I got a bad copy. Literally I had to rotate it with full force. The lens mounting has some play. It makes audible metal clapping sound when rotating the focus ring.No biggie. Exchange to another copy.
A quick glance at it wouldn't recognize its fish eye. A leather like pouch bag. The lens hood is easy to use.
Front barrel moves back and forth. Initial testing. Very nice. Sharp and low CA. Well balanced on GF2. 9cm closest focus distance. Too short throw from 25cm to infinity distance scale. Excellent build quality. Metal focus ring and aperture ring. Samyang knows how to make a good m43 lens.
Color rendition comparison with 14-42X. I like the fish eye's color rendition. More deep and vivid. This is very good considering 14-42X has better color rendition than 14, 20, 14-45.
I wrote to the guys at Image Trends who make the Fisheye-Hemi plugin for photos inquiring about a video plugin. They said they are considering video versions but cannot give specific dates as to when they might be released.
buy.com selling it at $299. free shipping. 4% cashback... but not sure about getting the cashback on the marketplace item. either way cheaper than B&H.
Draw a dot at the center of framing. Start drawing circles out. Treat circumferences of circles as magnets distorting perspectives giving fisheye effect. Any straight line going though the center dot will be straight. Any circular shaped objects framed at the center won't be distorted.
Fisheye is looks decent. But, if you have the money, why not just get the panasonic 7-14mm? It can do non-fisheye throughout the entire range, and I'm guessing you could just add fisheye effect in post if you really wanted it.
Do you think is it possible to use this plugin: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/fisheye-hemi.htm for video? (obviously using photoshop as a intermediate) Or are we going to lose too much definition? Because if it is possible this would be a breakthrough for wide shots!
Impressive image resolution at 3.5, 4, 5.6. IQ looks better than Samyang 8mm 43 version. Interesting. Smaller and better. Such high corner details might make this lens more versatile. After fixing the distortion, it would give roughly 120 degree FOV. The corners would lose some details, but it might work nicely at f/5.6. Or just get 180 degree FOV. About 20mm pancake size. Wow. Samyang knows how to make good m43 lens!!!