 |
| My first photograph with the 15mm f3.5 AIS mounted the D780 |
CLARIFICATION: At the time this article was written, my position was from the spirit of my young self that did not know the differences in lens terms. The * article could be titled, “Pursuit of the Ultra-Wide Angle Lens” because that is what the Nikkor 15mm f3.5 AIS is. I also own a Nikkor 20mm f2.8 AIS which is a wide angle lens. But these lenses are not fisheye. The term “rectilinear” is where I went wrong because I did not know the terms for lenses and what they can do. I didn’t want the distorted bending of a fish eye lens, I want the ultra close up without distortion. The article was written from understanding what a fish eye lens is but learning about rectilinear properties are.
So I bought the ultra wide lens and have taken one of my favorite photographs with it.
I’m still in pursuit of my copy of a useful fish eye lens.
——————————
I’ve wanted one forever. My favorite action sports photographers used fish eye lens (back in the day) to exaggerate speed and radical positioning. Using the distortion to their advantage, that perspective only gave those early photographs the iconic status that still lives today in the minds of old skaters.
But times change, people change and I no longer want that distortion. I want a useful image that sneaks up on you. Straight lines are straight, minimal distortion and the wide angle almost imperceptible. I want the image I take to be almost like your own vision, what you see through your own eyes.
I’m going to own one.
Today is the day I’m setting foot on the financial journey to bring one into my kit.
I have some expensive stuff that I no longer use, rare Japanese fishing nets, rare sunglasses with extra lens, fly fishing equipment I no longer use, things that are not readily available or are and I’ll take a hit on their true value in order to squeeze funds from my equipment.
My pursuit of photography was heavily influenced by the lens work of C R Stecyk III, Glen E Friedman, James Cassimus, Warren Bolster, George Greenough and many others I don’t have time to detail. They all used wide angle and fisheye lenses.
Local photographers that I secretly admire such as Tony Hernandez, Steve PING, Bob Carey, Glen Buckles, G. Scott and Brian Brannon all have their place in my memories as well either standing beside me in an empty swimming pool angling for their moment to start their push, we ran in some of the same circles but are wildly different.
Absolutely I am influenced by photographers and their choices and although I do call myself a “utilitarian photographer” I am one no less.
I’m after the idea, and the fish eye perspective is a part of it.
Ken Rockwell writes about the Nikon 15mm f3.5 AIS,
I've always loved this 15mm since long before I could afford one. The 15mm was Nikon's widest practical lens in the 1980s when I started shooting with Nikon. (The built-to-order 13mm was wider, but cost about what my dad earned in several months, so it didn't really exist.)
As a high school and college kid, I lusted after this thing for a decade until I finally was able to find one used in 1994, when I both had a real job and some insurance money that needed to be spent or lost. It was still an impulse buy.
I’m still in the GAS phase but finally running into the wall of reality. I’m missing a true ultra wide lens. My 20mm f2.8 is excellent, one of my favorite perspectives but it isn’t a ultra wide lens or isn’t enough to quench the Gear Acquisition Syndrome.
So I’ll save, sell and wait and maybe on the way, I’ll realize a dream that I’ve had since my high school photography class days, to own a fishe eye lens to use for my own photography.
 |
| Rochester Petroglyph Panel, Emery, Utah D780 with 15mm f3.5 AIS |
Now I understand what a rectilinear lens is by owning and operating one, I’m still in pursuit of the fish eye lens, but not a manual focus this time, an auto focus one. I’m stepping up my game, I’m learning, doing, continuing my pursuit of the skater style in my photography.
I’ve heard the hipsters talk about a “skater vibe” in their photography and it’s usually accompanied by an obnoxiously bent urban concrete street photograph tilted at cool rather than a continuation of their style.
That’s mid, it’s not what a sigma does.What I’m after is to ease into a fisheye while leaning into my style. I’m developing, but I’m still green. I’m breaking out of utilitarian photography slowly by doing. Although I’m an OG skateboarder, I’m not doing this with a skater vibe. Yes, for fun I’ll probably pick out a skatepark or better yet, an empty pool and spend a few minutes replicating what I grew up tearing out of magazines and taping them up on my wall. THAT will be easy.
I’m going to use this style of lens to push deeper into the target of what I’m after, digging deep to build the body of work to develop style for the Idea. The Nikon 16mm f/2.8 Fisheye-NIKKOR AF-D is the next step. The rectilinear Nikkor 15mm f3.5 AIS was the fist step. Every time I use it, I get the good stuff. No, I don’t want to use it all the time, it’s not a gimmick, the subject must be right, it’s the other way around, I’ve got to know first then recognize the moment, boom, bust it out.
I’ll be in that flow state, stacking it all up and I’ll knock it down by depressing the shutter release.
I see it now, the desert, a tiny stream that is so powerful, it’s been running for eons. Hundred miles away it cuts the earth deep but where it’s at here, I’m there to meet the old ones, paying tribute doing my thing, making it happen.
It’s time to get it.
[to be continued…]
Further reading
* An ultra-wide lens captures a vast scene with mostly straight lines (rectilinear), while a fisheye lens deliberately bends straight lines into dramatic curves for a circular, bulging, or spherical effect, offering a much wider (often 180°+) field of view and a distinct, surreal look, compared to an ultra-wide's goal of realistic perspective. Think of ultra-wide as "super-wide-angle," aiming for realism, and fisheye as "extreme-wide-angle," embracing exaggerated distortion.
No comments:
Post a Comment