” sports). They’d be good in music videos, too.
One thing to keep in mind for your shoots when using a fisheye is that, depending on your final window size and compression (since you said this will appear online), you may lose detail from the center of your shot.
-Scott
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Oh… I think I can be kinda old school sometimes. What you are doing sounds like some fisheye shots would be ok. Reminds me of “Fear and Loathing in Las Vagas”. They used a lot of wide angle in conjunction with wild wall paper and carpeting for the look. I don’t recall actual fisheye shots just mostly extreme wide angles and a lot of emphisis on set dec. It worked well.
There are also sw distortion filters with the fisheye effect.
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