The OM 8mm f1.8 fisheye is considerably wider AFTER de-fishing. Resolution wise they are about the same but the 8mm has more even lighting that allows me to see into the shadows better. The OM1 in camera fisheye correction lets me use it like a normal wide angle lens. The lightroom Rikinon 8mm f2.8 fisheye profile does a perfect job of correcting the raw images.
I will have to agree with you on the 8mm Pro lens as I have no experience of it at all. Obviously if you can 'de-fish' it in post then that makes it more versatile and I would be interested to know what the distortion is like, that (along with the price differential!) is why I chose the Laowa. Thank you for watching and commenting 👍
@@photographyforenjoyment I have found that after de-fishing, the image is near perfect. It seems every bit as rectilinear as the 6mm. I have had the 8mm for years and had no idea how wide it could go….more like a 5mm. One place it works very well is in Astro when I want to get the foreground with a huge sky. I may sell the Loawa with what I know now.
What else is there to say Alan, great work, really great work, very enjoyable photographs (yes, I did notice no “history channel” segment😂). Be well and stay safe.
Jeff Bridges inspired to try one in the way he does with his widelux camera. As a person who never used wide lenses in 20 years it’s been a tough but fun challenge for portraits. The hood definitely comes off and it’s reversible
Hello Serafin and thanks for the comment. Yes i eventually got the hood off, extra tight fit for some reason! i can imagine its a hard job for portraits with that lens!
I think you'll be more than happy with that lens Alan. If it's half as good as my Laowa 65mm macro then it'll be a stunner 🙂 Your images certainly prove the point. As a manual lens with little to go wrong then buying an import shouldn't be problematical warranty wise I guess?
Great video. I have the Laowa 18mm m34 lens, and i kinda wish i had picked this one up as well. Both are decent, but having the 20mm pro, this lens would have really standed out between 6mm to 20mm (12 vs 40 equivalent). Great glass on a Laowa, though. They are definitely a unique lens manufacturer.
Thanks Eric, I agree about Venus Optics / Laowa as they do occupy a unique place in the market and the 6mm is great for me. Do I envy you the 20mm f1.4 Pro? Hell yes!
@@photographyforenjoyment I've researched for why this is happening and the answer is simpe. UK people pay more for anything because they can afford to. That's the simple and straight forward answer. I've oreder a manual lens recently from China for £150. In UK it's around £250 for the same lens, so even if I buy only 1 piece from thousands of miles away it's still nearly half the price to get it at my door, it might take longer to get it there but it's outrageous if you think about it.
Hello Koos, it's not that I didn't LIKE the lens, in actual fact it is extremely good value for money and pretty darn sharp too. OK, it isn't rectilinear like the Laowa and that is the reason why I swapped yes; for my kind of more urban photography though, less distortion is preferable.
@@photographyforenjoyment Sorry for interpreting your "awful lot of distortion" as a form of dislike. I don't remember you saying it's a fisheye. I, too have owned the 7.5mm Samyang fisheye, because a rectilinear version wasn't available yet. I straightened the lines using a Photoshop plugin. No need for that now, since the 7.5mm rectilinear became available. Happy owner here.
Hi Alan, I found that extremely interesting, especially as I recently bought the Rokinon 7.5mm (Samyang by another name). It will be a long time before I can afford this lens (although I now have it on my growing shortlist), but I was wondering if you have any tips for handling the Samyangs distortion in the meantime?
Hi Andrew and thanks for the question. I personally liked to embrace the distortion, if you watch the 'arty in castlefield' video you will see a few shots there when I did just that. Otherwise, my advice is to keep it as parallel to the subject as you can! Of course you can also make corrections in final edits, but that can be tricky. It is a great lens and as I said it covers a wider field of view than the Laowa 6mm. If I hadn't found the 6mm cheaper in the States than over here, I would still have the 7.5mm
Hey Alan, I’ve a quick question if that’s ok? I bought myself an Olympus EM 10 today (got my 12-50mm on order).. when I take a picture the live view displays for a split second before going on to preview the actual image, I find this quite irritating and was wondering if there’s anything I can do to stop this? Cheers, Derek
Hi Derek. Good question! I think (but I stand to be corrected) that all you can do is turn-off the instant preview. So it's menu - wrench(spanner) scroll down to REC VIEW and switch it off. No more instant preview. Hope that helps!
The Gretchen Menn piece was beautiful!!
I'm SO glad you said that TC, when I heard it I just knew I wanted to use it. I was lucky enough to get her authorisation
The OM 8mm f1.8 fisheye is considerably wider AFTER de-fishing. Resolution wise they are about the same but the 8mm has more even lighting that allows me to see into the shadows better. The OM1 in camera fisheye correction lets me use it like a normal wide angle lens. The lightroom Rikinon 8mm f2.8 fisheye profile does a perfect job of correcting the raw images.
