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Anyone shoot with Bower lenses?

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Old 03-24-2011, 10:27 PM
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Anyone shoot with Bower lenses?

I was wondering if anyone shoots with bower lenses, particularly the 8mm fisheye and the 14mm wide angle lenses. If so, do you have any sample photos you have taken with either lens that you would share. I am considering purchasing these lenses but have not seen any photos taken with them. Are they even good lenses?

I did a search in the lens thread and did not find anything.
Old 03-25-2011, 03:19 AM
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I have a "Rokinon" 85mm f1.4

to my understanding Samyang (a Korean company) makes these lenses, some are sold AS Samyang, and some rebadged as Rokinon, Vivitar, and Bower, but they're all the same lens and come from the same factory.

I LOVE my 85mm f1.4, but at times, I DO wish I had an AF 85mm f1.4 just because when shooting portraits and @ wide open or anything under f2.8 manual focusing can be tricky and takes some of practice. You think you've nailed it, but upon reviewing, zooming in, you realize that you've focused on the cheeks and not the eyes. Otherwise, it's been ranked high in tests and reviews. It's well built and NOT plastic-like at all... but it is kinda a heavy lens (which I have no problems with).

these two were taken with this lens and were two of my favorite pics I took last year
(with a full frame body)


(with a APS-C body)






Here are some groups on flickr on the 8mm fisheye and 14mm, you might want to browse through
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1284660@N20/

http://www.flickr.com/groups/14/

http://www.flickr.com/groups/samyang_14mm/





.

Last edited by is300eater; 03-25-2011 at 03:26 AM.
Old 03-25-2011, 05:00 AM
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I have an Opteka "6.5"mm fisheye that is the same as the Samyang, Rokinon, and Bower 8mm. I love it to death. It's an amazing lens for the cost. It does have a significant learning curve though, being a full-manual lens (at least it did for me). When I first got it I thought it kinda sucked but then later on I figured out it was user error.

here are 100 photos I took with it, if you wanna see.
/
here are a few of my favs:

7D
http://www.flickr.com/photos/delobbo/5260191792/http://www.flickr.com/photos/delobbo/5260191792/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/delobbo/, on Flickr


7D
http://www.flickr.com/photos/delobbo/5552408868/http://www.flickr.com/photos/delobbo/5552408868/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/delobbo/, on Flickr


7D
http://www.flickr.com/photos/delobbo/5531075158/http://www.flickr.com/photos/delobbo/5531075158/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/delobbo/, on Flickr


Panny GF-1 with EOS adapter
http://www.flickr.com/photos/delobbo/5510459168/http://www.flickr.com/photos/delobbo/5510459168/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/delobbo/, on Flickr
Old 03-25-2011, 08:59 AM
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I have a rokinon 8mm fisheye and love it. The Samyang (same as bower and rokinon) has good reviews on dyxum as well.

Reviews

Examples
Old 03-25-2011, 09:53 AM
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Thanks for the input. I am definitely going to look into purchasing these lenses. They are a much cheaper alternative to Canon lenses. The pics that you guys shared are awesome. Thanks again.
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