Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/08/16

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Subject: Re: [Leica] followup, 8mm fisheye option RE: Leitz lenses on medium format
From: "Henning J. Wulff" <henningw@archiphoto.com>
Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 13:46:42 -0700

Robert Monaghan <rmonagha@post.cis.smu.edu> wrote:

>Yep, usually it is the tele-lenses in 35mm that do best when used on
>6x4.5cm or 6cm x 6cm, as they have lots of coverage, the wide angles alas
>don't work well on wider formats (barely cover 35mm as it is due to cos^4)

Not due to cos^4. Due to optical design. The 35mm Leica lenses, for
example, are designed for speed and quality to cover a 44mm image circle,
while the 35mm/4.5 Apo-Frandagon is designed to cover a 128mm image circle
with excellent quality, but not much speed. Cos^4 has nothing to do with it
at this stage. Whether the lens is designed to provide more even
illumination than the cos^4 law predicts, is a different matter.

>however, to followup on Jonathan's lament, some of the zeiss design
>fisheyes (such as the $250 US 6x6cm Kiev-88 variants) have been remounted
>into custom made/modified view cameras for 4x5 - neat circular image
>according to noted photogr. Roger Hicks in Brit. Jrnl of Phot. article
>
>It may be of interest to a few LUG-types who would like to try an 8mm 180
>degree circular fisheye effect to know that there are some inexpensive
>front of the lens fisheye adapters that provide such effects on both 35mm
>SLR and RF cameras, mounting on the filter threads of these lenses. Cost
>is very low, circa $50 US up, and quality is less sharp in edges and less
>contrasty than a prime (esp. a Leitz prime ;-), but I've found the image
>defects are not noticed in my slide shows, and it adds a lot of fun to my
>photography see http://www.smu.edu/~rmonagha/bronfe.html for details...

I don't know of any front of lens attachments that actually produce 180
degree images. All I've tried and used came in at around 140 to 160
degrees. If you know of one that actually has 180 degree coverage, I would
be very interested.

   *            Henning J. Wulff
  /|\      Wulff Photography & Design
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