[gilsouthwood]

Okay. Haven't been here for a little while, but just need to go through my summer wishlist for a month in spain (yay!)

Basically, I'm looking for a fisheye, or ultra wideangle, that realistically won't cost over £60-70. That puts the Samyangs out of it. If it were to be fisheye, I'd prefer it to be reasonably fishy on a digital SLR.

Can anyone tell me if one of these exists? Because I know about the zenit 16mm fish, but that isn't really fishy on a D-SLR and also costs over £100. Or are my expectations too high?

Also, should I consider a front screw-on fisheye optic? are these trustworthy?

Also, would quite like a cheapo tripod, easy to find on eBay.

Close up optics. There's a lot of these going round, and I'm not sure if I can trust ebay with this almost generic piece of photographic equipment (on there, at least). I might just pop to the nearest shop.

Only other things I need is just some SD cards and a decent camera bag.

Have a nice summer!

Gil.

[lytrytyr]

Basically, I'm looking for a fisheye, or ultra wideangle, that realistically won't cost over £60-70.

Can anyone tell me if one of these exists?

If the 18mm end of the kit lens isn't wide enough for you,
you could try stitching for ultrawide on the cheap.
So spend the money on a decent tripod.

[jimr-pdx]

Given the budget I'd agree with lytrytyr (gosh did I spell that right? ) - shoot overlapping vertical shots and stitch them later for ultrawide shots. They would not be fisheye but it's a nice way to get beyond 18mm in one shot. I have a bargain +4 52mm that I can put on the kit, but I prefer the Sigma 50 macro so it gets little use.
At least you have a month in Spain, that sounds nice regardless of your kit - make the most of the experience and the gear!

[MrCynical]

You unfortunately won't be able to get an ultrawide or a fisheye within your budget (50mm manual primes - some of which are excellent - are a different matter, but they aren't much use for your intended purpose). Lytrytyr is right: for landscape shooting your best image quality improvement will come from spending that money on a good tripod. Using panorama stitching with your kit lens is also a good idea, and if you have a tripod then that will be much easier and better (read: not crap like handheld pano-stitching usually is )

It's slightly over your budget (£74.95 at the time of posting), but I'd recommend the Redsnapper Tri-283:

Red Snapper RS-283 & RSH-528 Head

It comes with a three-way head, and although many on here swear by ballheads there's really no beating a 3-way for accurate adjustments for landscapes/panoramas (well except maybe a junior geared head but those are expensive). It's obviously not the lightest - for that you need £300+ and a carbon fiber tripod - but it is absolutely solid and also comes with a carrying case or at least it did when I bought mine a couple of years ago.

The one thing to bear in mind is if you're going to Spain, are you flying or driving/bus/ferry? If you're flying then the tripod will have to go in your hold luggage, which means a fairly hefty suitcase and careful wrapping to avoid it being damaged (or damaging other stuff in your case) by the baggage handlers.

[lytrytyr]

Poor man's fisheye: play around with the distortion correction in the software (Silkypix or whatever) that came with the camera.

[vladimiroltean]

I think the only fisheye you're going to find at that price is this:

[Marc Sabatella]

Can anyone tell me if one of these exists? Because I know about the zenit 16mm fish, but that isn't really fishy on a D-SLR and also costs over £100. Or are my expectations too high?

Also, should I consider a front screw-on fisheye optic? are these trustworthy?

They won't try to steal your SO, if that's what you mean :-). But they also won't take very good pictures. £100 for a lens is not expensive - that's at the extreme low end of what a quality optic goes for.

Close up optics. There's a lot of these going round

Again, you get what you pay for. The cheap ones are pretty terrible. Good ones, though, aren't that expensive. See the Raynox Club thread for example for what US $50 will get you.

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Last edited by Marc Sabatella; 07-07-2012 at 11:12 AM.

[lytrytyr]

£100 for a lens is not expensive - that's at the extreme low end of what a quality optic goes for.

KEH will sell you an EX condition Tak 55/2 in M42 for one fifth of that:

Pentax Screwmount Fixed Focal Length Lenses - KEH.com