Reacquired the Rokinon 8mm Fisheye

At one point in the not so distant past I did have a Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens in my inventory but I sold because, well, quite frankly I hardly ever used it. This is an extremely specialized EXTREME wide angle lens and even though I will still only have the rare occasion where I might employ a lens such as this, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to replace mine when, on a photography Facebook page, one was made for sale for a GREAT price. This lens sells brand new for around $270-$280 USD.

This particular seller was asking only $160 and he ended up taking my offer at $150. I think I sold my original Rokinon for $220. The end result is I ended up with the same lens with a net of $60 USD in my pocket.

So what can this 8mm fisheye lens be used for? This lens has a few applications that are well suited for it such as architecture but it really excels when you WANT to end up with that extreme wide angle fisheye look. I also have in my kit the Sony 16mm f/2.8 fisheye but it's definitely not as extreme as this one. This lens is so wide, I can almost see my ears in the lens view when I hold it up to my eye to take the shot. I've also used this lens for funny face pictures, see the sample below.

I know that I'll still hardly ever use the lens but it was cheap and I do like to have the option of the extreme wide angle. One thing to note, this lens is made for APS-C sized sensors, so if you're using a full frame camera like the A7, you'll want to change your sensor size in the settings. The full frame equivalent is 12mm. Almost forgot to mention, this is an A Mount lens, HOWEVER, they DO make it for E Mount with a 2.8 aperture instead of 3.5 like mine, but it is more expensive.

Rokinon 8mm fisheye

Saturday March 7th 2015 - Street Photography Dongducheon, South Korea

I have been neglecting my outstanding Sony A99 as of late, thanks to the arrival of a new member to my camera harem, the Sony A6000. But I promised my Sony A99 Facebook group that I would take out my A99 this weekend and well, I am a man of my word. I decided to get my lazy butt dressed and out for some street photography, but not before a lengthy mid-afternoon nap. I had also decided I need the scant bit of exercise that a nice street photography walk would provide.

Street photography in Korea is a photographers dream. There are so many cool and interesting sights. There are an abundance of street markets, subway stations and the people make such irresistible subject, especially older people for some reason.

I had given some words of "encouragement" to an amateur photographer who is a little down because she dropped a really nice zoom lens for her Nikon, I think it was a 70-200. Anyway, it will only work in manual focus and she's going on vacation to Bali soon. I told her to just shoot in manual! As a result, I decided to pack my camera bag with only manual focus lenses today. They included:

Rokinon 14mm wide angle
Rokinon 35mm
Bell and Howell 85mm

And here are the results from today's street photography...

New Lens - Rokinon 14mm

I hope, I think, I believe I have finally found a suitable lens for wide angle photos for my full-frame Sony A99. I already have a few wide angle lenses but I haven't been totally happy with them and several of them are not compatible with the full-frame A99, such as with my Tokina 11-16mm which is for cropped sensor cameras like my A77. It will work with my A99 but only when I'm fully zoomed in at 16mm.

I also have a couple of nice Minolta lenses but they are at 20mm and 28mm respectively and while the Zeiss 24-70mm is a good all around lens that I've captured some nice landscapes with, I really want something just a little bit wider without breaking the bank.

I stumbled across a pretty good deal on eBay today for a used Rokinon 14mm lens. The seller had it listed for $279 USD (buy it now), I found it too difficult to resist and went ahead and bought it, my decision helped with the knowledge that brand new ones go for around $500 USD.

Here are a few photos of the actual lens. As always, I'll be sure to share some images as soon as I get it in my hands!

Rokinon 14mm wide angle lens

Rokinon 8mm Ultra Wide Angle Fish Eye Lens - Sample video and pics

Few things give me more pleasure than the arrival of a package at my mail box, knowing that what's inside said package is a brand new lens to play with. I was thrilled to pieces yesterday with the arrival of just such a package. Inside this particular package was my new Rokinon 8mm Ultra Wide Angle Fish Eye lens! I took it out for a test spin, dinner out in Korea made a perfect opportunity to try it out.

View more photos on my Flickr page here.

New Lens - Rokinon 8mm Aspherical Fisheye

I was feeling a little frisky today, so when I spotted this beautiful Rokinon 8mm 3.5 Aspherical fisheye lens on eBay for only $199, I didn't hesitate one second, I clicked "Buy  Now". I guess I wasn't the only one chomping at the bit, 9 others were viewing that lens the same time as me.

I've been looking at fisheye lenses for a while, I have one for my Sony video camera and while it's not a lens I'll use very often, it's definitely one I want to have in my bag for certain types of shots. Shots you can't get with any other lens. This sucker is wide too, at 8mm, wow, awesome range.

I just ordered it today, so I'll post some of my own sample pics when it arrives in a couple weeks.

I also just received my Sigma 28-80mm Macro lens today. I'll be looking to snap some samples with that as well.

I found these samples at http://photography-on-the.net/

 

Lens of the Day - Rokinon 35mm f1.4

My desire to capture high quality / cine-quality video on my DSLR led me to the Rokinon 35mm f1.4 lens. Although there is a cine version available, I opted for the standard version because currently, I shoot more photos than I do video, and I wanted the versatility. The lens is still highly adaptable for cine use.

With f stops from 1.4 to 22, the lens shoots well in all lighting conditions. It's one of my favorite lenses. They are priced around 300 dollars on eBay and it is available in mounts for Sony, Nikon and Canon.

Scroll down for a nice sample video...

This is one of my own sample photos shot with the Rokinon 35mm f1.4

Below you can see it set up on my Sony Alpha.

The Rokinon 35mm set up on other cameras below.