Help! I've got fisheye fever!

Fisheye is not gimmicky. If you feel it is... you haven't learned it's proper use yet.

Stay away from lightroom defishing. no bueno.

Here is one example by using Lightroom vs. Fisheye Hemi filter within PS.

and even if you set Lightroom to 55% it is ugly compared to fisheye hemi.

is a rectilinear lens better out of the box?... SURE. But with the right method you can get pleasing (and wider) results using a fisheye.

Even those fisheye hemi results look horrible

Talley wrote in post #18097785
Stay away from lightroom defishing. no bueno.

Lightroom defishing is actually converting to linear. It's good as math is
Whether you like a rectilinear image with that amount of perspective distortion, only depends on the image and personal taste.
In your example, the Lightroom defished image would look much better for me if you fixed the verticals.

Charlie wrote in post #18097820
Even those fisheye hemi results look horrible

+1
That hemi image is a clash between straight lines and curved lines that should have been straight.
Other subjects might work great with hemi, though.

removes 90% of the distortion to my eye. You also have to understand that for this to really work w/ a fisheye you have to have the camera perfectly level... that which in this sample I did not.

all defishing relies on perfect level photos... if your pointing up or down... forget it.

why we talking about defishing...he loves the fisheye...he's got the fever...

DreDaze wrote in post #18097841
why we talking about defishing...he loves the fisheye...he's got the fever...

Between this, the other wide angle thread where Talley proclaims how great fisheye's are for rectilinear shots, and phone posting, I got lost

DreDaze wrote in post #18097841
why we talking about defishing...he loves the fisheye...he's got the fever...

I dunno honestly I'm a newb at defishing because I personally like the look and when I want that look I use my fisheye so what's the point.

I'm a poor example of an edit professor

CheshireCat wrote in post #18097823
Lightroom defishing is actually converting to linear. It's good as math is
Whether you like a rectilinear image with that amount of perspective distortion, only depends on the image and personal taste.
In your example, the Lightroom defished image would look much better for me if you fixed the verticals.

I looked again and your right. The Lightroom solution is correct, loses a lot of FOV but straighter lines.

Lightroom correction is generally correct, but it doesn't have content aware fill to make up for lost corrections. It's very basic and true.

I saw a video recently about Fisheye Hemi. Apparently it only wants to correct lines in one direction. The guy's hack was to take a landscape image, extend the canvas above the image so it became portrait orientation, run Fisheye Hemi, then crop back to the original image and crop again.

mike_d wrote in post #18097876
I saw a video recently about Fisheye Hemi. Apparently it only wants to correct lines in one direction. The guy's hack was to take a landscape image, extend the canvas above the image so it became portrait orientation, run Fisheye Hemi, then crop back to the original image and crop again.

It's a hack yes and your correct thats how it's done. It does however produce decent results that are a mix between a fisheye and rectilinear style images. It just removes that extreme corner distortion but you still get "some curved lines" in the photo.

I'm sure someone who is better at it than me could do better with it.

Charlie wrote in post #18097853
Between this, the other wide angle thread where Talley proclaims how great fisheye's are for rectilinear shots, and phone posting, I got lost

Not great... just wider results.

I bought a 8-15 F4L a while back after wanting a FE for years. I was busting to get out and use it when it arrived I raced out the back and took a heap of shots, it was great fun but soon found myself starting to regret the purchase thinking it was so limited and gimmiky. But I didn't give up and decided to start a portfolio with it and it's blown me away with it's versatility! The restrictions and limitations was me and my lack of vision. Now it's a permanent addition to my kit, doesn't matter if it's astro, land/seascape, or family holidays. I don't use straightening software on my FE shots, if I need wider than 16mm with no FE effect I stitch, otherwise I compose to maximise or minimise the FE effect.

All the sudden, my 16-35F4 isn't wide enough...