No - a minor revolution has not just happened in Northwest London - rather a test to see how I could actually use this lens (sparingly!) on a wedding shoot. The lens in question is a Sigma 8mm Fisheye with a Canon fit and was bought for a specific series of jobs a couple of years ago. Being a lifelong Nikon user (except for the Canon G9 of course) I didn't have a Canon body to test this Canon fit lens and looked to buy or acquire a Canon body. I looked at the entry level Canon digital bodies with reduced size sensors that would not give the full circular image and whilst that was good in some ways, I eventually thought it lacked the real drama of a full fisheye image and put the project on the back burner.
One of the many photo Blogs I follow is Ken Rockwell's where he shoots with a variety of equipment and workflows and where he shoots film and has reasonably hires scans made at the time of processing by his lab in California. Therefore it came to me this morning, I have a couple of Canon Eos 5 film bodies that I am minding for Ed and the Fisheye would fit these and give the full circular image on FILM! I dug out a camera that is around sixteen years old, although with new batteries and all seemed to fit together and work. The next component was FILM and along with a few other errands I picked up three rolls of Fuji 400 print film (the brand I used to shoot) for £7. These are twenty four exposure rolls as the store hadn't any 36s in stock - slightly strange.
As I write there are eight exposures left on a test roll that will be finished off tomorrow and left in for C-41 process only to Kenton Photographic and I will scan a number of frames and we will see if this is worth persuing. Check back for some test images - I even managed a few Church interiors which seem appropriate.
I see this type of image working within ornate Synagogues or Churches - either as standalone pictures or backgrounds for Wedding Book double page spreads and for other architectural interiors. If overused, it will diminish the impact and I can probably shoot what I need on one roll of film, cutting down on film/processing costs and time scanning. I don't want to get back to the amount of time I spent scanning Noblex negatives to produce panoramic images!
One funny thing was my reaction as I shot the first frame . . . I tipped the camera forward to look at the back as if checking the image on the screen on the back! Of course no preview image and a sense of deflation as I have to wait to see and check the results. How things have changed!
