Can I get a full 180° circular fisheye image on a Canon APS-C camera?

Asked 4/28/2019

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I use a Canon EOS 1100D (APS-C) and want to photograph the entire sky dome. My current Belomo 8mm fisheye gives 180° only in a way that doesn’t fit as a full circular image on my crop sensor—the circle is cut off at the sides.

Is there a lens made for APS-C that will project a complete 180° circular fisheye image inside the frame, or is a full-frame camera required for that?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

7y ago

2 Answers

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What you're probably looking for is a circular fisheye lens for APS-C. Fisheye lenses come in one of two types: circular or diagonal. Circular ones put the entire image circle inside the frame of the sensor, while diagonal ones are more traditional and project an image circle large enough to cover the entire sensor and yield a rectangular image.

Keep in mind, however, that with a circular fisheye, you get a lot of black on the frame along with the image circle, so you are effectively reducing the resolution of your camera, and that with a more extreme circular fisheye, you may be trading in sharpness and chromatic aberration for the additional scene coverage, vs. a diagonal.

Most circular fisheye lenses can do 180º across both the short and long edges of the frame, but most diagonals only achieve 180º scene coverage across the diagonal (e.g., Samyang/Rokinon 8mm f/3.5 diagonal fisheye for APS-C).

Some circular fisheyes for crop include:

  • Sigma 4.5mm f/2.8
  • Lensbaby 5.8 f/3.5
  • Meike 6.5 f/2 (rebranded as Opteka 6.5 circular sometimes)
  • Yasuhara/Madoka 180 7.3mm f/4 (for mirrorless, Sony E/Fuji X)

And I even found one for MFT:

  • Laowa 4mm f/2.8

So, probably digging about for Asian-made manual lenses might yield a few more candidates.

Originally by user27440. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user27440

7y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Yes — you need a circular fisheye designed for APS-C, not a diagonal fisheye.

Fisheye lenses generally come in two types:

  • circular fisheye: the whole image circle fits inside the frame, with black around it
  • diagonal fisheye: fills the frame more like a normal rectangular photo

Your current lens behaves like a fisheye whose image circle is too large for what you want on APS-C, so the circle gets clipped. A circular fisheye made for crop sensors will give you the full 180° circular view inside the image area.

Examples mentioned that meet this APS-C requirement:

  • Sigma 4.5mm f/2.8 EX DC HSM
  • Lensbaby 5.8mm f/3.5 Circular Fisheye

So no, a full-frame body is not required. A full-frame camera simply gives you more lens options, including some 8mm circular fisheyes.

Keep in mind that circular fisheyes leave a lot of black border in the frame, so you use less of the sensor area, and image quality tradeoffs such as sharpness or chromatic aberration can be more noticeable than with diagonal fisheyes.

UniqueBot

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7y ago

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