Hannover interlude

After going back and forth for a couple of weeks now, whether a fisheye would nicely complement my setup, I decided to get one. I opted for the Panasonic 8mm f/3.5 one which is a bit pricy but I had very good experience with the Panasonic 20mm and the reviews for the Panasonic fisheye were stellar. Also I am in Hannover right now, so consider this being an interlude from my Nürnberg documentary stuff. Btw, stay tuned for more stuff to come. I was out with Sugar Ray Banister on Thursday again and we have a couple of more things planned.

One thing one needs to be aware of is that with a fisheye you have to give up straight lines. They are virtually non-existent anymore and you get an amorphous mass of colors and form in return. So here are some of my first experiments.

The first shot – one of my favorites – is taken at the Hannover train station. Processing: in-camera cross processing… I am bit lazy to post process those days… I like it when you shoot with a fisheye into the corner of a square, i.e., diagonally. The main lines are bulging like crazy…

This one is special for several reasons. I tried to take appealing shots of this location for over a year now and I have to say that with the fisheye distortion I finally found one that I do really like.

A world on a curve. The more lines you have, the more obvious and prominent the fisheye bulging is going to be. This is definitely a specialty lens and might not be everyone’s taste. You essentially pay for a massive amount of distortion and in return you get 180 degree viewing angle (diagonal).

Lister Platz – one of those locations everybody will know. I like the “stacking” of the arches here. In reality this structure is extremely boring. A handheld nightshot – no problem at all at 8mm and IS. You can probably go up to 1 sec if you have a steady hand.