Full Frame Fisheye Lense

[Tslayer66]

I currently own the NEX 6 but most likely moving into the A7RII within the next year. Really interested in purchasing the Rokinon Fisheye II Lense.

 

Does it make sense to get the full frame version of this same lense knowing I am moving in this direction? I am ok with paying up and the extra weight, but don't want to lose quality or the fisheye effect when used on the NEX6.

 

Appreciate your replies

[Golem]

You've laid it all out quite well and thoroughly.   

No need to solicit more info to make the final

decision. Acoarst that doesn't mean no one's

interested in your decision. Please post pix !

[Zé De Boni]

If you want to keep the fisheye effect on the NEX6, then the only option is the 8mm lens. 12mm covers full frame (43mm image circle vs 28.8mm in APSC), so you will get just about 120^o on the sub-frame format.

I have the A-mount Rokinon 8mm f/3.5, which I have been using on te A77 or the A6000 with an adapter. I chose it because it is the only one I found with an removable lens hood, so that I could use it on full frame cameras to get the circular fisheye effect. Well, at 24mm of image height, I still get about 2.5mm crop up and down. To print or post a circular image I have to draw the cropping circle, resulting in about 170^o​ circular fisheye, which is not bad but missing the nice border transition. For my purposes this is OK, but I used it so little until now.

Using this lens in full frame also allows me to chose any other picture format in full 180^o fisheye, like 3x4, square or whatever. However, as I was using the A99 as my full-frame camera, the cropped images had far less resolution (about 10 MP). Now with the A7RII we can get 18 MP, which is much like what you get on the NEX6. So, if you want this kind of versatility, get the 8mm without lens hood (they do it for E-mount too). IQ (resolution, CA, flare) is great at 24MP, but as the A7RII sensor has so many improvements over the the one used by the NEX6, your next camera will give better results.

Now, if you just want a rectangular 180^o fisheye and IQ matters, then the A7RII + 12mm/2.8 Rokinon is the best choice.