Zenitar Fisheye & K10D

Kemal · 02-23-2007, 04:57 AM

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The Zenitar is a manual lens and suffers from the 1.5x magnification on a digital body, like the K10D. Is there any way to get the lens to behave as if it were on a 35 mm body? I'm only asking because I would like to get the lens and use it on the K10D but that 180 degree curve would be absent. Things look much more curved on a 35 mm body than they do on a digital body. If there was a way to distance the lens from the body, would that help? Or are you just stuck and have to end up buying a digital lens fisheye?

**NaClH2O** · 02-23-2007, 06:14 AM

Hi Kemal, as far as I know, I don't think there is any way to undo the 1.5 FOV crop on dslr's. I can also say that as far as I know the Zenitar has the widest FOV of any lens now available for Pentax, so no matter what other lens you get the fish eye distortion would be less. I am not sure, because I've never tried any of the anti distortion programs out there, but it would seem to me that if you can undo distortion you should also be able to go the other way and increase it. Hopefully someone who knows for sure will weigh in on this. If I'm correct the only way you could increase the distortion would be via software.

NaCl(just my opinion)H2O

**kmccanta** · 02-28-2007, 12:51 AM

how can the 16mm be the widest? what about the 12-24 rectinilear? the 10-17 fisheye? the 8mm peleng?

Mike Cash · 02-28-2007, 03:46 AM

I thought about buying one of those, but reading this page has made me a bit leery.

**NaClH2O** · 02-28-2007, 05:45 AM

Originally posted by kmccanta

how can the 16mm be the widest? what about the 12-24 rectinilear? the 10-17 fisheye? the 8mm peleng?

I'm talking about FOV (field of view) The Zenitar has a 180 degree FOV, I don't think it's physically possible to have a wider FOV than that without extreme optics. The 10-17 fish-eye has a 100-180 FOV, the 12-24 has a 61-99 FOV. I don't know about the 8mm peleng, but I seriously doubt it will be greater than the Zenitar.

NaCl(it's not the focal length, its the FOV)H2O

**NaClH2O** · 02-28-2007, 06:08 AM

Originally posted by Mike Cash

I thought about buying one of those, but reading this page has made me a bit leery.

Mike, the Zenitar gets pretty good marks from all who own it. I just ordered one myself. It is quite inexpensive but supposedly quite good image quality except wide open where most people say it is so soft as to be almost unuseable. I've seen many many good photos taken with it. I'm not a big fan of fish eye distortion, but I think the price is cheap enough for a "just for fun" lens. I paid 125 USD for mine, with shipping and insurance it came to 152 USD. If it turns out I really really like it, I can always upgrade to a 10-17. One note, I ordered mine thru moscowphoto, they have good ratings, but their communication skills leave something to be desired. I've subsequently found out that most people have ordered theirs thru Victor at "zenitar_store" link here:eBay Store - Poljot orion vostok molnija slava: orion, vostok, molnija

NaCl(as soon as I get the lens I'll be posting some pics)H2O

Jonas B · 02-28-2007, 06:20 AM

Salty, The Zenitar has a 180 degree FOV on full frame cameras, not with the cropped Pentax sensor. The Peleng 8mm and the DA10-17 should be wider. The 12-24 is rectilinear (with some distorsion) and also a bit wider I think than the Zenitar when you stretch it.
But, you'll have a lot of fun with the Zenitar anyway. Repost (as I'm lazy and it's online allready):

and

(The second one is a five pic vertical pano.)

regards,

FotoPete · 02-28-2007, 08:12 AM

Wait..the building actually twists liek that right? :O

Jonas B · 02-28-2007, 08:21 AM

Originally posted by FotoPete

Wait..the building actually twists liek that right? :O

Yes it does. "Turning Torso", Malmö, Sweden
Strange perspective, eh? Standing beside it make me feel a bit dizzy.

