True, but if you don't have the lens to try and you have to commit to buying it, I'd rather have an idea if it'll do what I want beforehand. If you look at my originally posted subject line, I was trying to determine if I'll get a better quality wideangle lens than the 18-55 kit lens that came with my camera. According to conventional vernacular wisdom, the 1.5 crop factor on a DSLR makes the 16mm fisheye barely wider than the 18mm kit lens. In reality, it's quite a bit wider (as people have mentioned and "my" math supports)... something more like a 13-14mm rectilinear.While it's nice to know how to figure out all these technical things, I feel that nothing beats making a photograph to get to the truth when it comes to lenses and all their characteristics.
If I had them both in my hand, I would indeed put them both on, snap some shots, and compare. If I'm going to make a purchase decision without having it in-hand, I have to rely on reviews and others' opinions on whether or not it's useful.
From what I understand, aside from potential quality control issues, it's a good lens that's very sharp and is even wider than the 18mm kit lens I currently have. Thus it is not a redundant lens for what I currently have and justifies purchase... :)
-Cory
************************************************************************* * Cory Papenfuss * * Electrical Engineering candidate Ph.D. graduate student * * Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University * *************************************************************************
