EF 15mm

[Sid Jervis]

Do you use it as is, or post process.

I am currently using DXO to process some images from the EF 15mm.
Friends keep asking what software I use and as soon as I mention DXO they complain about the cost. As I am happy with DXO I don't go looking for other software.
Can anyone suggest what else is out there that does the same job on a Mac.

Thanks

 

[Stan Jirman]

I use it as is. Personally I find DXO appaling for way too many reasons, plus this whole de-fishing business is fishy to me

Since you didn't specify what you mean by "post process", it's hard to tell you what software may be out there to do "it". Different software for different processing...

 

[Sid Jervis]

I use it as is. Personally I find DXO appaling for way too many reasons, plus this whole de-fishing business is fishy to me

Since you didn't specify what you mean by "post process", it's hard to tell you what software may be out there to do "it". Different software for different processing...

Apologies, the post processing, de-fishing its what "it" is.

In my defense, I did say some images not all

 

[Gary C-G]

I use the PanoTools plug-in for photoshop, Free, easy and effective...

http://photo.doctordigi.com/gallery/1244692

 

[Stan Jirman]

There are some pano tools that will defish (Pano Tools for one). I don't use PT, I use AutoPanoPro which doesn't have this feature yet. If I am not mistaken, PT is free.

 

[Sid Jervis]

Thanks folks, I will have a Google later.

 

[Tom Wilk]

I generally shoot the 15 mm fisheye "as is", though on rare occasions, I defish with the PTLens plugin. It is very wide, even when defished. If I recall, the resultant image after "defishing" is equivalent to about a 13 mm rectilinear lens.

 

[Tom Henkel]

I, too, pretty much use the EF 15mm f/2.8 Fish Eye as is -- and find it to be a very good quality, fun lens. If I do defish, I use the PTlens plug-in software, but sometimes even after defishing you're still left with some noticable barrel distortion. It's usable as a wide standard lens in a pinch, but I tend to go with the 17-40L when I want a straight wide shot.

Tom

 

[Sid Jervis]

Tom, I looked at PTLens, but I believe it is non Mac. There is a link that points me to Lensfix, I will take a look there.
I have some reading to do.

Thanks again.

 

[Gary C-G]

Guys I posted a link to a gallery of demonstration shots shot with the 15 and defished using PTlens. Didn't you look?

 

[Sid Jervis]

Guys I posted a link to a gallery of demonstration shots shot with the 15 and defished using PTlens. Didn't you look?

Hi Gary,
Yes I did have a look, it certainly convinces me that it is pretty close to what DXO appears to do with the 15mm. I have passed the links on to my friends.
Thank you all for you help.

 

[Will Thompson]

Defishing the 15MM

Is not the best reason to use the 15MM to have the effect of the fish?

Again is it not better to get it closer to final in camera?

I have the Canon 15MM for fish effect and the Sigma 12-24MM for the really wide shots.

I use the 16-35 for the rest of the wide stuff.


Will T.

 

[Sid Jervis]

Is not the best reason to use the 15MM to have the effect of the fish?

Will T.

Yes the 15mm is best in fisheye, that was the reason I bought it. I use DXO to de-fish, sometimes, not all the time.
The original question was so other friends can buy software that doesn't cost as much as DXO.

 

[Ralph Eisenberg]

If DXO were stable on my Mac, I would consider swallowing my ire at what I consider their discriminatory pricing policies toward 1 Ds + body owners. True, they have put some water in their wine, so that it is not now necessary to pay for the software and each additional lens module. Nevertheless, despite what I hope to be a fairly pristine newly installed system, DXO keeps on crashing although this never (knock wood) has happened with other converters.

 

[Anita Saunders]

Yes the 15mm is best in fisheye, that was the reason I bought it. I use DXO to de-fish, sometimes, not all the time.
The original question was so other friends can buy software that doesn't cost as much as DXO.

So if you buy 15mm to be the best for fisheye, why de-fish at all? I use 35mm prime as a wide angle shot that is relatively cheap (compared to the cost of the 15mm) and doesn't need any post process if you shoot at an angle on level (parallel to the sensor back and mid height to the subject). It's really wide and the results are sharp as a pin. It seems you are making too much work with post process to me. I don't understand why you are doing this at all? Just buy a wide non-distortive prime lens.

 

[Gary C-G]

So if you buy 15mm to be the best for fisheye, why de-fish at all? I use 35mm prime as a wide angle shot that is relatively cheap (compared to the cost of the 15mm) and doesn't need any post process if you shoot at an angle on level (parallel to the sensor back and mid height to the subject). It's really wide and the results are sharp as a pin. It seems you are making too much work with post process to me. I don't understand why you are doing this at all? Just buy a wide non-distortive prime lens.

Well, it's a cracking wide angle lens. Much cheaper and sharper by all accounts than the Canon 14mm. It is f2.8 and it's tiny. It de-fishes great with the right software, wh spend more or settle for slower, less sharp lenses? The 15/2.8 does it all.

 

[nicolas claris]

Well, it's a cracking wide angle lens. Much cheaper and sharper by all accounts than the Canon 14mm. It is f2.8 and it's tiny. It de-fishes great with the right software, wh spend more or settle for slower, less sharp lenses? The 15/2.8 does it all.

Try the Sigma 12-24, great and cheap lense, no defish needed.
BTW I use DXO (creating DNG file and opening it with ACR) to it's really a great software, though not with all pictures, I'll have to dig more DXO.

 

[Sid Jervis]

So if you buy 15mm to be the best for fisheye, why de-fish at all? I use 35mm prime as a wide angle shot that is relatively cheap (compared to the cost of the 15mm) and doesn't need any post process if you shoot at an angle on level (parallel to the sensor back and mid height to the subject). It's really wide and the results are sharp as a pin. It seems you are making too much work with post process to me. I don't understand why you are doing this at all? Just buy a wide non-distortive prime lens.

As I said, I use the fisheye and sometimes de-fish (it does two jobs very well). The question should be, why buy (and carry) another lens, if I can do both jobs with the 15mm lens.

 

[Mike Spinak]

I sometimes use a 15 mm fisheye. It is a suberb lens. Absolutely superb.

I haven't really used it enough to establish much of a general pattern about how I use it, but if I was to extrapolate and guess, then I'd say I mostly do not de-fish it. I have tried, just out of curiosity, to de-fish it with photoshop>filters>distortion>lens correction. In case you are interested to know, PS lens correction does not seem to be up to the task of de-fishing the 15 mm.

It does produce some interesting effects when you try, though.

Mike

www.mikespinak.com

 

[Gary C-G]

Mike, get a copy of the PT lens plugin for photoshop. It is free and does a cracking job. It also corrects barrel distortion (and pincusion distortion) on all your other lenses too! An essential tool.

 

[Craig_Lamson]

PT Lens is only free in demo form now. Cost for a licence is minimal. Wonderful software BTW...could not live without it for my work.