(August 28, 2016 at 10:28 am)Anomalocaris Wrote: Got a second hand Nikon Fisheye. This lens design is old, dating from 1981. But it had a good reputation, and the lens itself looks to be well taken care of and not abused. Therefore it was disappointing that the edge sharpness ranges from poor with aperture stopped down, to abysmal with aperture wide open. But nonetheless fisheye lenses being what they are, even a poor one can provide some interesting views.
This is Milky Way seen from the Big Meadow in Shenandoah National Park. The fisheye view covers half the horizon and the sky, from Cassiopeia in North by North east on the left edge of the image, to Sagitarrius in south by south west at the right edge of the picture, with Milky way stretching between them. Yellow glow on the horizon are light pollution from the general northern Virginia/Washington DC area.
Note the softness all around the edges. I will have to get a better, more modern Fisheye.
Here is a better view of Milky way in Sagittarrius, taken from the same vantage point using a modern wide angle lens. The core of the Milky way lies in that direction, the central bulge is the big bright lump near the horizon. There is a supermassive black hole in it. The dark bands are lanes of interstellar gas and dust in the spiral arms that lie between us and the central bulge.
Just breathtaking... I wish I could see something like that in person. I hate living in a city.
Nay_Sayer: “Nothing is impossible if you dream big enough, or in this case, nothing is impossible if you use a barrel of KY Jelly and a miniature horse.”
Wiser words were never spoken.
Wiser words were never spoken.