Inexpensive way to take "Fisheye" photos

[Maluco]

I was reading an article in a Popular Science magazine the other day which stated you can use a door peephole to take fisheye effect photos. I went out and bought an extra wide peephole at Home Depot (around $7) and sure enough, it does the trick. It does the trick at a much lower cost at that. The one I purchased had a 160 degree view. You also want to take the picture with the zoom all the way up.

[2002maniac]

post pics. how's the quality?

[PiercedE30]

or if you have a set of extra(/crunched) ellipsoids you could use the glass from that.

[Van Westervelt]

or if you have a set of extra(/crunched) ellipsoids you could use the glass from that.

The ellipsoid inverts the image if I am not mistaken.

[blueapplesoda]

pshop can fix that...but i used that peephole thing with my phone when i got bored one day made some crazy photos

[Digitalwave]

Sure it works, but it probably looks like shit compared to a real fisheye :)

[Maluco]

Sure it works, but it probably looks like shit compared to a real fisheye :)

It does not look like shit... The below aren't mine but shows you what they look like. It works best with a camera that has at least 3x optical and the with the zoom all the way up (the zoom keeps the inside of the peephole tube from showing in the photo)

[FredK]

Hmm, I see a distinct difference in quality between TJs shots and the shots you've provided. How much is a fisheye lens anyway?

[Jscotty]

Thats pretty cool.. I gotta try that on my webcam. And then when people on webcam chat mention that my image looks "funny" I will say, "hmmm.. maybe its your computer. Everything looks perfectly fine from my end."

[Simon S]

thank you for sharing.

any photographer who takes photos for the sake of enjoyment should incorporate as much fun/enjoyment as possible into what they are doing.

why would one bother otherwise ?

* have wanted to play w/ fisheye photography for some time *
(and limited justifiable budget - i like photography enough to have fun doing it, but it's not like a super-great passion in my life)

note to self: add peephole to next hardware store run in order to have some cheap fun

acknowledgement: yeah - 'real' lenses on 'real' cameras will blow the doors off point-and-shoots

[Ducati]

It does not look like shit...

Yes..Yes it does.

[benDASHDASH]

Yes..Yes it does.

not for $10

[Ducati]

Shit is shit, no matter how much you paid for it.

[cferb]

oh it looks like shit. but i like it, it's a cool effect.

[dom]

not the same as a real fish eye...but it's cool in the "wow, who thought of that" kind of way.