Large taro leaf detail. DS and the Zenitar 16mm fisheye, 1/180 aperture unknown.



NaCl(sometimes the sharpness of this inexpensive lens just gets to me)H2O

[magnum1]

Nice!

magnum(why does he always put something in his name)1

[Sailor]

Hey Buddy, this is really a cool shot - how'd you think of this? You sure know how to do the close-up stuff, my friend.

Merry Christmas, Salty.

Jer

[Peter Zack]

Cool Salty. unusual plant, how close was the colour to the original? Pretty decent amount of DOF here as well.

Peter (maybe I'll have to rethink my dislike for ultra wides/fish) Zack. Couldn't help it!

[NaClH2O]

Thanks everybody.
Magnum, I've been signing that way since before there even was the web. Don't know how old you are but you might remember the BBS's of the early 90's? "The Source", "The Well" etc? Well I belonged to one called "the Frog Pond". Pretty small and mostly unknown. But anyway my handle there was BigPete and I'd always sign off "Big [insert comment here] Pete" The habit stuck.
Jer, thanks buddy, I have to say using the Z helps, it's DOF is so wide almost everything is always in focus. I always enjoy your comments, and you're no slouch in the camera dept either, some of those shots of your grand daughter are just stunning.
Peter, Yes they pretty much are that color. Here are a few more shot from that day.

These leaves are BIG some reaching almost 4 ft (1.3 M) The sharp angle of the sun doesn't help as they're somewhat reflective, but that lower right center one is fairly representative


Straight on close up with the Z


Couple of shots trying to catch the backlighting. Not easy to do with the Zenitar as it flares with disgusting ease.




NaCl(interesting subjects)H2O

[mtnbearhug]

Hey Salty.. that is some plant..

That color in your pics is awesome.. pretty neat shots..

Thanks for sharin.. Happy New Year.. Kim

[LaRee]

Fantastic plant you have there Salty. I love the last two images. I also have fun with close ups with my pentax 10-17 FE. It is amazingly sharp and able to focus extremely close. Fun!

[distorted_vision]

hey mate, very nice shots... the colour and detail are fantastic.. its a fairly bizare looking plant/leaf .. the leaves almost look like those cheap crappy fake plastic flowers that you can buy.... i have a few and im amazed at how long they have lasted. i only water them once every 14 months.a bit of furniture polish and BAAAAAM,.... they look like new again..

[NaClH2O]

Thanks everybody glad you liked them.
Kim, yeah they were great, I hope the Garden grows some more next year.
LaRee, you should have seen the looks I got getting those shots. My head was literally under some of the leaves. One young boy wanted to know if I was looking for snakes, and was terribly disappointed when I said "No" The nice thing about the Zenitar (and I assume the 10-17) is that the close ups still have great dof. Not like the paper thin dof of a true macro.
DV. The leaves are real for sure, the NY Botanical Garden is full of weird and strange plants. You should see some of the shots I've gotten of weird flora.

NaCl(but my boss would say that's because I too weird myself)H2O

[LaRee]

Thanks everybody glad you liked them.
Kim, yeah they were great, I hope the Garden grows some more next year.
LaRee, you should have seen the looks I got getting those shots. My head was literally under some of the leaves. One young boy wanted to know if I was looking for snakes, and was terribly disappointed when I said "No" The nice thing about the Zenitar (and I assume the 10-17) is that the close ups still have great dof. Not like the paper thin dof of a true macro.
DV. The leaves are real for sure, the NY Botanical Garden is full of weird and strange plants. You should see some of the shots I've gotten of weird flora.

NaCl(but my boss would say that's because I too weird myself)H2O

I can just imagine the positions you had to get into. But isn't it amazing how close those FE's will focus?!? And yep the large dof is a real bonus. I think my most favorite thing to do is be in a botanical garden with my camera. I'm happiest all by myself there, just me, the plants and my camera. Ahhhh....my idea of paradise.

[NaClH2O]

LaRee if you ever get to NYC you will have to go to the Bronx Botanical gardens. 250 acres of urban forest, a gazillion different kinds of trees, water gardens, tropical gardens etc etc. Mid spring is probably the best time, but there is a lot to see at any time.

NaCl(course it's a bit of a treck from SD)H2O

[Kaimarx]

Interesting plant, i really like the texture on those leaves. I've never seen them that big or with that tinge to them. I imagine these would translate well into B+W studies particularly the tight wides. Sweet lens.

[daacon]

Nice series Salty - I have been so debating the Pentax 10-17 or the Zenitar 16mm fisheye. You shots make the decision so much more difficult.

[NaClH2O]

Nice series Salty - I have been so debating the Pentax 10-17 or the Zenitar 16mm fisheye. You shots make the decision so much more difficult.

Hi Dave, I can only speak for the Z don't own and have never used the 10-17. On the plus/minus side I'd say that most likely the Z has less FE distortion, which can be either good or bad depending on whether you want it or not. With careful framing and cropping most ppl wouldn't even know you had a FE. It's a small bright lens, but don't let the F2.8 fool you. It is pretty darn soft wide open, I find it almost unusable at 2.8. By 4.0 it's pretty good and it's sweet spot is 5.6 to 8.0. It's pretty contrasty and I'm fairly certain the FOV on a 1.5 digital is about 102 degrees. It's prone to flare and purple fringing, but I think that is common to most FE's. It's a fully manual lens, but it also can fit on a full frame camera which the 10-17 can't. It is of course much "fishier" on a FF camera. Wider too. The DOF is incredibly wide, you have to work at getting an OOF shot. It has good contrast and excellent color rendition. The definitive discourse on it can be found here:
Zenitar 16 FE- presentation and samples: Pentax SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review
The only other thing I can say about the Z is that it is considerably less expensive than the 10-17. It's suffered a pretty steep increase in price, last time I looked they were going for about $180usd on eek bay, for the K mount version. I got mine for about $150 including shipping, customs, insurance and etc.
Don't know if this helps your decison or makes it harder, but I can say this, I didn't think I would use mine all that much and I almost immediately found that it is pretty nearly always in my bag.

NaCl(fish eyes are fun!)H2O

[distorted_vision]

DV. The leaves are real for sure, the NY Botanical Garden is full of weird and strange plants. You should see some of the shots I've gotten of weird flora.

NaCl(but my boss would say that's because I too weird myself)H2O

awesome mate... post some pics up