I will have to agree with you on the 8mm Pro lens as I have no experience of it at all. Obviously if you can 'de-fish' it in post then that makes it more versatile and I would be interested to know what the distortion is like, that (along with the price differential!) is why I chose the Laowa. Thank you for watching and commenting 👍
@@photographyforenjoyment I have found that after de-fishing, the image is near perfect. It seems every bit as rectilinear as the 6mm. I have had the 8mm for years and had no idea how wide it could go….more like a 5mm. One place it works very well is in Astro when I want to get the foreground with a huge sky. I may sell the Loawa with what I know now.
I think the photos from that lens are probably the best ones I’ve seen here! Just WOW! What a great lens Alan! 💜👍🏼👍🏼💜
Sometimes the lens kinda works its own magic?
@@photographyforenjoyment only if you work at getting the best out of it!
Very nice lens.
Stunning photos 👍.
Very kind of you to say that Badger, much appreciated as always.
Have you just made me think about this lens? Thanks for sharing,
Well Martin, I think its an absolute belter. Not cheap by any means, but definitely worth it.
Stunning images. You just rocked my world.
You are FAR too kind Clare, I just do what I can. Thank you so much though!
What else is there to say Alan, great work, really great work, very enjoyable photographs (yes, I did notice no “history channel” segment😂). Be well and stay safe.
You can't please all the people all the time haha! Only joking Enrique, thank you as always 👍
Jeff Bridges inspired to try one in the way he does with his widelux camera. As a person who never used wide lenses in 20 years it’s been a tough but fun challenge for portraits.
The hood definitely comes off and it’s reversible
Hello Serafin and thanks for the comment. Yes i eventually got the hood off, extra tight fit for some reason! i can imagine its a hard job for portraits with that lens!
Great lens great pictures 😊👍🏻
Thank you Mark, it is a firm favourite of mine.
I think you'll be more than happy with that lens Alan. If it's half as good as my Laowa 65mm macro then it'll be a stunner 🙂
Your images certainly prove the point.
As a manual lens with little to go wrong then buying an import shouldn't be problematical warranty wise I guess?
I dont think warranty will be an issue Nick, and anyway theres so little to go wrong.
Great video. I have the Laowa 18mm m34 lens, and i kinda wish i had picked this one up as well. Both are decent, but having the 20mm pro, this lens would have really standed out between 6mm to 20mm (12 vs 40 equivalent). Great glass on a Laowa, though. They are definitely a unique lens manufacturer.
Thanks Eric, I agree about Venus Optics / Laowa as they do occupy a unique place in the market and the 6mm is great for me. Do I envy you the 20mm f1.4 Pro? Hell yes!
This is generally the rule even with all other electronics, they are very expensive in Uk compared to other places around the globe
Agreed, we do pay more for many photographic items than in say the Far East
@@photographyforenjoyment I've researched for why this is happening and the answer is simpe. UK people pay more for anything because they can afford to. That's the simple and straight forward answer.
I've oreder a manual lens recently from China for £150. In UK it's around £250 for the same lens, so even if I buy only 1 piece from thousands of miles away it's still nearly half the price to get it at my door, it might take longer to get it there but it's outrageous if you think about it.
Did I hear that right? You don't like the Samyang 7.5 mm for its distortion? No one told you it's a fisheye lens?
Hello Koos, it's not that I didn't LIKE the lens, in actual fact it is extremely good value for money and pretty darn sharp too. OK, it isn't rectilinear like the Laowa and that is the reason why I swapped yes; for my kind of more urban photography though, less distortion is preferable.
@@photographyforenjoyment Sorry for interpreting your "awful lot of distortion" as a form of dislike. I don't remember you saying it's a fisheye.
I, too have owned the 7.5mm Samyang fisheye, because a rectilinear version wasn't available yet. I straightened the lines using a Photoshop plugin. No need for that now, since the 7.5mm rectilinear became available. Happy owner here.
Hi Alan, I found that extremely interesting, especially as I recently bought the Rokinon 7.5mm (Samyang by another name). It will be a long time before I can afford this lens (although I now have it on my growing shortlist), but I was wondering if you have any tips for handling the Samyangs distortion in the meantime?
Hi Andrew and thanks for the question. I personally liked to embrace the distortion, if you watch the 'arty in castlefield' video you will see a few shots there when I did just that. Otherwise, my advice is to keep it as parallel to the subject as you can! Of course you can also make corrections in final edits, but that can be tricky. It is a great lens and as I said it covers a wider field of view than the Laowa 6mm. If I hadn't found the 6mm cheaper in the States than over here, I would still have the 7.5mm
Hey Alan, I’ve a quick question if that’s ok? I bought myself an Olympus EM 10 today (got my 12-50mm on order).. when I take a picture the live view displays for a split second before going on to preview the actual image, I find this quite irritating and was wondering if there’s anything I can do to stop this? Cheers, Derek
Hi Derek. Good question! I think (but I stand to be corrected) that all you can do is turn-off the instant preview. So it's menu - wrench(spanner) scroll down to REC VIEW and switch it off. No more instant preview. Hope that helps!