Canon 8-15 fisheye

Hello all, I need an advice about the Canon 8-15 fisheye.

I'm creating virtual tours for many years, and up to now I've used a 5D Mk2 with and old, but still excellent, Carl Zeiss Distagon fisheye 16mm 2.8 (with adapter).

Now I'm planning to renew my equipment, and I'd like to buy an 8-15 and a 5DSR, both used.

My questions:

1) does anybody know if the Canon 8-15 (2010) is really way better than the old Distagon (1975)? I ask because this lens is still really good, even if so old, but my concern is that with a 50 mp camera it's pushed beyond its limit.

2) as I read that the 8-15 gives its best at 8mm, I wonder if I should move to a 5DSR or I better use my old 7D Mk2? In this way I could take advantage of the better performance at 8mm focal on the apsc sensor.

3) do you know where I can find any photo shot with a 5dsr + 8-15 at 15mm, just to evaluate the quality of that combo?

Thanks a lot,
Alessandro

Well, I would not be using a fisheye for virtual tours, especially at full circular 8mm.

I did a quick comparison of my Nikon 8mm f2.8 AI-S, which is similar in age to your Zeiss, to the Canon EF 8-15, using my 5DSR. The Nikon requires a small amount of CA correction which your Zeiss will need too. The Nikon rendered as much detail as the Canon, but the Canon imaged more, what seems to be called, micro contrast.

I ultimately chose to stick with the Nikon because I like the projection better, and I can live with a tiny bit less contrast detail.

The 8/2.8 has only gotten better with more and more pixels that I throw at it, so I suspect your Zeiss will be the same. I have found that my vintage glass does extremely well on the 5DSR, and easily competes with today's glass.

Alessandro77 wrote:

1) does anybody know if the Canon 8-15 (2010) is really way better than the old Distagon (1975)? I ask because this lens is still really good, even if so old, but my concern is that with a 50 mp camera it's pushed beyond its limit.

It may be hard to find anyone who have done a direct comparison until you do it
Here is a comparison to some other lenses http://michel.thoby.free.fr/Canon_8-15mm/8-15mm_review.html

2) as I read that the 8-15 gives its best at 8mm, I wonder if I should move to a 5DSR or I better use my old 7D Mk2? In this way I could take advantage of the better performance at 8mm focal on the apsc sensor.

I doubt this, I find my 8-15 mm to perform very well at 15 mm, but I "only" have a 6D and not the 5Ds.

3) do you know where I can find any photo shot with a 5dsr + 8-15 at 15mm, just to evaluate the quality of that combo?

Though not from the 5Ds, there are some samples from a 5D mkII here
https://www.opticallimits.com/canon_eos_ff/677-canon815f4

You will find a couple of examples of defishing images from the 8-15 mm in this video, though at reduced resolution of cause :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI-ezOBnqwg

Alessandro77 wrote:

Hello all, I need an advice about the Canon 8-15 fisheye.

I'm creating virtual tours for many years, and up to now I've used a 5D Mk2 with and old, but still excellent, Carl Zeiss Distagon fisheye 16mm 2.8 (with adapter).

Now I'm planning to renew my equipment, and I'd like to buy an 8-15 and a 5DSR, both used.

My questions:

1) does anybody know if the Canon 8-15 (2010) is really way better than the old Distagon (1975)? I ask because this lens is still really good, even if so old, but my concern is that with a 50 mp camera it's pushed beyond its limit.

The 8-15 works fine on my R5, at least as far as I am concerned. Can’t speak to the 5ds r or the Distagon.

2) as I read that the 8-15 gives its best at 8mm, I wonder if I should move to a 5DSR or I better use my old 7D Mk2? In this way I could take advantage of the better performance at 8mm focal on the apsc sensor.

Well, putting it on a crop means losing the ability to get a circular fisheye photo.

3) do you know where I can find any photo shot with a 5dsr + 8-15 at 15mm, just to evaluate the quality of that combo?

Alas I do not.

Thanks a lot,
Alessandro

I don't have the Zeiss lens, but I do have the 8-15, had it for about 10 years, and have previously used the EF 15mm f1.8 Fisheye; I have the 14mm f3.5 Voigtlander Color F Skoparex AR fisheye for Rollei QBM, the Pentax fisheye for Q, an 8mm f2.8 Samyang for Canon EF-M and a 30mm f3.5 Arsat for my Exakta 66 medium format camera, so I have quite a bit of experience with fisheyes. For me, this is the best of the bunch, and that's considering them as direct competitors, all as diagonal fisheyes. The fact that it's a circular fisheye as well is an added, albeit occasional, bonus.  The old Canon 15 was pretty much as sharp, but worse fringing and to be honest, the lens cap had become a major hassle - forever dropping off, and you really don't need that with a fisheye. The cheap Samyang is excellent, needs stopping down a little, but produces similar quality. Can't directly compare the Artsat or the Pentax, but they're not as good, and the Voigtlander (Mamiya-made, I believe) isn't quite as good, but it was decent enough on film not to search out the Rollei version of your Zeiss.

I shift and stitch the Arsat 30mm Fisheye on my 5DSR.  It is sharper than my 17 TS-E at the centre so it would be sharper than any of the other fisheyes.  Now, sharpness does fall off a lot once shifted to the extremes but still very useful.  The CA is easily fixed in post.  The 36x54mm 112MP equivalent images are awesome too.  I have not experimented with LCC correction yet to utilize the approximate 24x66mm 92MP equivalent.

My Arsat came with a Mamiya 645 adapter, and I use a Kipon Mamiya 645 to EF Shift adapter.  More expensive than the lens but I use it for another as well.  You may find it fun to use on your DSLR!

I will post a sample when I get to my computer.

That's interesting. I do have that adapter for using the Arsat on M645 too. I have the 24 TS-E Ii, so haven't considered using the 30 in that way. I might at some point, because I could use other lenses with that adapter.
The Arsat IS sharp in the middle, but drops off quite quickly even on 6x6. The Canon is probably the fisheye with the most even performance across the frame I've ever used at 15mm.