in need of a seriously wide angle lens for cheap!

Does anyone know of any lenses that have a focal length less than 20mm, Ive just got hold of a 0.5x wide angle adapter and it gives pretty good results on my 18-55mm canon kit lens at 18mm (not as good as a real fisheye, but a lot cheaper).

Only problem is its pretty heavy and i dont really like having it attached to the rubbish plastic kit lens, esspecially as this is my only wide zoom at the minute.

Im looking for something cheap and metal, like an old carl zeiss, with an m42 mount or similar with an 18mm or less focal length, does anyone know of any that exist or even better any that might be available for sale?

Many thanks guys and gals!

Zenitar 16mm fisheye and Peleng 8mm fisheye are the first things that come to my moind.

There's a couple of Russian manual fisheye lenses like the Zenitar 16mm and the Peleng 8mm fisheye available on M42 mount or EOS conversions. The Zenitar can be had for under $200 and is a fair lens though it loses some fishiness with a 1.6 crop factor. Check RuGift.com and ebay for current prices.

What's wrong with the kit lens you are currently using? Are you looking for a fisheye lens?

formula4speed wrote in post #2749286
What's wrong with the kit lens you are currently using? Are you looking for a fisheye lens?

I thought he made it fairly clear.

Peleng 8mm is probably the way to go. there are some amazing pictures taken with this lens on here, if you do a search you should find some yummy stuff.

It is manual focus and manual apertuire only though, but the lens has such massive dof that it doesn't really matter

Peleng 8mm. It's a little over $200, and you can de-fish to make it a wide angle.

Here's what I did in a few minutes:

Original:

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/png'

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/png'

tompotts - can u post some pics with the 0.5x wide angle adapter?

airbrontosurus - did you use a program to "de-fish" or just photoshop warp?

I use a free lens-correction plugin from www.photo-plugins.com

The built in photoshop correction can't correct enough to make it look good. The free photo-plugin one does a great job, and it's free.

Hi guys and gals,

Thanks for all the replies and advice, I did look at buying the peleng to begin with, but I decided in the end to get this adapter from ebay, to see whether or not id actually use such a lens.

The adapter finally arrived this evening and Ive just spent all night roaming the house taking crazy 'fished' pictures of everything.

basically the problem Im having is that the wide angle adapter I have is pretty heavy, and the kit lens that came with my 350d (rebel xt for the guys inn the states) isnt particularly hardcore. So i was looking around for an old metal lens that I could attach it to, preferrably something with an 18mm or less focal length, because the results I get form the adapter when my lens is at 18mm are pretty cool.

I was really wandering if anyone knows of any old model lenses that might fit this bill. Possible an old M42 fitting an adapter?

Ill post some pics I took with the lens tomorrow for those who want to see, but for now Im off to the land of dreams.

Good night! and thanks again!

I would recommend the 16mm Zenitar. It gives roughly the FOV of a 20mm on 35mm film, on the 1.6 crop cameras. And for landscape if you're careful doesn't even need de-fishing. Even the older m42 mounts in wide angle are selling for more than $200. The Zenitar was $140 shipped. Can't get much cheaper.

is 16mm that much wider than the kit lenses 18mm?

e r y k wrote in post #2751754
is 16mm that much wider than the kit lenses 18mm?

A fisheye 16mm, yes. Rectilinnear, no.

Just go for the pinhole in the body cap and be done with it (seriously: cut a hole the size of a finger in a body cap. on the INSIDE, tape in with black tape a thin feeler gauge in which you created a hole, or buy a premade one.

Wide, and 30$ for the professional model.

angryhampster wrote in post #2751866
A fisheye 16mm, yes. Rectilinnear, no.

When I was shooting 35mm film, there was a very noticeable difference between using a 24mm and a 28mm wide-angle lens. Sometimes 28mm just wasn't quite enough. It does depend quite a bit on the subject you're shooting though. Taking a few steps back just isn't as effective or even possible for some wide-angle stuff. Maybe I'm just really enamoured of certain wide-angle effects but I think a few millimeters can really make a big difference on a lens' wide end.