new fisheye lens

just got my rokikon 8mm fisheye,i was on the fence for almost a year,i should have got one earlier,what a great lens for the price,i actually like the manual aperture,u can see in the view finder what changes it makes,i know u can with the little button on the side of the camera but this is all the time,great lens

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/nmDm​Zg

They are fun to play with!

This reads like it should have been posted in a gear section. Did you want a critique?

So here goes. The pond draws the eye, but you cut off part of it. And what's with the featureless gray clouds? Did the lens do that?

ya im openfor critique and pointers on using a fisheye in manual mode,the clouds were as is out of camera so i guess they were not jumping out that day haha,

This was one my favorite lenses when I had my T2i. I would set it to f/8 - infinity and it produced great images. The only thing that bothers me about the image is that it seems to be overly baked in a HDR style. The saturation and lack of definition is hindering the true beauty of this shot.

Consider processing a black and white version. I bet this would be amazing when converted.

I think your monitor is set too bright. The blown out clouds have luminance values of ~200.

I'm with Short_wave processed to much for my tastes - too saturated and full of HDR side effects - nearly hurts my eyes!

short_wave wrote in post #16858938
This was one my favorite lenses when I had my T2i. I would set it to f/8 - infinity and it produced great images. The only thing that bothers me about the image is that it seems to be overly baked in a HDR style. The saturation and lack of definition is hindering the true bursary of his shot.

Consider processing a black and white version. I bet this would be amazing when converted.

i will try a bw,never thought of that,thanx for the tip,

ejenner wrote in post #16859651
I think your monitor is set too bright. The blown out clouds have luminance values of ~200.

u could be right,is there a way to calibrate the monitor on a mac air,i noticed the clouds blown out also,I'm just getting used to this lens,still not sure on what meter mode will work best for manual aperture,is spot meter the way to go or evaluative for a manual lens,thanx for the tips so far,i prob did bake it to much in HDR,ill tone it down and try again

genesimmons wrote in post #16860574
u could be right,is there a way to calibrate the monitor on a mac air,

There are, but I calibrate mine by basically making a print. Of course most people in general have their monitors too bright, so my images posted might look way too bright for them.

However, in this case this image is dark compared to any others.

You may still have blown-out areas - that is due to the scene and metering (and I'm not going to get into that here), however, if you use processing software it should tell you the luminance values. For instance I did that with the clouds and since they were blown out I would expect them to be at a 255 or so luminance (pure white). I suspect they look pure white on you monitor because it is set too bright.

One thing you could do is increase the exposure in an editing software until the blown out areas are at a luminance level of 250-255 and then reduce your monitor brightness until the scene looks approximately OK. That will at least get you a bit closer.

Not sure if it is 'overcooked' or not - it's kind of small to see, I didn't even realize it was an HDR to be honest. As for metering, I would just practice with that lens and what works for you, it seems to be very personal. Personally though I use tripod + live view + histogram in manual for landscapes.

I think you can use the Spyder 4 pro on your Air.

As for the over baked comment, it's more to do with the processing style than actual exposure value. There is detail in the shot for sure, but the highlights are crushed, thus giving the clouds that tinge of gray in the center. In addition, the image looks underexposed, so it can be a combination of the two that makes the HDR effect unappealing.

@ genesimmons:

This is a good image, it's just the processing style that I am picking at. I would love to see the image SOOC!