Brightin Star 10mm F 5.6 Pro Fisheye

By the time you read this, I will have already purchased, and lightly tested, both of the a Brightin Star fisheye lenses. I took out the Pro Fisheye because of the adjustable aperture, just to see how the lens would perform. I used my first Fuji mount fisheye, a Pergear, and enjoyed using it. After getting past the silly distortion of my facial features being distorted by the lens, I decided to take the lens seriously and try to find some happy compromise between the uniquely wide angle of the lens, and the uncorrected circular distortion.

Note: Contrary to some of the online evaluations, the lens aperture ring does have clicks, but they are soft and only at the full stops.

I took the 10mm F 5.6 Pro model lens, mounted on a Fuji X-E2 body, with me on a walk along the Sausalito shoreline. I parked beside the San Francisco Bay Model, as its location allows me to walk past a variety of boats at rest in their slips.

Doors to the San Francisco Bay Model in Sausalito. The windows are indeed round.

This photo is the entrance to the San Francisco Bay Model in Sausalito. I tried to position the doors as close to the center as possible, and did my best to keep the camera level. From an exposure perspective, the photo is "out of bounds", but the I believe the placement of the round windows so close to the center of the photo creates an interesting juxtaposition for a fisheye lens.

This cute little sign has a circular graphic that when centered, gave me a fairly normal looking image. The placement of the horizon line minimizes the distortion, while the randomness of the foliage on the right minimizes the visual impact of the edge distortion.

Post Production Corrections: One could say that a fisheye lens is just a wide angle lens with under corrected barrel distortion. It follows that some post production software can correct these errors. In Elements  I used the Spherize Tool to see if any meaningful correction could be applied. I was able to pull the "bulge" in slightly, and render the vertical edges of the sign a little straighter. With no discernable reference points on the left and right thirds of the frame. the finished rendition doesn't shout "fisheye" but could pass as a conventional wide angle lens photo. That is much more grief than I care to endure, as I could just as easily installed a conventional 10mm wide angle lens.

Blue Sky Exposure: In earlier posts about the fixed aperture Brightin Fisheye, I  had complained that the fixed aperture setting of F 5.6 wouldn't be small enough to provide some outdoor flash capabilities with the Fuji camera bodies I favor. I made three blue sky exposures with the highest possible synchronization setting for an X-E2 body (1/250 second).

Fuji X-E2 Body. From left to right: F 5.6, F 8.0, F 11.  Camera Settings: ISO 100, 1/250 second exposure

Based on these three test shots, I could basically set my lens to F 8.0, my ISO to 100, and my shutter speed at 1/250 of a second and get a very nice blue sky. Not ideal for recording fluffy clouds, but the information is useful.

Sun Stars: This flag photo was made with an emphasis on the sky and letting the flag exposure go along for the ride. I was surprised by how nice the sun star turned out. If I had an important subject in the near foreground, I could have used a flash providing it was close enough to me, and that the light falloff wouldn't be objectionable. This is probably the only time that the "sun star", the effected created by the aperture design, held any interest for me.

I noticed this mural painted on a retaining wall behind a smog station located in the Castro. While the damaged sofa seems totally appropriate for the mural, the tableau seems out of place in the Castro. I was attracted to the comic detail of the cars, especially the Volkswagen station wagon with the old-fashioned room skylights. The camera was set to Aperture Priority, with1/3 F stop underexposed. I purposely cropped the right edge of the frame to minimize the presence of the pile of boxes at the left edge. There is not significant detail on the left edge of the frame.

My observations beg the question: Why use a fisheye? Nearly all of these shots could have been replicated with a 10mm rectilinear (non-fisheye) lens. I suspect that because the lenses are essentially zone focused (focus set my distance), it frees me to concentrate on the unique perspective the lens provides. Fisheye lenses require an appreciation for the roles the frame's left and right thirds play (or don't play) in keeping the viewer's attention at the center of the frame. That can be challenging, and for the moment, that's reason enough.

Fisheye Double Take

Pergear (Brighten Star) lens. I bought mine here.

For whatever reason, I seem to be behind in the times when it comes to what's new in    photo equipment. Granted, I am quite content with "living within" the capabilities of my existing equipment, and only when I am confronted with some new challenge will I be motivated to look for, and possibly purchase, some new piece of equipment. Lately I've been giving away seldom used pieces of kit when they become at best irrelevant, or at worst, boring.

