Looking for fisheye for HDRI creation

[Tommy L]

I made some hdri's a while back and they were pretty knarly. When I got a pro shooter to shoot the silver ball it was better, but now I need the flexibility of going out and shooting my own and not making a mess of it.

 

I want to try the fisheye lens technique instead of the silver ball. It just seems more natural to me.

 

So Im looking for lens suggestions to mount on a Canon D60. Any advice much appreciated, my limited knowledge has led me to this:

http://www.dpreview.com/products/sigma/lenses/sigma_4p5_2p8

[AJLynn]

I've read good things about that lens. Put the camera on a tripod and use a bubble level to point it straight up. But, your camera is, what, 8 years old and 6mp? And the circular fisheye images use much less than the full frame of the sensor. Is it going to give you enough image for background and stuff?

[Stephen Thomas]

I'm not sure what you were looking at Andy, but the Canon 60D is pretty new and 18MP! I just bought a Canon 550D and have been looking at the Opteka 6.5mm fisheye which costs under $300 http://t.co/ol7aDXP

 

It gives 180° coverage from corner to corner. I haven't worked it out yet, but you would need to use a panoramic tripod head and probably shoot 3 if not 4 shots with the camera pointing upwards to cover a full 360° rotation.

 

Edit: Actually, I just did the math by modelling in max and you would need 6 images with the camera pointed up at 45° in portrait orientation to cover a full hemisphere. So maybe this lens isn't the best option after all.

Edited April 13, 2011 by stef.thomas

[AJLynn]

Oops, confused the Canon 60D with the Canon D60. What do I know, I use Nikon.

[Stephen Thomas]

Well Tommy did say the D60, so maybe it is?

[laszloadrian]

I shoot panos and hdri and all I know a learned is in two places:

 

for shooting panos and equipment advice:

 

http://www.panoguide.com

 

for shooting hdr panos for cg:

 

http://www.hdrlabs.com

 

 

I have a nikon camera and a tokina fisheye lens. I don't know if your camera is fullframe or not but I would go for the canon fisheye lens. I heard is the best.

 

here are some samples of my hdrs:

http://www.the3dstudio.com/product_search.aspx?id_author=359026

 

 

good luck

Laszlo

http://www.massvr.com

Edited April 13, 2011 by laszloadrian

[Tommy L]

Thanks folks,

My camera is the new 18mp one, cant remember if the D comes before or after the 60...

I found this wonderful HDRI forum: http://www.hdrlabs.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.pl?board=3d

And I bought this book: http://www.hdrlabs.com/book/index.html

So Im going to do some reading and figure out whether to invest in a lens or in a better silver ball.

[Matt McDonald]

My brain is a little fuzzy on the specifics but I remember seeing a portion of the District 9 special features where you could watch someone go through the process of shooting the images. I have always wanted to go back and watch it a little more closely.

 

Anyhow, don't go buy the blu-ray based on that (because it might be worthless) but if you have it around you might take a look.