Customer Reviews

Lomography Diana + 20mm Fisheye Lens (Black)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have read the reviews here and after ordering the lens, here is mine. This is a fisheye lens for the Diana f+ medium format camera. I have read about people having the canon adapter and wanting to use this lens for their canon cameras. Then post a bad review about the experience. This lens works perfectly on the Diana f+ camera. Using the 12 frame format will yield true fisheye pics. Using the 16 frame format will result in a slightly cropped fisheye view. The lens does it job beautifully. Now, as far as it being used for canon mounts, its obviously not going to be the same, or nearly the same effect as having a real fisheye lens made for a canon camera. Those are ridiculously expensive. Either put out for a canon fisheye lens, or make work with what you got. The Diana lens is a fine product. Its a lomo lens for use with a lomo camera. A definite must have for your Diana f+ lens collection.

I bought this along with an EOS adapter to use for a photography project. I used it on both 35mm (full frame) and 1.6x crop digital. I love the results! On the 35mm, the distortion is great and really emphasized my subject matter (artistic nudes). The 1.6x is like a wide angle with some fisheye distortion. Depending on the subject it really can work well. I'm quite happy with this lens and can't wait to toss it on the Diana F+ to see the true fisheye.

Really great attachment for the Diana F+! I took some awesome funky photos with this. Really easy to attach on and off of camera. Neat pouch included for storage. Makes your Diana two cameras in one!

What do you want? It is plastic and that is the look I was hoping to get. I put it on a full frame DSLR with an adaptor so I do not get the full 120 film fish eye effect but the distortion and the dreamy plastic lens look is great.

I have a Canon EOS Rebel XSi, which has a crop-frame sensor on it. The 20mm fisheye looks great, has great softness and pretty glow around things, but unless you have a full-frame camera you won't see the super-strong vignetting you see in photos shot with a Diana. I'm gonna upgrade to a 7D one of these days so I'm gonna keep this in my regular rotation, but it's slightly disappointing. On my camera it's more like a very wide angle lens, but that's cool. Overall I'd recommend this as a dirt-cheap, very stylized fisheye lens.

My review is neutral mainly to warn Canon users.

If you're thinking of using this lens with the canon lens adapter on an XSi. Don't bother. Since the XSi does not have a full size sensor it will crop in way too much. You won't notice the Fisheye. I'm sure this will work on a mark II or a full sensor camera well but not worth it on and XSi or a T2i etc.

I have however tried the (Lomography Diana F+ 55mm Lens and Close-up Lens) This one is fun for macro shots and softens further shots nicely.

Note that these lenses will not give you the same effect that the film does. Much of the fun of these lenses are meant to work with film to give you the fun over saturated colors.
You can edit them from you digital camera in post. However don't expect the same effects straight out of the camera. These are fun lenses and I think are worth trying especially for the price (compared to a real lens). But don't expect all the magic to happen just by mounting on and clicking away.

As usual, I tried to find a lot of information about using this on my Canon 40D, and unfortunately there isn't much out there. I found some samples but no in-depth reviews other than one from Wired magazine's website. Anyway, upon receiving it I was really disappointed. There isn't a magical, ethereal glow around everything like I thought there would be. Sure, it's super soft, but I was expecting even more softness I guess. Another thing I was bummed about was that I was assuming I'd get about a 35mm equivalent field of view on an APS-C camera, but it's actually closer to 50mm. The field of view is exactly the same as my 28mm prime, so something must be getting lost in the translation with the fisheye apect as opposed to being a standard rectilinear lens. It should be obvious that you won't get any vignetting and or edge blur because you're using a very small portion from the center of the lens on a APS-C. I can't speak for a full frame camera. After using the lens for a few days I was almost convinced that it wasn't focusing to infinity. Things further than 30 feet didn't just look soft, they actually looked out of focus. I still can't really tell. I modified the lens a bit to create a vignette by taking the front of the lens apart and placing an f/5.6 Lensbaby aperture disk behind the front element. Also, if you flip the front element backwards it will give you a weird edge blur effect while keeping the center in relative focus, but it was too much for me. I also drilled out the hole in the adapter to make it the same size opening as the rear element of the lens. It gives you about a stop more light and a little more blurriness. Overall, I'd say the effect of this lens is closer to a bad camera phone than a Diana, but after playing around with it and modifying it to my liking, I'm not regretting buying it anymore. I'm still not sure it's quite worth $50 (including the adapter that you need), but if you don't mind the price it's fun to play with.

Bottom line: It's not a fisheye lens. I cant see black in the corners of the frame. It functions as a normal lomo but it is absolutely not a fisheye.

Not worth the hassel for a return.

I purchased this lens along with the adapter for the Canon EOS digital cameras expecting to transfer some of the Lomography style to my photography with the Rebel. I was severely disappointed. The fisheye style was decreased dramatically and was barely noticeable, and the surreal saturated pictures taken with a Diana camera weren't coming out one bit. I know that it isn't a problem with the lens, but rather attempting to put this lens on the Canon Rebel, but I thought I'd put a review out for anyone attempting what I have. I took about 15-25 pictures with it before realizing I'd much rather return the lens and adapter and try to go a different route for a new creative touch to my photos.