Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/08/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 9:28 PM -0400 8/15/06, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote:
>On Aug 15, 2006, at 12:13 PM, Frank wrote:
>
>>It reminded me that the original use ( in the 60's anyway) for the
>>fisheye lens was to study cloud formations. Using 180 degree
>>lenses allowed the entire sky to be studied at one time.
>
>Frank,
>
>You are undoubtedly thinking of the Hill Sky camera which was
>intended to study cloud formations. The camera was about the size of
>cigar box and took a single glass plate. The fisheye lens was
>mounted on one flat side and the camera was placed on its back to
>record the clouds. It produced a fully circular image with a 180
>degree field of view. The photographer had to crouch lower than the
>base of the camera otherwise he would be in the picture. To rectify
>the distortion, the same lens was used to project the image. But the
>date was early in the 20th century, certainly before 1920. By the
>1960s Spiratone was selling fisheye adapters to use on 35mm SLR
>lenses for less than $50. I have one of them.
Nikon's 10mm f/5.6 OP (Orthographic projection) lens was intended for
something similar, if not exactly the same. The orthographic
projection formula allows for completely even illumination, so the
image could be used for environmental lighting studies. This is as
opposed to the usual equidistant projection used on mose fisheyes.
I believe Nikon developed its fisheyes in the beginning to help
investigation into things like pipelines and other commercial areas
of similar difficulty.
--
* Henning J. Wulff
/|\ Wulff Photography & Design
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