Why is this lens so cheap?

[Dean Winchester]

I was looking for a Fisheye lens and the Nikon's fisheye lens costs like, 500 to 600 or something like that. Anyway I was searching the web and I found this lens and others similar...

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Amazon.com: .42x HD Super Wide Angle Panoramic Macro Fisheye Lens For The Nikon D5000, D3000 Digital SLR Cameras Which Have Any Of These (18-55mm, 55-200mm, 50mm) Nikon Lenses: Electronics

Amazon.com: .42x HD Super Wide Angle Panoramic Macro Fisheye Lens For The Nikon D5000, D3000 Digital SLR Cameras Which Have Any Of These (18-55mm, 55-200mm, 50mm) Nikon Lenses: Electronics
Amazon.com: .42x HD Super Wide Angle Panoramic Macro Fisheye Lens For The Nikon D5000, D3000 Digital SLR Cameras Which Have Any Of These (18-55mm, 55-200mm, 50mm) Nikon Lenses: Electronics

I just wanted to know WHY IS IT SOOO CHEAP??
it must be a peace of crap! (that's what I'm thinking)

[Jeff Perry]

Dean, I believe it is a filter-type lens that fits on the front of an existing lens. Notice the list of cameras "Which Have Any of These Lenses...". This one probably screws into the front filter threads (52mm). Incidentally, while the 18-55 and the 55-200, most but not all 50mm Nikon lenses have 52mm filter threads. The new 50mm f/1.4 has a 58mm front thread diameter, so this add-on lens would not fit without a step up ring.

Jeff

[patf@bv]

Hi Dean, this lens is probably cheap because to put it bluntly it's probably junk, don't get suckered into buying this stuff, I baught somthing simmilar to it a few years ago it was a Ranox 2020 X2.2 tele-converter that also screwed to the front of the lense I paid almost $300 for it and it's a peice of garbage I also purchased another screw on tele-converter which I can't remembre the name of but it was $80 it's now sitting just off shore in the north atlantic at a local ocean lookout, I hope this get's to you before you buy it so you can stay away from it and save your money

[psguru]

There is a good reason why good lens cost so much......(because they are good and usable).

[Dirk]

well it is indeed a screw on kind of lens (like a filter) to get cheap wide range and fisheye and macro most in one set available for a heck of lot less than a regular fisheye.

cheap fisheyes (manual focus) are made by sangyang / falcon and cost here around 235 euro
just google on fisheye sangyand 8mm or so and you will get some mixed results

[INSOMNIAC269]

This is one of those "lens" you'll see on E-Bay in adds such as D90 with 6 lens for 999.00

[Narsuitus]

I am well aware that the image quality of supplemental lenses is poor. However, when I tried one that my student brought to class, I was surprised that it was not as bad as I expected. I tried it on a Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5 - f/5.6 lens and on a Canon G5 compact with 35-140mm (35mm equivalent) f/2 - f/3 lens.

I have a Nikon 16mm f/2.8 full-frame fisheye lens. However, I did not have a circular fisheye lens nor was I willing to pay a high price for such a novelty lens. For the low price of less than $40, the Zeikos supplemental fisheye lens that I bought was well worth it.

[map95003]

For the most part you get what you pay for....however, sometimes there are exceptions to the rule. I purchased a wide angle 52mm screw on lens from Amazon, it was dirt cheap, I think it was like $10, I bought it because I purchased something else and I needed to spend a few $$ more to get free shipping....I have to admit, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I used it on my 18-55 a few times for large family gatherings where I didn't have enough room and the pics weren't bad at all. So if you consider it "cheap", sometimes it's worth a try.

[jerryph]

First off, fisheye lenses are one of those specialty lenses that have a very unique and less popular look for most people. Unless you enjoy that effect, its not a lens that will be used very often.

But the rule of you get what you pay for applies for fisheye lenses the same as any other. I cannot see a wide angle "adapter" give results even close to this:







These are typical results from a real 180 degree fish eye lens of good quality over an adapter.

If one is satisfied with the results of an adapter, thats fine, but there is no real comparison to a real fisheye lens.

[map95003]

Originally Posted by jerryph

First off, fisheye lenses are one of those specialty lenses that have a very unique and less popular look for most people. Unless you enjoy that effect, its not a lens that will be used very often.

But the rule of you get what you pay for applies for fisheye lenses the same as any other. I cannot see a wide angle "adapter" give results even close to this:







These are typical results from a real 180 degree fish eye lens of good quality over an adapter.

If one is satisfied with the results of an adapter, thats fine, but there is no real comparison to a real fisheye lens.

Unserstood and agree to some degree...what I was trying to say in my earlier post was that if it's "cheap", then there is no harm is trying it, worse case is you toss it in the trash, best case is your pics aren't that bad and you got off "cheap". Of course it's a gamble but if we're just talking a few $$ as opposed to hundreds of $$ then to me it's worth the chance.