See all: TOP 5 fisheye lenses

Samyang 8mm f/3.5 IF AS UMC Fish-eye CS II

A South Korean lens from Samyang is also featured on market under the Bower and Rokinon brands, so don't be surprised to see one of these names.

When mounted on cropped cameras, the lens provides a diagonal angle of view within 180° (167° for Canon). Paired with full-frame cameras, the lens captures the same angle in its field of view, but draws the correct circle, i.e. turns from a diagonal fisheye into a circular (circular). The main "chip" of the lens is uncorrected barrel-shaped distortions, which give the image a special charm.

The design of the lens has 10 elements in 7 groups, enclosed in a high-quality body. The aperture is 6-bladed, so you should not count on chic bokeh. Moreover, the minimum focus distance is as much as 30 cm, due to which it will not be possible to focus on nearby objects and, accordingly, it will not be possible to blur the background much.

Due to the large depth of field, problems with manual focus should not arise — already at a distance of 1.5 m to the subject, the focus distance is set to infinity and everything around is clear. Maximum sharpness is achieved with f/8-f/11 apertures.

Fishai by Samyang has a very attractive price tag. And thanks to the ultra-wide angle of view, fans of shooting such a genre of photography as spherical panoramas are actively turning their attention to it.

Help. Spherical panorama is a subspecies of panoramic photography, which is characterized by the maximum possible angle coverage of objects in the frame (up to 360 °). The image is projected in the form of a sphere, which allows you to achieve the effect of presence.

Lensbaby Circular Fisheye

Lensbaby is not taken seriously by many — her creations are more like toys than serious lenses. But this is not the case at all.

One of the first lenses that tried to break this stereotype was the widest angle fisheye Lensbaby 5.8mm f/3.5 Circular Fisheye. As the name of the model suggests, it can draw a full circle. The viewing angle of the lens is 185°, i.e. it will be possible to consider even what is a little behind the front lens. The circle is obtained not only when paired with full-frame cameras (Canon, Nikon and Sony DSLRs), but also in conjunction with cropped cameras (Nikon, Canon, Sony and Pentax DSLRs, as well as Sony, Olympus, Panasonic, Fujifilm and Samsung mirrorless cameras).< /p>

All elements of the lens are enclosed in a high-quality metal case and do not protrude beyond its limits during focus. You will have to focus exclusively manually — there was no place in the body for the autofocus system. The minimum focus distance is only 6.35 mm — shooting objects can practically touch the front lens. The aperture is also controlled manually, for which a separate ring with a responsive stroke is placed on the body.

The lens is very sharp in the centre of the frame starting from the most open aperture (f / 3.5). Sharpness around the edges can be neglected — they are still hidden from the eyes, as they are outside the circle. By the way, the inside of the lens body is deliberately polished to achieve spectacular reflections and glare in photographs.

Daily applications of the all-seeing fishing is hard to imagine. It opens up a completely different look at familiar things than a couple with a democratic price and attracts many fans.

Olympus 8mm f/1.8 ED Fisheye Pro M.Zuiko Digital Price from 35 200 up to 41 580 ₴ →

The fisheye lens made by Olympus is unique in its aperture, the maximum value of which reaches f / 1.8.

The prefix "Pro" in the name of the lens indicates that it belongs to the class of professional optics for the system Micro 4/3. Such lenses are distinguished by a complex optical design (17 elements in 15 groups), designed to make the picture sharp and clean, as well as dust and water protection. Indeed, even at the most open apertures, sharpness over the entire field of the frame is at its best, and various parasitic effects (vignetting, chromatic aberration, etc.) practically do not appear.

The high aperture of the lens will be appreciated by lovers of shooting the starry sky and underwater photographers — at f / 1.8 aperture, you will not have to raise the ISO to the detriment of image quality. For the latter, there is an additional accessory, which is an underwater box (PT- EP13). With it, you can dive underwater to a depth of 45 m.

The minimum distance for focus is only 2.5 cm from the front lens of the lens. Close-up subjects stand out effectively from the background at maximum apertures, although beautiful bokeh is not at all typical for fisheye optics. It should be taken into account that the lens itself is convex and it will not work to install a classic filter on it. Also on board the lens there was no place for an optical image stabilizer. Olympus camera owners will not be upset by this fact, since their cameras are a priori equipped with a matrix stub, but owners of Panasonic this may seem like a disadvantage. The focus system also deserves positive feedback, which catches the subject quickly and almost silently.

A characteristic pattern with a predominance of convex geometric distortions allows you to turn even an ordinary everyday scene into something unusual. Well, if you like a more classic look of the image, take a closer look at the closest analogue of the lens in the face of Olympus 7-14mm f/2.8 ED Pro M.Zuiko Digital Price from 34 320 up to 49 314 ₴ — it costs even more, but has a variable focal length at a constant aperture of f/2.8.

Canon 8-15mm f/4.0L EF USM Fisheye Price from 42 000 up to 79 092 ₴ →

Non-standard fisheye lens from Canon is manifested in the ability to change its focal length — it remains one of a kind and inimitable.

Variable focal length allows you to use the lens in two roles at once: diagonal and circular. When shooting with a full-frame camera at the short end (8 mm) the image will look like a circle with darkened edges, and at the long end you will get a standard diagonal panorama with a 180° field of view. With cropped cameras, a full circle will not work — a comfortable focal length for shooting without strong vignetting starts at 10 mm. For ease of control, a special “limit” range switch is provided on the lens body, which limits the focal length to 10-15 mm.

The lens has a constant maximum aperture over the entire zoom range. It does not differ in high performance and reaches f / 4. Given the very short focal lengths, handheld shooting in poor lighting conditions is possible at shutter speeds up to 1/15 s.

Focus on the subject takes place at a distance of 5 cm from the front lens of the lens. Due to the convex shape, it will not be possible to put a standard light filter on it. When an object is located at a distance of more than 1 m from the lens, everything that falls into its field of view is in focus. In terms of sharpness, the lens is ready to compete with anyone — starting with the widest aperture and in the centre and along the edges of the frame, you can see any details of the image.

As befits all representatives of the professional line optics under the index “L”, hood is supplied with the lens. It is better to use it exclusively at the long end, since at the shortest focal lengths individual petals will fall into the frame. In principle, the lens handles well with light and glare even without a lens hood.

The only drawback of the lens is the manifestation of chromatic aberrations that occur at high-contrast transitions (tree branches, window frames, etc.). They are easily corrected in post-processing of images and do not cause significant inconvenience. Otherwise, the lens deserves the highest ratings, which it receives both from various specialized publications and from real owners.