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Belomo/Peleng 8mm Circular Fisheye
craig_d
Registered Users Posts: 911 Major grins
Last week I bought a Peleng 8mm f/3.5 Circular Fisheye lens from a dealer on eBay (username "opticparadise"). I ordered it on Monday, immediately paid for it using PayPal, and it arrived on Thursday, USPS Priority Mail -- pretty decent service. Packing was good too.
Interestingly, the photos I've seen of this lens online clearly say "MC PELENG" on the outer edge of the ring around the front element. Mine, though otherwise identical, does not say "Peleng" anywhere on the lens or the box (or in the manual); it says "BELOMO EWP FISHEYE LENS MC 3.5/8 A" in green, and "MADE IN BELARUS" in white. But it is clearly the same lens. Apparently, like some other low-cost Eurasian lenses, it is sold under different names.
I have heard of some people buying the Canon or Nikon versions of this lens and receiving an M42-mount lens along with a separate mount adapter. Mine, however, appears to have a permanently-attached EF mount made of decent-quality black plastic (similar to Canon's plastic mounts on some of their cheaper lenses). The mount fits my 5D Mark II, but slides on more easily than Canon's lenses do; the fit is not quite loose, but it isn't as tight as other EF-mount lenses. When fully mounted, it is possible to rotate the lens very slightly. This probably isn't an issue since there are no electrical connections between the lens and the camera.
There are three control rings on the lens body. The rearmost (closest to the camera body) is to the focus ring. The other two control aperture. The frontmost ring lets you select apertures from f/3.5 to f/16 in whole-stop increments; at least, it has labels and detents at the whole stops, and I haven't tried leaving it halfway between two detents. The middle ring is the aperture lock; it switches between f/3.5 (in the "UNLOCK" position) and whatever aperture is selected in the aperture ring. So, having selected an f/stop on the front ring, you can leave the lens open at f/3.5 while framing and focusing, then turn the middle ring to stop down to your chosen aperture for metering and exposure.
Due to the lack of electrical connections, not only is the camera unable to control the lens, but it has no idea that there is a lens mounted at all. The aperture is displayed in the viewfinder and saved in the EXIF data as "0". Despite this, stop-down metering in manual mode works fine. Just lock down the aperture, adjust the shutter time and/or ISO level until the camera thinks the exposure is correct (plus any offset you think necessary), and shoot.
Here are a few shots from my first day out with this lens.
C&C appreciated.
#1. Supermarket, San Mateo, early morning.
#2. Xerox Corporation, Palo Alto.
#3. Mountain View Civic Center.
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Belomo/Peleng 8mm f/3.5 MC Circular Fisheye
1/60 sec. (outdoors) or 1/13 sec (indoors) at f/8 or f/11, ISO 100
Interestingly, the photos I've seen of this lens online clearly say "MC PELENG" on the outer edge of the ring around the front element. Mine, though otherwise identical, does not say "Peleng" anywhere on the lens or the box (or in the manual); it says "BELOMO EWP FISHEYE LENS MC 3.5/8 A" in green, and "MADE IN BELARUS" in white. But it is clearly the same lens. Apparently, like some other low-cost Eurasian lenses, it is sold under different names.
I have heard of some people buying the Canon or Nikon versions of this lens and receiving an M42-mount lens along with a separate mount adapter. Mine, however, appears to have a permanently-attached EF mount made of decent-quality black plastic (similar to Canon's plastic mounts on some of their cheaper lenses). The mount fits my 5D Mark II, but slides on more easily than Canon's lenses do; the fit is not quite loose, but it isn't as tight as other EF-mount lenses. When fully mounted, it is possible to rotate the lens very slightly. This probably isn't an issue since there are no electrical connections between the lens and the camera.
There are three control rings on the lens body. The rearmost (closest to the camera body) is to the focus ring. The other two control aperture. The frontmost ring lets you select apertures from f/3.5 to f/16 in whole-stop increments; at least, it has labels and detents at the whole stops, and I haven't tried leaving it halfway between two detents. The middle ring is the aperture lock; it switches between f/3.5 (in the "UNLOCK" position) and whatever aperture is selected in the aperture ring. So, having selected an f/stop on the front ring, you can leave the lens open at f/3.5 while framing and focusing, then turn the middle ring to stop down to your chosen aperture for metering and exposure.
Due to the lack of electrical connections, not only is the camera unable to control the lens, but it has no idea that there is a lens mounted at all. The aperture is displayed in the viewfinder and saved in the EXIF data as "0". Despite this, stop-down metering in manual mode works fine. Just lock down the aperture, adjust the shutter time and/or ISO level until the camera thinks the exposure is correct (plus any offset you think necessary), and shoot.
Here are a few shots from my first day out with this lens.
C&C appreciated.
#1. Supermarket, San Mateo, early morning.
#2. Xerox Corporation, Palo Alto.
#3. Mountain View Civic Center.
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Belomo/Peleng 8mm f/3.5 MC Circular Fisheye
1/60 sec. (outdoors) or 1/13 sec (indoors) at f/8 or f/11, ISO 100
0