Pretty cool!Ĭanon EF 8-15 f/4 uses Canon's pro level L series optics, and is built with both full frame and cropped sensor cameras in mind. The wizards in our workshop were able to cacluate the new extension ring length required, make a zoom gear, and crank out a dive-able prototype of the Zen DP-100 by lunch time on Friday. Thanks to quick service from the fine folks at Campus Camera, our lens arrived on Thursday. After using the Tokina 10-17 for the past four years I didn't see significant room for improvement for cropped sensors, but we felt obligated to get the lens in a pool as soon as possible to evaluate image quality behind some of the Zen domes. The Tokina lens is very sharp, but the build quality could be better, and there is more purple fringing than I'd like to see (but typical of a lens at this $600 price point).Ĭanon EF 8-15 f/4L and Tokina 10-17 f/3.4-f/4.5Ĭanon's announcement of a new fisheye zoom lens last August (2010) actually didn't excite me too much at the time. By getting very close with a small dome tiny critters can appear big in the wide angle frame and complimentary secondary subjects like divers, boat silhouettes, and sunballs add another element of interest to the shot. This lens is akin to having my two 'old' favorite lenses in one, the ability to switch between them at will, and a whole new range between the extremes to explore! The 10-17 focuses very close, allowing travel friendly small domes to be used. The Tokina 10-17, available for both Nikon DX and Canon EF-S cameras, is by all accounts a great lens for underwater photography. Then along came a fisheye that could zoom! Sigma's 15mm was better for skittish subjects, and didn't distort other divers in the frame as badly, but I missed the really wide field of view. The lens was just too wide for even a big subject at that distance. The 10.5 was best for most of my shooting on a reef, but wonky fisheye distortion pops up from time to time, and a hammerhead fly by at 6' away looked look a guppy on my monitor. I traveled with a Nikon 10.5 f/2.8 DX Fisheye (180 deg diagonal field of view) and a Sigma 15mm Diagonal Fisheye (110 deg diagonal field of view). In the old days an extremely difficult choice was required before every dive. They are sharp (even in the corners), focus close for great close up wide angle possibilities, and enable the use of travel friendly small dome ports. Fisheye lenses have long been my favorite optics for underwater photography.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |