Fisheye and Filters

[hullbilly]

I am fairly new to photography and have recently bought a Sony NEX5, very happy with it so far and have the 16mm and 18-55 lenses.

I want to experiment a little with filters and maybe a fisheye, what would people recommend, I have seen some cheapy stuff on ebay, but it can be a minefield on there.

Also I am looking to maybe get a bigger lense in the not to distant future to use at the track, would people recommend going for the e-mount high spec lense or get a converter?

Thanks

Hullbilly

[SamHH]

Filters all do different jobs and you need to know what you want to do before you can know what filter, if any, to use. Most effects can more easily and with more versatility be replicated on the computer, but there are a few like neutral density filters and polarising filters that can still be useful on digital. Here is an overview of what various filters do: http://www.bythom.com/filters.htm

For fisheye you've got two options. Either get the A-mount adapter and an A-mount fisheye lens. Those will probably cost £500—£1000. Or you can get an adapter lens that attaches to the front of your existing lens and bends the light to give the same effect. The quality won't be as good, but it'll be a lot cheaper: between £10 for a cheapo one from Hong Kong on eBay to £120 for this official Sony one: http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-sony-vcl-ecf1-...

[hullbilly]

Thanks Sam, thats just what I was looking for...

This camera lark could get expensive, its quickly adding to the list of other expensive hobbies....