New Toy

Last week I got a cool new toy. I'm sure it's not what Lene Lovich was singing about in her 1981 song, New Toy, but every time I get a new toy I think of the song.

Lovich probably didn't have a fish-eye lens in mind, but that's what I got. It's basically a lens attachment that screws on to the camera as a filter would. It cost less than $30, came from a seller in Brooklyn, and arrived in just a couple days. I found it on eBay.

Takes cool pictures, almost as good as the mechanical super wide angle lens I played around with back in the 80s, when in high school. A few test shots around the house showed I could get a lot more in the frame without standing as far away, but the vertical and horizontal lines are warped into curves in the process.

When I heard about the lens, I was surprised by how inexpensive it was. But it doesn't have any mechanical parts, just a lens and three adapter rings, which allow the lens to fit various cameras. When buying the lens, I made sure the description included the model of camera I was using. Simple.

Depending on how much zoom I'm using, the effect can go from a super wide view with some distortion to a circular fish-eye view.

There is some loss of sharpness around the edges of the pictures, but it's a vignetting effect, workable in the right situation. This nifty little gadget will be handy in tight spaces, or when looking for an easy way to get an interesting, dynamic photo. In addition to the three adapter rings, the lens comes with two caps and a small sack with a drawstring, to protect the lens when not it's in use. Great bang for the buck!