Lens Playtime: Pro-Optic 8mm Fish-Eye Lens

I hope I'm keeping you on your toes about when I'm going to post next. Now that I've got some new lenses, I figure that I might as well demonstrate what they can do! As a refresher, I have purchased a refurbished Nikon 55-200mm 1.4-5.6 f and a Pro-Optic 8mm fish eye lens (I also picked up a new carrying pack as well as a flash!).

I might as well start with the fish eye because it's so much fun! I have to admit when I first received it, I was a tad bit disappointed... I forgot that it only works on manual setting with my D5000 DX camera (I've heard that it works fine with the full-frame FX cameras like the D700). I was panicking because with every single setting, e.g. S (shutter priority), A (aperture priority), the no flash, the auto, etc, my very intelligent and fickle machine calmly informed me that there was no lens attached to its body. It was blinking at me that the very real and tangible lens that was supposedly locked in place was really a figment of my foolish imagination. Needless to say, I was disconcerted. However, in my frantic switching of settings, I finally saw that when it was on the M (complete manual) the coded message ceased its relentless blinking. Finally I was able to snap a photo! Unfortunately, I was unaware that at night, the interior of the apartment resembles a dark cave to the lens. No matter how much I fiddled with increasing the ISO and the exposure compensation, the camera obstinately refused to lighten the scene. This is the second problem with the fish eye. In my shame as a failed photographer, I deleted the incriminating dark photos so I am unable to present them for your viewing pleasure.

After this horrendous night, I was almost positive that I had just thrown $289 right down the toilet and that the only thing to do was to return the confounded object from Hades. However, I decided to give the beast a second chance (luckily for me) and try again in the daylight. IT. IS AMAZING. Despite its limitations, it is so much fun and without anything to distort it in the foreground, it works more as a ridiculously awesome wide angle. I've found that at times I actually have to work at distorting the world! Here are some takes from the camera on my wilderness romp today.

You can actually adjust the f-stops and the amount of light entering the photo with a handy little adjustment ring. Look at the difference between the picture above and the one below:

This was actually really difficult to get because it wouldn't focus and even though I was literally standing about 6 inches from the flowers, this was the view through the lens

The car shot worked a little better but there's ghosting in this shot and I heard that was a problem with this lens so I had to be very careful whenever the sun was around (which was a lot of the time, the way I found around it is just to keep aiming down).

Again, difficult to focus on the foreground when it's too close...

Doesn't the pond look a little like the actual lens?

Since it's after midnight and I have to get up early (well for me at least) tomorrow morning to drive to DC for father's day, I'll just finish up my telephoto 55-200mm tomorrow evening!