FotoPete · 02-28-2007, 08:23 AM

Twisting Building + FishEye Distortion = Dizzier

**NaClH2O** · 02-28-2007, 08:32 AM

Originally posted by Jonas B

Salty, The Zenitar has a 180 degree FOV on full frame cameras, not with the cropped Pentax sensor. The Peleng 8mm and the DA10-17 should be wider. The 12-24 is rectilinear (with some distorsion) and also a bit wider I think than the Zenitar when you stretch it.
But, you'll have a lot of fun with the Zenitar anyway.

regards,

OK my bad. Didn't realize that the 180 FOV listed for the Zenitar was for the full frame sensor. I thought it was for the APS-c sensor. Sorry for putting out misinformation.

NaCl(I stand...er...sit corrected)H2O

FotoPete · 02-28-2007, 08:37 AM

Haha its like...not dslr fisheye?...!...OH S**T!....*Dials up Putin*...I ..eh...dun..want ...de...lens anymore....

Jonas B · 02-28-2007, 08:58 AM

Originally posted by FotoPete

Twisting Building + FishEye Distortion = Dizzier

Could be Peter. But it's a pano and the bits are all defished before the stitching. But I have heard that it's cool going by chopter above Turning Torso.

Louis · 03-01-2007, 06:57 PM

I really like this lens. For the money it's a great lens to play around with on have a great time doing so. Here is it wide open at a High School football game.

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palmor · 03-01-2007, 09:19 PM

This is one of my favorite lenses.. gives great results IMO

John

Sunset over Boston photo - palmor photos at pbase.com

Eagle Lodge photo - palmor photos at pbase.com

02-23-2007, 04:57 AM	#1
Kemal Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 78	Zenitar Fisheye & K10D Staff note: This post may contain affiliate links, which means Pentax Forums may earn a small commission if a visitor clicks through and makes a purchase. If you would like to support the forum directly, you may also make a donation here. The Zenitar is a manual lens and suffers from the 1.5x magnification on a digital body, like the K10D. Is there any way to get the lens to behave as if it were on a 35 mm body? I'm only asking because I would like to get the lens and use it on the K10D but that 180 degree curve would be absent. Things look much more curved on a 35 mm body than they do on a digital body. If there was a way to distance the lens from the body, would that help? Or are you just stuck and have to end up buying a digital lens fisheye?

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02-23-2007, 06:14 AM	#2
NaClH2O Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Bronx NY Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 5,631	Hi Kemal, as far as I know, I don't think there is any way to undo the 1.5 FOV crop on dslr's. I can also say that as far as I know the Zenitar has the widest FOV of any lens now available for Pentax, so no matter what other lens you get the fish eye distortion would be less. I am not sure, because I've never tried any of the anti distortion programs out there, but it would seem to me that if you can undo distortion you should also be able to go the other way and increase it. Hopefully someone who knows for sure will weigh in on this. If I'm correct the only way you could increase the distortion would be via software. NaCl(just my opinion)H2O

02-28-2007, 12:51 AM	#3
kmccanta Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Portland, Oregon Photos: Gallery Posts: 218	how can the 16mm be the widest? what about the 12-24 rectinilear? the 10-17 fisheye? the 8mm peleng?

02-28-2007, 03:46 AM	#4
Mike Cash Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Japan Photos: Gallery Posts: 6,950	I thought about buying one of those, but reading this page has made me a bit leery.

