Hi Guys,

One thing is for sure.......The Nikkor 10.5mm kicks butt. It is the undisputed king of lenses. No offense to all you sigma 8mm users.

I guess we could argue about that but look it up. It is not just me saying it.

I guess you could say I am biased because this is what I use. LOL

The DSLR is KING as well. Like the others say.....1 month on the learning curve and you won't look back.

What do you have to learn. LOLOLOLOL. We ain't in Kansas anymore Toto. You will have to learn to use the camera total manual mode without looking at the manual every time you need to set something on the camera. If you want to shoot scenes in 10 minutes or less then you  will have to learn by experience what exposures to use in certain lighting situations. If you screw around taking test shots for 20 minutes and even take several bracket sets of the same scene because you are not sure what to do you will be on the job all day for a 6 to 8 scene job. You have to shoot 4 jobs today and you don't have time for all that screwing around. Time is money.

Wide-Eyes:
I can tell you exactly how long it takes to work with the D70+10.5mm setup. It takes 10 - 12 minutes to shoot 6+T+B and this is moving fast. This includeds moving to the new location, leveling the tripod, taking a few test shots to set exposure. Then taking the shots using a 3 frame bracket set at 2 ev. You can move faster if you want to make mistakes like forgetting to shoot the top or bottom, bumping the tripod, shooting a frame set twice, shooting your feet, shooting your self in mirrors, forgetting to set the correct white balance, and not checking to make sure the lens is set to infintiy focus and forgetting to turn bracketing on after the test shots. And a few other mistakes like rinkled bed spreads, garbage cans in the scene, uneven blinds, messy pillows, chairs not lined up, objects on tables, in chairs messed up and crooked pictures on the wall......

Post processing for me works out to be about 30  minutes per pano but can takes 1 hour. This includes combining with photomatrix, stitching, and then having to set matching points manually for the top and bottom which happens about 75% of the time. Saving. Touching up in photoshop. Importing back to panoweaver and adding the tripod cap. Re saving. Photoshop again to resize for delivery. If you have to blend in windows from two bracket sets which happens often due to my location on the coast. Water/sand/glare etc.  just can not be captured correctly with 3 frames at 2 ev. But if you dont' have to worry about that then 30 min is right on. Of course post processing time depends on how perfect you want to make the images. But for "production" work 30 min is it. I have an old computer so if you have a scream machin mabey you can do post process faster.

Out side shots are a little easier but don't let that fool you. Moving trees, shade, mean dogs, huge biting bugs, heat exhaustion, un-level ground,.....falling of the sea wall or the dock and into the water ( it happens trust me LOL),  Oh I forgot. Touching the lens and spending 15 minutes cleaning it. Or even sneazing on it, or sweating profusly from heat and letting that drop onto the lens......

The coolpix is great for some stuff. Easy to use. A lot of "auto" shooting and so forth. But if you want to run with the big dogs in the street instead of sitting on the porch then get a DSLR and a Nikkor 10.5 or the Sigma 8mm.

Besides the chicks will ask you to take shots of them and all the good looking realtor ladies will be very interested in your impressive looking set up. That little coolpix doesn't fill the bill sometimes. LOLOLOL. You Know "size matters" LOL. A little humor if you have read this far. 

Yeaaahaawwwwwwwww

General Lee.

Yep the Nikkor 10.5 Fisheye is a great lens. Better than the Sigma for sure. (Only wish Canon invented it!)

But!

• You need 6+1 minimum with the Nikkor.
• You need a Nikon DSLR or a fruity adaptor.
• The Sigma you can do a panorama with 4 shots
• Better than that you can attach it to a Canon Camera 
• If you are buying a new DSLR go with the Canon 5D (Fullframe and requires as little as three shots with Panoweaver) Just like the old Coolpix stitches.

The chicks always asked for shots with me anyway no matter what I was shooting with. The size didn't matter - it was how it was used.

Amazingly, I did read that far (and I can say I often don't!)  Novel Boy  LOL

Regards, Smooth

Hi Guys

Ok This have been a very informative thread. I have really learned a lot. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. 

I now know that Gen lee have a large one........ and that smooth is good at using his. *lool* Both of them obviosly think that they have what women want. But guys women don't want to choose, they want those of us how can give them both *looooolll*

@ smooth since you have read this far, would you mind helping me with a couple of new questions??

You got my attention with your last remark. That if I buy a canon 5d I am able to shoot a scene with just 3 shoots. How can that be?? Would I have to use the sigma 8mm lense or can I do a 3 shoot panorama with the nikkor 10,5mm and the adapter you mention??

If you are able to use the nikkor 10,5mm with an adaptor why don't you?? Does the images loose quality because of the adapter or???

Hope you will sort out my questions.

Best regards

Morten Andersen

- a newbie trying to improve  

hi morten,

I don't know about the adaptor or about the Nikkor 10.5 lens which is deff the better lens... however i can say that the reason u can do 3 shots with the 5D is the fact that it has a full sized sensor. this allows the sig 8mm to display a full circular image. You should probably even be able to do a 2 shot, however the middle 120 degrees are the sweetspot of this lens and 3 shots will give u a quality image.

Yes, the newly released Canon 5D is a full frame sensor and thus does not crop the Sigma 8mm circle as it does on say a 300D, 350D, 10D, 20D. Being full frame all the EOS lenses that where/are designed for a analogue SLR film camera perform the way they are meant too.

Because the 5D and Sigma 8mm will produce a full circular image of 180 degrees just like a Coolpix you can stitch them in much the same fashion I.E: 3 shot circular or you could even stitch them using the 4 shot drum method. Until the release of the Canon 5D the only other options were Canon's top of the range pro series 1Ds and 1Ds MKII and the price was and still is quite high. The release of the 5D has made the fullframe sensor a little easier to get in a more realistic price range.

On the subject of the Nikkor 10.5mm Fisheye adapted to the Canon DSLR it is possible BUT! You lose all automatic focus and it doesn't even have a manual focus ring, so you need to set the aperture manually (lens off) and adjusting with a Ice Cream/Ice Block stick or plastic equivalent. (A lot of mucking around and you will still need to take 6+1 to do a panorama. (Just not a good thing really!)

If you really want to use a Nikkor then the Fuji S3 Pro DSLR is the way to go for panorama work. Or else just buy the D70s (they are cheap enough).

Like everything, these are opinions and should be taken with a grain of salt. It's for the end buyer to make up their own mind and make the decision that suits their needs.

All combinations we have discussed take wonderful panoramas and boils down to personal preference.

Regards, Smooth

You really need 3 images with the 5d + sigma as the lens doesn't give 183 degs fov like the FCE8 so virtually no overlap. I've had focussing problems using an adaptor with Nikon mount fisheyes and Canon bodies but they work well with less wide lenses. A 3 hemi shot with the 5d is in theory not as good as a 4 hemi shot with a 20D, less pixels

Simon

You guys are great. LOL.

I enjoy this forum so much.

General Lee