Zenitar 16mm Fisheye - Test on 1Ds2

I was lucky enough to pick up a second hand MC Zenitar 16mm Fisheye lens recently. I have heard a lot about the Zenitar and how good it was for the price and at only 150AUD I figured it would be worth the giggle.


Well I am happy to say that this lens has blown me away with it's performance!

I am very impressed with the sharpness, contrast and colour rendition that this lens provides. At f11 even the corners are very good, with softness only just creeping in right at the very corner's edge.

Lens flare is a bit of an issue, but I don't think it's a deal breaker, considering that even if purchased new, these are a very cheap lens (eBay AU$250'ish delivered via HK).... plus, the flare produced could easily be repaired in Photoshop. (see highrise building sample image)


An important thing to remember is that I would only recommend this lens for full frame cameras such as the 1Ds/5D/D3 series cameras (or 35mm film cams), as the smaller imaging area with APS-C sensor cams (400D/40D/D70/D200 etc) would see much of the curvy outer fish effect cropped.

Having said that, if the fish effect is not important to you, then this lens could be used (with care) quite effectively as a budget wide angle solution for APS-C.

If you want to see just how good the corner/edge performance is, a larger (about 700k) strip at 100% image size is available from the link below... http://www.potd.com.au/samples/GCConventionC_CornerSTRIP.jpg


Cheers

Russell
My Gallery: http://www.pixelpix.com.au/gallery
Australian Digital Photo Of The Day: http://www.potd.com.au



Photography help for beginners - Film & Digital Camera Techniques - Post Processing - Photography tips and tricks - MC Zenitar 16mm Fisheye