02-28-2007, 05:45 AM	#5
NaClH2O Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Bronx NY Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 5,631	Originally posted by kmccanta how can the 16mm be the widest? what about the 12-24 rectinilear? the 10-17 fisheye? the 8mm peleng? I'm talking about FOV (field of view) The Zenitar has a 180 degree FOV, I don't think it's physically possible to have a wider FOV than that without extreme optics. The 10-17 fish-eye has a 100-180 FOV, the 12-24 has a 61-99 FOV. I don't know about the 8mm peleng, but I seriously doubt it will be greater than the Zenitar. NaCl(it's not the focal length, its the FOV)H2O

02-28-2007, 06:08 AM	#6
NaClH2O Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Bronx NY Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 5,631	Originally posted by Mike Cash I thought about buying one of those, but reading this page has made me a bit leery. Mike, the Zenitar gets pretty good marks from all who own it. I just ordered one myself. It is quite inexpensive but supposedly quite good image quality except wide open where most people say it is so soft as to be almost unuseable. I've seen many many good photos taken with it. I'm not a big fan of fish eye distortion, but I think the price is cheap enough for a "just for fun" lens. I paid 125 USD for mine, with shipping and insurance it came to 152 USD. If it turns out I really really like it, I can always upgrade to a 10-17. One note, I ordered mine thru moscowphoto, they have good ratings, but their communication skills leave something to be desired. I've subsequently found out that most people have ordered theirs thru Victor at "zenitar_store" link here:eBay Store - Poljot orion vostok molnija slava: orion, vostok, molnija NaCl(as soon as I get the lens I'll be posting some pics)H2O

02-28-2007, 06:20 AM	#7
Jonas B Inactive Account Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Göteborg, Sweden Posts: 810	Salty, The Zenitar has a 180 degree FOV on full frame cameras, not with the cropped Pentax sensor. The Peleng 8mm and the DA10-17 should be wider. The 12-24 is rectilinear (with some distorsion) and also a bit wider I think than the Zenitar when you stretch it. But, you'll have a lot of fun with the Zenitar anyway. Repost (as I'm lazy and it's online allready): and (The second one is a five pic vertical pano.) regards,

02-28-2007, 08:12 AM	#8
FotoPete Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Toronto Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,774	Wait..the building actually twists liek that right? :O

02-28-2007, 08:21 AM	#9
Jonas B Inactive Account Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Göteborg, Sweden Posts: 810	Originally posted by FotoPete Wait..the building actually twists liek that right? :O Yes it does. "Turning Torso", Malmö, Sweden Strange perspective, eh? Standing beside it make me feel a bit dizzy.

02-28-2007, 08:23 AM	#10
FotoPete Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Toronto Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,774	Twisting Building + FishEye Distortion = Dizzier

02-28-2007, 08:32 AM	#11
NaClH2O Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Bronx NY Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 5,631	Originally posted by Jonas B Salty, The Zenitar has a 180 degree FOV on full frame cameras, not with the cropped Pentax sensor. The Peleng 8mm and the DA10-17 should be wider. The 12-24 is rectilinear (with some distorsion) and also a bit wider I think than the Zenitar when you stretch it. But, you'll have a lot of fun with the Zenitar anyway. regards, OK my bad. Didn't realize that the 180 FOV listed for the Zenitar was for the full frame sensor. I thought it was for the APS-c sensor. Sorry for putting out misinformation. NaCl(I stand...er...sit corrected)H2O

02-28-2007, 08:37 AM	#12
FotoPete Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Toronto Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,774	Haha its like...not dslr fisheye?...!...OH S*T!....Dials up Putin*...I ..eh...dun..want ...de...lens anymore....

02-28-2007, 08:58 AM	#13
Jonas B Inactive Account Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Göteborg, Sweden Posts: 810	Originally posted by FotoPete Twisting Building + FishEye Distortion = Dizzier Could be Peter. But it's a pano and the bits are all defished before the stitching. But I have heard that it's cool going by chopter above Turning Torso.

03-01-2007, 06:57 PM	#14
Louis Inactive Account Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Fairfax, VA, USA Posts: 9	I really like this lens. For the money it's a great lens to play around with on have a great time doing so. Here is it wide open at a High School football game.

03-01-2007, 09:19 PM	#15
palmor Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: North of Boston, MA Posts: 798	This is one of my favorite lenses.. gives great results IMO John Sunset over Boston photo - palmor photos at pbase.com Eagle Lodge photo - palmor photos at pbase.com