Faux Fish Eye: Wrong Body, Right Lens

ISO 800, 1/25, F 8.0

Hurry, hurry, hurry. I was late for a swearing in ceremony of some new American Citizens at the San Bruno Public Library. I quickly grabbed a camera body from my bag and attached my 11-16mm DX format Tokina wide angle lens. I set the camera to ISO to 800, and made a quick sample shot to see how if I needed to change the ISO setting. I was stunned when I saw the clipped corners of the image. I took a while to realize that I had put a DX (a.k.a. APS format) lens on my full frame  D600 body. The Tokina wasn't designed for use with the larger format, so the physical edge created by the lens was clearly visible. I did manage to re-install the lens onto my D7000 body, and put my favorite 24-70 2.8 on the D600.

David Hobby blogged about using one particular APS lenses on a full-frame body. While his experience should have been identical to mine, he did point out the Nikon's APS 1.8 35mm lens would barely cover the full frame sensor when used wide open. Certainly the situation would be aggravated as soon as the lens was stopped down, but wide open and a centrally located subject, the sharpness of the lens could be fully utilized. I was unable to locate Mr. Hobby's  original post, but his use of this unusual lens/body combination is documented in his "Lighting In Layers" DVD set. The blog image created by this apparent miss-match can be seen here.

Nice Recovery! To illustrate the point, I simulated the limited area covered by the APS-sized sensor on the full-frame exposure. This approximates what the photo I would have made had I mounted the lens on my D7000 with its appropriate sensor.

Based on a liberal interpretation of the word "acceptable", this image could have been submitted on its technical merit. It's reasonably sharp and properly exposed, and assuming that the word "Return" was the center of attention, properly focused on the areas of greatest importance. It all reinforces a photographic truism: a technically marginal photo of a critical moment is better than a technically excellent photo that doesn't illicit viewer interest.

This is the photo I finally submitted. I thought it spoke to the importance of earning one's citizenship, and the flag in the lapel leaves no doubt as to where this new citizen's loyalties lie. It was never published.