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| My first photograph with the 15mm f3.5 AIS mounted the D780 |
CLARIFICATION: This article is written in the spirit of my young self that did not know the differences in lens terms. The article should 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. The term “
rectilinear” is where I went wrong. 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 that aspect.
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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 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.
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.
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| Rochester Petroglyph Panel, Emery, Utah D780 with 15mm f3.5 AIS |
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