Anyone tried Canon 8-15mm fisheye with 2x teleconverter?

I am very fond about the Canon 8-15mm 4.0 fisheye zoom lens that I use with Metabones 1x adapter on an Oly EM1II (MFT sensor with 2x crop factor) for underwater wide angle photography. The sugar side of using this lens with 2x crop factor is that one achieves tack sharp photos with utra wide diagonal angle of view (approx. 180 degree), but can zoom out when photographing cautious animals ( to approx. 85 degree).

I am speculating to switch to a Canon R or R5 camera body to get the benefits of a bigger sensor. Ironically the 8-15mm lens provides much less flexibilty with the 1x sensor (for that it has been designed for), since it allows just to switch between a circular fisheye view and the 180 degree diagonal fisheye view. The versatility of the lens on the 2x MFT sensor could be restored by using a high quality 2x teleconverter e.g.: https://kenkoglobal.com/product/teleplus_hd_pro_2x_dgx/

Therefore my question: Did anyone try the 8-15mm fisheye with 2x teleconverter on a FF body? How is IQ and AF performance?

Thanks, Wolfgang

Not all Canon lenses are compatible with TCs, and 10 seconds on Google seems to confirm this;

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/FrameWork/charts/canon2xExtender.html

Not listed.

Wouldn't you be better off with something like 16-35L f4 ?

Colin

Andy01 wrote:

Not all Canon lenses are compatible with TCs, and 10 seconds on Google seems to confirm this;

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/FrameWork/charts/canon2xExtender.html

Not listed.

Wouldn't you be better off with something like 16-35L f4 ?

Colin

Hi Colin,

While the original Canon TCs are not compatible with the 8-15mm fisheye, the Kenko TCs are, since they have no protruding elements at the connections...

The use of fisheye for WA is a speciality of underwater photography. Rectilinear lenses, like the 16-35L f4, require hughe spherical domeports to deliver reasonably sharp IQ at the corners, while fisheye lenses deliver better IQ (they are tack sharp), even with substantially smaller domes. Unfortunately the supply of fisheye zoom lenses for system cameras is limited to 8-15mm (Canon and Nikon) and 10-17mm (Tokina, but very low IQ), even prime lenses are limites to circular fisheye look and diagonal 180 degrees. The manufacturers do not take intro account the demands of UW photographers (they are too few)...

Wolfgang

Architeuthis wrote:

Therefore my question: Did anyone try the 8-15mm fisheye with 2x teleconverter on a FF body? How is IQ and AF performance?

Thanks, Wolfgang

Unless you actually need the megapixels, why not just opt for software cropping?

With a 2x crop in both dimensions the EOS R results in a 7.5 MP image, and also gives you some flexibility as to exactly what 2x crop you would like.

With a 1.4x crop you will get 15 MP, nearly the same as your current MFT camera ...

And you will retain the f/4.0 aperture be cropping.

Kjeld Olesen wrote:

Architeuthis wrote:

Therefore my question: Did anyone try the 8-15mm fisheye with 2x teleconverter on a FF body? How is IQ and AF performance?

Thanks, Wolfgang

Unless you actually need the megapixels, why not just opt for software cropping?

With a 2x crop in both dimensions the EOS R results in a 7.5 MP image, and also gives you some flexibility as to exactly what 2x crop you would like.

With a 1.4x crop you will get 15 MP, nearly the same as your current MFT camera ...

And you will retain the f/4.0 aperture be cropping.

Hi Kjeld,

Thank you for your input. 2x crop is what I have currently with the MFT camera. I guess at better IQ regarding dynamic range and for sure regarding resolution, compared to a 2x crop from FF. 1.4x crop is not so good, since the image will have vignetting in the corners at the shorter focal lengths (1.4x teleconverter is the converter of choice for APS-C cameras with the 8-15mm fisheye lenses (or the mentioned 10-17mm Tokina fisheye lens).

It seems that I will have to acquire the 2x teleconverter from Kenko and make testshots on land. In case my PDAF from the Oly camera works well with this arrangement and IQ is very good (the Canon 8-15mm is an excellent lens and also the Kenko 2x converter is of high quality), it is certainly practicable for the native camera body. From the perspective of sheer exposure, f 8.0 is not bad for UW WA. f 8.0 - 9.0 is the standard to achieve reasonable sharpness in the corners, wider apertures are normally not used (but in exceptional cases, when light really matters, e.g. natural light coming through openings into caves, one has to make compromise and open furthr)...

A pitty that no 15 - 30mm (better 15-45mm ) fisheye lenses for FF cameras exist - this would be paradise for UW WA photographers...

Wolfgang

Hi Mate

I have tested the Kenko 1.4 TC with a Canon 5dmkiv and 8-15mm fish eye.

Image quality is good and AF is snappy.

Please post your findings if you do test as it is always interesting to know.

I am yet to get us this combo in the water with my 5" precision dome but cant wait to see what results it can produce. Underwater photography has it own set of challenges that can not be pigeon holed with land based photography.

Chris Kippax wrote:

Hi Mate

I have tested the Kenko 1.4 TC with a Canon 5dmkiv and 8-15mm fish eye.

Image quality is good and AF is snappy.

Please post your findings if you do test as it is always interesting to know.

I am yet to get us this combo in the water with my 5" precision dome but cant wait to see what results it can produce. Underwater photography has it own set of challenges that can not be pigeon holed with land based photography.

Hi Chris,

Thank you for the valuable input. Is the 5dmkiv not a FF camera? Would this not mean that the short focal lengths are useless with 1.4x TC, because of vignetting? And the long end would be 21mm (with 1.4 TC) compared to 30mm (with 2x)? Would it not be logical to use the 2x TC on a FF body?

I have tested the 1.4x Kenko (the "old" one, not the new "HD Pro" with presumably better IQ) with both Canon 8-15mm and Tokina 10-17mm fisheyes on the small MFT sensor (EM5II and EM1II). See here for details (the small sensor should be less forgivin for optical imperfections than the larger one):

https://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?/topic/62974-canon-8-15-140mm-minidome-and-omd-em5ii/

https://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?/topic/62560-canon-8-15mm-and-tokina-10-17mm-on-om-d-em5ii/

The outcome with the 1.4x TC was, that IQ is still very good with the Canon 8-15mm, while it was noticeably worse with the Tokina 10-17mm (that by itself is not such a good lens and IQ is th ebest when focal reduced to 0.71x).

Would be interesting to know how the new Kenko 2x TC performs together with the 8-15mm Canon fisheye. I thought, maybe one of the surface photographers has already tested out this combination, but it seems it is very exotic on the surface.

I like the idea of using the 8-15mm fisheye with 2x TC and the Nauticam 140mm minidome. The size and weight of the rig would be comparable to what I am using now (Canon 8-15mm, 1x Metabones adapter and 140mm minidome).

If performance is not very good, the only comparable alternative left I see for FF would be to go for one of these super-heavy and super-expensive WAPCs from Nauticam - this would definitely hold me back from switching to a FF camera - I don't feel like dragging such a monster all around the world by airoplane (in addition to all the photographic and scuba diving equipment I am already loaded with)...

Wolfgang

Hi Mate

5d4 is FF

I only ever use my 8-15 at the 15mm end anyway as I think the 8mm circle is a bit gimmicky.

21mm with a 5" dome seems quite usable. Once I give the combo ago I will post on Wetpixel the results. Not game enough to try the 2 x TC at this stage.

I just intend to use it at the 21mm for Wide angle macro.