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Advice: Mamiya 24mm f4.0 fisheye lens

DanTidswell

New member
Hi guys

Does anyone have an experience using the Mamiya 24mm f4.0 fisheye lens on a 645DF with P40+ back? (or similar setup)

There appears to be very little information regards this lens online, if anyone can point me in the direction of a review that would be great.

Ideally I'd love for someone to share a RAW file that I can download and play with, I'm particularly keen to see what images look like when defished in Lightroom / Photoshop.

Many thanks,

Dan
 

trond

Member
Dear Dan,

I have the Mamiya 24mm fish eye lens, and use it on 645DF+ with IQ180 back.

The lens performs very nice with the IQ180 back, so I expect that to be the case also with the P45+.

PM me and I will be happy to provide you with a download link for a sample raw file.

I have not tried to "de-fish" it in LR, but the raw file is sharp corner to corner, so should de-fish nicely.

Best regards

Trond
 

DanTidswell

New member
Thanks Gerard, the image supplied by Trond was excellent and has convinced me on the virtues of the lens. The tough part is finding one, there are literally none to be had in the UK and the ones on ebay are in asia with unverified sellers, I think I'll watch ebay for a couple of weeks and see what comes up.
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Had one, it's a good lens if you want the fisheye effect. End of day if you de-fish it, it renders about like the 35 with maybe a little less overall IQ…
 

DanTidswell

New member
Hi Jack, I have the 35mm and hate it, the IQ is just awful. Trond very kindly sent me a sample which I defished in Photoshop CC and the IQ is unquestionably better, however, I'm not comparing apples with apples as Trond is shooting on an IQ180.

Having given it more consideration I think it's the ability to stitch images from the Fisheye to gain a rectilinear image that really appeals to me. Given the poor availability of the Fisheye I've bought a 50mm Shift to play with in the interim, Trond was also kind enough to furnish me with a sample from that lens too - Go Trond! :)
 

gerald.d

Well-known member
Hi Jack, I have the 35mm and hate it, the IQ is just awful. Trond very kindly sent me a sample which I defished in Photoshop CC and the IQ is unquestionably better, however, I'm not comparing apples with apples as Trond is shooting on an IQ180.

Having given it more consideration I think it's the ability to stitch images from the Fisheye to gain a rectilinear image that really appeals to me. Given the poor availability of the Fisheye I've bought a 50mm Shift to play with in the interim, Trond was also kind enough to furnish me with a sample from that lens too - Go Trond! :)
The 24mm is great for stitching. Just 12 shots for a full 360x180 degree spherical image. Roughly 450 megapixels.

Basically, capture the entire scene around the camera, and then you can re-create whichever view you want.

Here's a test example (not worked closely with it, so there could well be stitching errors in there - just sharing to show the potential).

http://08.ae/panos/Mamiya24FEtest/virtualtour.html

Kind regards,


Gerald.
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Re the 35 --- I had to go through about 6 samples to find a good one. I sold it to a critical friend who was also impressed with its performance. I then regretted selling it a few months later and repeated the hunt, again finding another good copy. Point is, there is a LOT of variability in the 35 performance and many suck out of the gate. Spend some time however, and you will be rewarded with a copy that very clearly outperforms the de-fished 24.

In fact, I found these:

Here is a 6 frame stitch on a P45+ from the 35:



Now here are some actual pixel crops from the center and corners for the frames:

Corner of one frame:



Center of another frame:


As you can see it isn't perfect, but for most large landscape print and imaging purposes, it's more than good enough ;). If I recall correctly, an actual pixel view of a P45+ frame is roughly equivalent to viewing a 60"x80" print.
 

DanTidswell

New member
The 24mm is great for stitching. Just 12 shots for a full 360x180 degree spherical image. Roughly 450 megapixels.

Basically, capture the entire scene around the camera, and then you can re-create whichever view you want.

Here's a test example (not worked closely with it, so there could well be stitching errors in there - just sharing to show the potential).

Virtual Tour generated by Panotour

Kind regards,


Gerald.
WOW! That's stunning Gerald. Did you use a pano head to accomplish that?
 

DanTidswell

New member
Re the 35 --- I had to go through about 6 samples to find a good one. I sold it to a critical friend who was also impressed with its performance. I then regretted selling it a few months later and repeated the hunt, again finding another good copy. Point is, there is a LOT of variability in the 35 performance and many suck out of the gate. Spend some time however, and you will be rewarded with a copy that very clearly outperforms the de-fished 24.

As you can see it isn't perfect, but for most large landscape print and imaging purposes, it's more than good enough ;). If I recall correctly, an actual pixel view of a P45+ frame is roughly equivalent to viewing a 60"x80" print.
I knew that I was playing with fire saying that to you Jack :)

I'm happy to be proved wrong, the quality of that image is just stellar. I guess it's a case of getting a good sample but that's going to be tricky without buying a bunch, testing them, and selling off the weaklings.
 

ondebanks

Member
The tough part is finding one, there are literally none to be had in the UK
Dan,

Ffordes Photographic in Scotland get them in fairly often. I bought mine from them in 2011. They had two(!) at one stage over the summer...and the last time I checked their listings, about a fortnight ago, there was one at the steal price of £599, IIRC. It's gone now though...I'd say keep watching, or ask Steve Byford there to let you know when they get the next one in.

Ray
 

DanTidswell

New member
Update: I've just managed to buy a 24mm for £310 shipped from a UK seller, I've very pleased and can't wait to receive it.
 
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