By Tati Taylor 11 days ago, Cameras & Lenses
What is a fisheye camera lens good for?
A fisheye lens is a special type of lens which is curvilinear to give you a hemispherical view. Through this lens, you will see objects as a fish sees them. The effect you get is called barrel distortion and as a result, curved lines appear at the edges of your photo.
Currently, a fisheye camera lens is often used by photographers to take undersea pictures, to shoot sports events, for astrophotography, and even to create a virtual environment.
It is hard to find a cheap fisheye lens with the prices going far above the middle level.That’s why, before purchasing a lens, you want to make sure, that this lens perfectly corresponds to your requirements.
The guide we have prepared will help you choose the best fisheye lens, which will be a perfect instrument to bring to life your creative ideas. Below you will find the list of the most popular options, with a short description of their pros and cons.
Mount: F | Diaphragm blades: 9| Autofocus: no | Min focus distance: 10 cm | Max magnification: x | Filter thread: - | Dimensions (WxL): 77 x 84 mm| Weight:519 g
⊕ Remarkable sharpness
⊕ No tendency to flare
⊕ Low levels of CA
⊕ Budget-friendly
⊖ Lens hood doesn’t fit ideally
⊖ Manual focusing is not easy
The Meike 8mm f3.5 Fisheye Lens is quite a good choice for beginners in the world of fisheye photography, as the price is rather low. This 8mm fisheye lens has adjustable manual focusing and a stable optical system. The front part of the lens is multi-coated to cut down flaring and ghosting.
The lens is composed of 8 Groups and 11 Elements to enhance picture quality. Though there are some minor disadvantages too. One of them is the fitting of the lens hood, which is flimsy. The other one is manual focusing, which may cause some difficulties. Considering the low price, the drawbacks don’t seem too serious.
Mount:EF | Diaphragm blades: 6 | Autofocus: no | Min focus distance: 0.3m | Max magnification: - | Filter thread: - | Dimensions (WxL): 2.95 x 2.95 x 3.03 inches| Weight: 1.14 pounds
⊕ Great price
⊕ Multi-layer coatings
⊕ For wide-angle astrophotography
⊕ Attractive features
⊖ Taking wide portraits is no easy task
The Altura Photo 8mm f/3.0 is a wide-angle fisheye lens, which attracts professional photographers, but is quite good for beginners as well.
The AP-8MCallows enjoying wide angles and getting super sharp images, thanks to its hybrid, aspherical element, and a special multi-layer coating. If you use this lens with an APS-C camera, you will see the most breathtaking and exaggerated perspective.
If you take a full-frame camera, the image will be circular, floating in the frame. State-of-the-art optics and perfect design make the Altura Photo 8mm f/3.0 a very attractive fisheye camera lens.
Mount: EF | Diaphragm blades: - | Autofocus:no | Min focus distance:30.48 cm | Max magnification: - | Filter thread: - | Dimensions (WxL): 74.93 x 77.22 mm| Weight: 428.09 g
⊕ Wonderful close-up images
⊕ Great picture quality
⊕ Reliable
⊖ Manual focusing
The Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5 is an amazing fisheye lens, offering a 167º view. If you use the lens with an APS-C camera, be ready to see a breathtaking and exaggerated perspective. A wonderful circular image, floating in the frame will appear if you mount it on a full-frame camera or a 35mm film camera.
The multi-layer coating and hybrid aspherical elements guarantee super sharp images and minimize flaring or ghosting. This 8mm fisheye lens can focus up to 12"" from the lens. In addition to the lens, you will get a removable lens hood, meant to reduce glare and protect the lens. Remove it if you want a greater viewing angle when you are working with full-frame digital or 35mm cameras.
Mount: F | Diaphragm blades: 7 | Autofocus: yes | Min focus distance: 16 cm | Max magnification: 0.34x | Filter thread: -| Dimensions (WxL): 77.5 x 83 mm| Weight: 485 g
⊕ Fisheye zoom lens
⊕ Full circular capture
⊕ Crisp images
⊖ Remove the hood to take circular images
⊖ High price
The Nikon 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E is the first NIKKOR fisheye zoom lens capable ofshooting impressive 180° circular images. To make a close-up fisheye shot, you can come up to your subject at a distance of 0.5 feet with a 0.34x reproduction ratio.
Using this lens, you get three ED glass elements and two Aspherical lenses to minimize chromatic aberrations and make your photos perfectly sharp and contrast. The Nano Crystal Coat serves to decrease ghosting and flare.
Considering these features, it is not surprising, that the images and videos are bright and expressive.The elements at the front and the back are protected with a special Fluorine coat. The lens is ready to work in all weather conditions, as it is dust- and water-proof.
| Image | Name | Features | |
|---|---|---|---|
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Meike 8mm f3.5 Fisheye Lens
Our choice |
CHECK PRICE → | |
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Altura Photo 8mm f/3.0
Professional |
CHECK PRICE → | |
 |
Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5
Affordable |
CHECK PRICE → |
All the fisheye lenses may be divided into two groups: with the circular effect and the diagonal fisheye effect. Choose the type of lens, according to your personal preferences, and the kind of object you are planning to shoot.
The circular fisheye lens effect means that the distortion will be barrel-like and a viewing angle will be 180 degrees. As there will be a vignette in the corners of the frame, you will experience a tunnel vision effect, which means that the scene will be in a circle.
With the diagonal fish eye effect, the view will be very distorted with the diagonal viewing angle of 180 degrees. This effect is often called a full-frame fisheye effect, as the image fully covers the frame.
It is hard to control the light and lens flare, because of the wide field of view and big elements ant the front. We recommend you to select the lens, with a better flare control.
If you are planning to take panoramic images, invest in high-quality optics. You will use a closed diaphragm for maximum field depth, so there will appear diffraction effectsand a slight loss of sharpness. That’s why we believe, that the best fisheye lens should have a perfect center sharpness.
A fisheye camera lens is a great tool for shooting videos and photographs, that need to evoke a feeling of disorientation. Also, it is used for sports, landscapes, panoramas, interior, and urban photography.
A fisheye lens is a type of a wide-angle lens. A wide-angle lens has a small amount of barrel distortion, while a fisheye lens is exaggerated to where the verticals on the edge visibly bend to the middle.
We think the best fisheye lens should have a focal length of between 8 or 10mm.A focal length of between 15 or 16mmis necessary if you use a full-frame camera.
The price of a prime fisheye camera lens is around $500.
