180 Degrees

I am not a big fan of fisheye lenses, though I own a couple. The exaggerated angle of view makes my head spin. But once in a while, it's kind of fun to shoot with one.

The Pentax SMC Takumar 17mm f4 is one of the fisheye lenses I have. The other is a Ricoh 16mm f2.8 in K-Mount, but that lens can not be focused to infinity, so the Fish-Eye-Takumar is what I alway use. This lens has very high center sharpness, but unfortunately the long edges fall apart. It is the same on the Canon 1Ds as it is on the Sony A7. Nevertheless, it's a fun lens to use if used in moderation :)

Gooderham Flatiron - Sony A7 & Fish-Eye-Takumar SMC 17mm f4. Click for larger.

Red Umbrella - Sony A7 & Fish-Eye-Takumar SMC 17mm f4. Click for larger.

Close-Up - Sony A7 & Fish-Eye-Takumar SMC 17mm f4. Click for larger

Mannequin - Sony A7 & Fish-Eye-Takumar SMC 17mm f4.

Petals on the Widewalk

Petals on the ground - Canon T2i & SMC Takumar 17mm f4 Fish Eye.

After a windy night, and by early morning, you can see a blanket of petals lining the sidewalk section of Leslie Street between Queen & Eastern. There are pink, yellow, and white from different trees that is beautiful to behold.

180 Degrees

It's nice to get the wide angles back with the 5D. I didn't think I would miss full frame when I sold my 1Ds, but after using the Panasonic G1 for a few months, I looked forward to the wide angle views again. So today I took the Super Multi-Coated Takumar 17mm f4 fisheye, which has been sitting on the shelf for months, for a spin.

In more than a few occasions, I photographed my own fingers in the picture. With 180 degree of view, this was bound to happen.

Bikes -- SMC Takumar 17mm f4 & Canon 5D. Click on each picture for a larger version.

Takumar SMC 17mm f4 Fisheye

I have owned this same lens, twice. A few years ago, I sold it since I rarely used it. About a year later, I bought it back from the same person who I sold it to. Interesting, isn't it. I figured it probably really belongs to me, so I have kept it since.

As with all screw mount Takumar lenses, this one was beautifully made, and focuses so smoothly like no other. Build quality is first rate, and most of all, optically quality is excellent. Very very compact but with good heft in your hand.

This lens has three built-in filters: Yellow, Red and 81A Skylight. Unfortunately filters can not be disabled. You are always using one of the filters. The indent for filters is too light and easy to move the filter, most of the time it's at the space between two filters. This is about the only complain I have with it.

Optically, this is one sharp lens in the center. One full frame, the edge is not well corrected, even when stopped way down. Very poor resolution and contrast at the far edges. On the 1D series (1.3x crop factor), this is about perfect, as the edge is outside of the imaging area of the slightly smaller sensor. At f4, the lens is barely usable in bright lights, but one stop down at f5.6, there is a marked difference. The sweet spot is about f8 to f11. Colour is excellent.

At one point, I shot with this lens and the full frame 1Ds for days straight, and then got so tire of looking at the distortion. The lens is again retired to its case and put on the shelf, for about a year now. I really ought to try it on the G1 to give me a mini wide angle.

With such wide angle, anything that normally looks ordinary immediately look interesting, but it's not a lens you would use often. Once in a while, it will give you some interesting pictures that other lenses wouldn't.

Interestingly, this lens makes me nauseous. If I look through the viewfinder with this lens on for about half of an hour of picture taking, I would feel dizzy, and want to vomit. At first I didn't know it was the lens, but the feeling came back when I started using the lens again. Even looking at the pictures taken with the lens would give me the same feeling, though in a lesser scale.

Most of these pictures below were taken with either the 1Ds or the 1D mark II.