Walimex Pro 8 mm 1:3.5 DSLR Fish-eye II lens, for Canon EF-S mount bayonet lens, black (with removable lens hood)

Given most photographers aren't going to be using a fisheye every day, shelling out the (currently) £1050 for the Canon EF 8-15mm lens is not really going to be a viable option for most people. On the other hand, a fisheye lens is always a fun thing to have available in the right circumstances, so at little more than a quarter of the price of the Canon you should rightly be tempted to snap up one of these.Why is it so cheap? Well, firstly it's made in South Korea, not Japan. Secondly, unlike the Canon it's a prime lens. And most crucially, it's entirely manual - there are no electrics, no image stabilisation, no autofocus, you even have to set the aperture on the lens. This does have some drawbacks - no information from or about the lens gets into the exif data and it's impossible to focus through the viewfinder when everything is so small. But the wider the lens, the greater the depth of field, and for most purposes you can just set the aperture to f8 and the focus about halfway between 1.5m and infinity and be confident that everything will be in focus. Just make sure that doesn't include your feet, knees, middle-aged spread or tripod if you're shooting portrait format ...It's worth pointing out what I didn't notice immediately about this lens - or originally include in this review - which is that despite both the product name here on Amazon and the sticker on the box in which it was packaged, this lens (or at least the one I received) has an EF mount, not an EF-S mount. So it will fit on all Canon DSLRs, not just the cropped-sensor ones - useful to know if you plan to upgrade to a full-frame camera. What isn't clear is whether there actually IS a version of this lens (under any of Samyang's various brand names) with an EF-S mount - my guess would be not but if buying this for a full-frame camera I'd be wary and look for one that specified as much. This does mean that you will not get the classic fish-eye round image on a cropped sensor camera - I can't speak for whether this is possible on a full-frame camera as I am using this on an EOS 500, however it is possible to remove the fitted lens hood if necessary. On a cropped-sensor camera, if you point it close to horizontally, it's almost an ultra-wide angle; the fisheye distortion is much more pronounced if you point it above or below the horizontal. The extremely bulbous front element precludes the use of filters.The only real downsides I've found so far are that the camera struggles to get the exposure right in low light - it tends to overexpose quite severely - and sharp contrasts can generate some pretty severe purple fringing towards the corners of the frame. But the former can be dealt with in manual with a bit of trial and error, and the latter in processing - though not with Canon's own Digital Photo Professional which needs exif data to deal with chromatic aberrations. However, neither is anywhere near a deal-breaker. There also isn't much to grab hold of between the focussing ring and the aperture ring for when you're fitting or removing the lens - you actually have to hold the lens cap, always remembering to do this HORIZONTALLY or from under the lens to avoid the risk of dropping the lens out of the cap, which shouldn't be relied upon to bear the whole weight of the lens, although it actually locks into 2 grooves on the inside of the the (very firmly anchored) lens hood pretty securely and doesn't rotate on the lens; note that the lens cap does not fit if the lens hood is removed.If you've always wanted to use a fisheye but were daunted by the price, or even if you hadn't even realised you needed a fisheye, this unexpectedly excellent bit of glass is a great buy and great fun to use.PS: a quick note about brands - this lens and others in the same series seem to be available under several different brands - Samyang (the parent company), Opteka etc. The prices vary a bit so it's worth checking around to see which is cheapest currently; the product is identical even where they sometimes quote a different focal length - some say 7 or 6.5mm.

Originally I was tempted to go for the cheaper option of getting a fish-eye filter, but having heard some good things about the fish-eye lenses, I decided to go for this. When the lens arrives, it doesn't actually come in a sealed box and none of the interior packaging is sealed, which makes it very hard to tell if this has been used previously. However, with that small issue aside we can move on to the lens itself. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of this lens. The focus ring is smooth and the lens does not feel like a cheap-plastic one.

The great attraction of a fish-eye lens is the ability to take vast panoramic views, or picture in a tight spot or just something out of the ordinary. The Walimex pro 8mm is a solidly constructed lens with a metal lens mount, but no connectors to the camera electronics: I have the EFS version that fits Canon Cameras and you use this lens in full manual mode. It comes with a lens hood, lens cover and storage bag, all of which look to be of good quality. The most dynamic shots people seem to make with a fish-eye are dramatic cityscapes, more than landscapes and they can be good for great close action shots, with the benefit that almost everything in the shot will be in focus. Except that, this does not seem to be the case with this particular lens. I have used it on two Canon cameras a 750D and a 40D, which is the recommended camera in the English section of the instruction manual. I tried various ways to manipulate ISO, aperture and distance settings on both cameras and came to the unusual conclusion that this lens does not appear to have a great deal of dof: all of the shots, regardless of aperture, seem to be sharpest between 7 - 10 feet from the lens and become progressively soft thereafter. I used a light meter to avoid any mishaps with setting and, at other times a flash, to ensure my handheld shots were steady. I found that there was a tendency to over-expose by up to a stop and it does not handle scenes with high contrast particularly well, although this can be used to advantage. However, lack of general sharpness is a problem, in my opinion. Colour rendition is naturalistic without being particularly rich, but camera settings can change that. Critical focus is problematic the closer you get to a subject and without electronic links you don't have the benefit of the camera to confirm: a magnifier attachment might help and there is no live view capability. In my opinion, this is a compromise lens based on the fact that it cheaper than some of the Canon options, particularly in the L series. However, if you have an APS-C Camera, you might do well to explore the options and avoid the compromises and ask yourself if you really need a fisheye in the first place. It's a good fun and okay lens, but I would want a bit more than this lens has to offer.

This lens fits a wide range of cameras. I have only used it on my Canon EOS 40D. The instructions provided are quite clear on how to best use it on each model. It does not have an automatic mode but on the Canon, the lens effects a semi automatic mode, requiring only brightness to be set on the lens. It is a fixed focus lens and at 8 MM. gives a very wide angle . It provides good quality results on indoor room pictures with the usual distortions but effective to give a good view of an entire room. It is useful too for panorama shots where you want a wide spectrum of foreground and background. Again there are the usual distortions. These are the most practical uses but it is also great just to play around with and get some really interesting and unusual shots. Not an essential piece of kit for everyone but an interesting addition to a lens collection. The quality of photo seems to be quite acceptable, however, it is not that quality which should be paramount for buyers but rather it's potential for interesting and unusual shots.