In an earlier post I replaced my older Peargear 10mm F 8.0 pancake fisheye lens with a Brighten Star (a.k.a.Pergear)  10mm F 5.6, fully aware that there were some features I was less than pleased with. As I mentioned, I considered the change from F 8.0 to F 5.6 would make it more difficult to control my "blue sky exposure" to obtain the interesting skies I prefer as my background.

Brighten Star 10mm Pro. For a more detailed description click here.

Now I will be the first to admit that I didn't stop looking just because I purchased that lens. I knew it wasn't the perfect solution to all of the exposure problems that I encounter, but was intrigued by the challenge of making it work in challenging situations.

My wandering eye fell upon another Brightin Star fisheye lens. It was a 10mm F 5.6 lens, specifications identical to those of the pancake lens I just purchased. I  noticed that this lens replaced the petal lens hood with two rectangular "wings". On closer examination, I saw some real innovation in the design. I liked that there were separate distance scale in both feet and meters. I'm sure the extended focusing knob would make it easier to select the proper distance setting. The icing on the cake is the placement: Both scales are visible when viewed from above. Closer examination shows multiple aperture settings ranging from a wide-open F 5.6 to a minimum aperture setting of F 22. 

Photo Source: Click here.

As you can see from this photo of the chrome variant, both  scales are visible when viewed from above. As I wear progressive bifocals, I can appreciate that I wouldn't have to squint at both scales being crowded into a tiny viewing window. I wonder if anybody will see fit to adding this twin-scale configuration to a lens more suited for casual street photography. It would certainly get my attention.

I have to admit, based on features alone, I must own this lens. I'm going test the first Perger/Brightin Star lens first to see how it performs. If it passes some basic sharpness tests, the innovative Pro version will be on its way.

Shopping For Another Fisheye Lens

Photo Source: Click here.

I spent another morning with my Pergear 10mm F 8.0 Fisheye Pancake lens. It's compact, lightweight, and scaleless focusing makes it a carefree lens. It can be fun just guestimating the sensor plane to subject distance, but this fisheye is especially forgiving when it comes  to setting the proper distance.  If you're really off, the results can be a less-than-sharp masterpiece, but sometimes even the errors in judgement can be fun.

As you can see, the focusing scale is lacking in suggested distance markings, giving you basically two marked settings: .0.3 meters, or infinity. If I wanted to take the time to establish some known distances, I could easily file a small grove in the knurled body to identify specific distances, which would give me a more accurate way to achieve sharp/er images. There would be one problem: To see the marks I would have to invert the camera as the focusing lever in on the lower half of the lens body. Frankly, I'm surprised that I thought of it.

Photo Source: Click here.

While idly screen-shopping for a new fisheye, I found that Astrhori was making a reboot of my old favorite. For all intents and purposes it's the same lens, but has a "focusing scale" on the side of the lens. This appeared to be a more convenient placement for the distance scale, and I was about to purchase one until I took a closer look at the photo. Yes there was a side mounted distance scale, but I couldn't find an index mark of any kind to align with either of the two precisely determined distances. Maybe I'm a bit of a nit-picker, but if I'm actually going to use this lens, these things matter. For the moment, my enthusiasm has cooled a bit, but I'm still glad I found it.

I bought mine here.

The New Contender: I continued to search for viable alternatives to the original Pergear, even though my idea for marking the focusing ring with predetermined distance marks made a lot of sense. However, this new (to me) lens just popped up. It's a Pergear 10mm F 5.6. As it stands, it has a log going for it. It has the distance scale on the side, just as I wanted. It has a cut four-petal lens hood for additional style points. In short, it's a petite hottie of a lens. There is one puzzlement. I found a similar lens under the Brighten Star brand.

Ah, but there is one flaw, at least on paper. While its fixed aperture isn't really an issue, the aperture diameter is. Here's why.

This photo's exposure settings were F 5.6, to match the fixed aperture of the Brighten Star lens, 1/250 of  a second to match the minimum flash synchronization exposure setting on my Fuji X-T1 body, and ISO 100, the lowest native ISO setting available. The shot was made just before noon, and it tells me that I would be unable to render the sky any darker. This could be a problem when trying to use flash during the middle of the day. Due to the design of the lens, there is not way to attach a neutral density filter in front of the lens, and no provisions for mounting one behind it. 

Shots like these, taken before sunrise, would still be possible, but as the sky got brighter, I couldn't duplicate the effect. I may yet push the Purchase Button on this lens, and see how it fits into my normal shooting schedule.

By the time you ready this, my Brighten Star branded lens should have arrived. At under $60.00, it a bit of cheap fun!