Fujinon FE185C086HA-1 "insect eye" lens

[Harold Gough]

I thought I should start a new thread here for a lens brought to notice (by elf) here:

http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... 1684#51684

Specifically:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43894176@N ... 621236505/

Details/source:

http://www.fujinon.com/ProductDocs/FE185C086.pdf

This could be the lens to use for applications discussed here:

http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... php?t=4569

and here:

http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... =boroscope

(I have inserted a link back to this thread from those two).

Harold

[PaulFurman]

Hmm, is there really any advantage over an SLR fisheye lens? That's a 2.7mm f/1.8-f/16 C-mount video lens at f/10 rated for 5 MP and 7-inch close focus with a Canon MP-E macro lens used as a relay lens to get it up to 35mm, so presumably the image is upside down and probably a smaller effective aperture.

Here's a few closeup test shots with various fisheyes & wideangles:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/edgehill/s ... 64/detail/
the 16mm has closest focus of 12 inches, the 10.5 goes to 5-1/2 inches. The 16mm works with a BR-2 reversing ring used as a 6mm extension tube. In that case, the background goes out of focus. Perhaps with a 3mm extension tube it would be comparable to the c-mount lens above?

I mentioned before the 24/3.5 PC-E for it's tilt to bring near & far into focus without stopping down too much. The examples for this scene don't really pull it off but for certain scenarios it works. Then there's a 30mm medium format fisheye at f/22 tilted with a hand held bag bellows which does allow for the extreme tilts need to pull this off but it is extremely awkward to use. The image quality can be very good with a little less demanding scene. The 24mm won't tilt that far.

Here's a more reasonable use of the 24mm PC-E which is razor sharp at full size in the plane of focus at f/16 and moderately cropped for composition: http://www.flickr.com/photos/edgehill/4075980407/

[rjlittlefield]

Hmm, is there really any advantage over an SLR fisheye lens?

Sure. The entrance pupil for an SLR fisheye lens is pretty deep inside the lens. With my Sigma 8 mm, it's about 20 mm in back of the front surface of the glass. If I want any perspective from closer than 20 mm, that lens won't work. In contrast, the entrance pupil of my 12.5 mm Rodenstock-Ronar f/1.9, reversed, is only 9 mm inside the glass. Other lenses will have it even closer to the front. The closer to the front you can move the entrance pupil, the more in-your-face perspective you can get.

--Rik

[Harold Gough]

The closer to the front you can move the entrance pupil, the more in-your-face perspective you can get.

Thanks, Rik. That's the sort of principle I find of particular interest in this context.

Harold