Fish-eye lens and the peep-hole POV shot

[sidpharcus]

What kind of lens will give me that looking through the peep-hole on a door effect? Is there a cheap way to do this?
I need a couple of shots for a project I'm working on.
Thanks.

-Marcus

[nooneimportant77]

yes a fish eye would be the best way to go and if you have one use it, and then if you want to exaggerate that in post you could add a bulge and a bit of a blur around the edges.

[SPARC]

use a keyhole shaped mask and blur the edges and use a fisheye (or widest angle available) lens to shot the video as was suggested.

[John the Fish]

If you have something like photoshop or something that can do radial gradients, do a radial gradient thing from white to black, so that you get some vignetting looking edges, then just key out the white part in post.

[Limelight VP]

I don't think you really need a fisheye lens. I'd suggest taking a zoom lense and turning it around so you're looking through the front. Nothing fancy, just turn it around and hold it up to your camera lens. I'm pretty sure that'll give you that tunnel like, far away perspective. Then you can make a mask and blur around the edges to make it more distinct.

[spicysmoke]

This made me wonder, how high end does a camera need to be to be able to change lenses and stuff. I know my basic cam corder doesnt but would one of those so called prosumer ones be able to do it?

[Limelight VP]

Actually, you might be wrong about the cam you got now. Go to a photo/video shop or look online for camcorder lenses. I have what is probably the lowest rung of the prosumer ladder, Panasonic PV GS-120. It's only considered approaching prosumer cuz it has a 3CCD chipset, ie, it has three separate chips to handle the red, green and blue spectrums to achieve accurate color.

Now, even though it's not THAT high end (just better than your run of the mill), I have both an after market zoom and wide angle lense that I got when I bought the camera. They screw right on over the built in lens and i have a number of filters for uv and glare as well. I'd suggest ebay to look for lenses like this. Type in your camera's model and look for lenses.

[John the Fish]

This made me wonder, how high end does a camera need to be to be able to change lenses and stuff. I know my basic cam corder doesnt but would one of those so called prosumer ones be able to do it?

You should be able to put a lens on any camera with threads, or a bayo mount. Prosumer cameras will most likely have both. Most all cameras now have at least threads. Check if you have threads, and if theres a number with this symbol ø next to it, thats the size lens you want generally, but you can also get step up/step down rings if you want a bigger/smaller lens.

[fadedxmasfilms]

in sony vegas, there are some filters to achive that effect

[SyxxGage]

What kind of lens will give me that looking through the peep-hole on a door effect? Is there a cheap way to do this?
I need a couple of shots for a project I'm working on.
Thanks.

-Marcus

This is one of my favorite effects because I stumbled accross it accidently. If you have a removeable wide angle lens, simply hold it backwards against the cameras lens. It'll give you exactly what your looking for. If you need the an extended shot using this, I suggest using some gaffers tape to hold it on, other wise a steady hand will usually suffice.

[sidpharcus]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions, I appreciate it. I will try this stuff out.