Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5 HD Fisheye Lens with Removeable Hood for Canon DSLR 8-8mm, Fixed-Non-Zoom Lens

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I wanted a fisheye lens to work on completing my collection of lenses. I already have two sigma lenses and love them for their quality and cheaper price when compared to canon lenses. I wanted to get a sigma fisheye lens, but I couldnt bring myself to pay up to $700 for a lens that I probably wasnt going to use all that often. Based on the reviews and sample pictures that people had posted, I ended up getting this lens, and I have to say that I am not disappointed. One of the main doubts I had about getting this lens at first was the fact that it was manual focus only. But now, after using it, that hasnt been a problem at all. The focus guide only goes from 0.3m to 1.5m before it hits infinity, so when your subject is more than about 2m away, the focus becomes easier than auto focus would be, and when youre between 0.3 and 1.5 meters you can usually guess pretty close to the actual distance and let the wide DOF make up the difference. Another thing that has helped with focusing was being able to switch to live view briefly and zoom in to get the focus just right, since because of the wide angle things are so small in the view finder. So, it has been easy to use and a wonderful addition to my collection. Two things to note. One of the other things that was drawing me to the sigma fisheye was its close focusing distance (3/4 in away from the front element). This lens doesnt come close to that. I was looking forward to getting some close-up fisheye pictures of different things, but Im not going to be able to with this lens. But who knows, maybe Ill try some extension tubes or something. Im not done trying yet. :) The other thing is the lens flare. I really dont mind it, especially since its a fisheye lens most of the pictures Im taking tend to by artistic type of shots anyway, the flare can actually add a little bit of creativity to a photo. But its something to keep in mind as this lens seems to be very susceptible to lens flare.

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I bought this for my 80D, but have since only used it on a full frame body during an Iceland trip (the image presents as a circular crop-don’t use the hood to avoid seriously compromising the image). It performed splendidly! If you’re looking at these reviews, you likely know why you want a fish. Suffice it to say that it’s fine for low light if that’s your thing, and it’s a gem above f/4 for anything else. Good contrast, surprisingly fine sharpness, and no abnormalities in the glass or construction. It’s fully manual, with no EXIF information, but a fish is easy to focus and a specialized lens. And this one is just the ticket.

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This is a pretty great lens. While you do get a lot of noise in some pictures thats to be expected. If youre looking for a fish eye lens and are willing to experiment a bit, you should be able to get some pretty good results from this lens.

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I love this fisheye. Placed on a Canon crop sensor camera you get magnification of 1.6x. Instead of 8mm, it becomes a 12.8 mm and this helps you not get the oval fisheye problem that you would see in a full size sensor. I use it for a lot of tight quarter images and just be careful not to get too close to vertical or horizontal lines. Exceptionally sharp. It is a manual lens just so you know. You will have to change the F/Stop on the lense ring but that is pretty easy. .

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Im not a pro, so I certainly cant justify the price of the Canon 8-16L equivalent of this lens. Im using it on a Canon 40D, and its just downright fun and surprisingly sharp. I used it to take some pictures of the night sky and got sharp stars from center to edge. The design of this lens gives you some interesting creative control. Depending on how you frame it and what youre shooting, it can look perfectly natural or extremely distorted just by shifting your framing around. Im not particularly critical but I find CA, fringing, and flare to be well controlled. A few minor downsides, many of which others have noted. Its manual focus. This isnt really a big deal on a fisheye lens, but at the same time when you want to try and be critical about focus it can be a little hard. Its also manual aperture. If youre an old-school person that came from the world of manual film SLRs this again isnt a big deal. Ill trade $1000 for having to manually stop down a lens any day. You can absolutely compensate for the first problem, particularly in bright sunlight, but putting the lens at infinity and stopping down to f/16 or f/22 and letting the depth of field work for you. Most of the time I focus it by using the focus scale, which seems to be accurate. Flare is noticeable, particularly when a very bright object is in the frame, but not terribly objectionable. Dust on the lens will cause bright sparkles in your image if the dust is side-illuminated, like if the sun is about 90 degrees from the center of the lens, as an example. Even in program mode it can be hard to get a good exposure. Or more correctly, the exposure you want. Im sure its doing the correct thing programmatically, but you may find the object you were targeting not exposed properly. Usually it works fine, but if theres a really huge difference between bright and dark in the huge frame, sometimes it doesnt work the way you expect. The nice thing about digital photography is the ability to instantly correct things! Also be careful not to get your own feet or fingers in the frame.

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Overall this is a well built and inexpensive lens. For the price, the overall quality is pretty good. The metal mount fits well on my Canons and the manual aperture dial has a nice "click" to it. The focus ring is smooth although I leave it in infinity most of the time. Pros: price, quality feel, image quality Cons: manual focus and aperture. Recommended for aps-c cameras (although some posts have it on full framed cams). I havent owned this for long so I will update if something happens worth mentioning. 4 stars- focus ring works but unsure on the number alignment...seems to stop full left past 0.3 to ...blank area on lens. Dont know if thats normal. Doesnt seem to really effect the focus much

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I have been wanting this fisheye for months now, and finally had enough to get it. Upon arrival, I noticed it was bigger and a little heavier than I had imagined it to be. Theres barely any distortion at the edges, and (in the daylight) everything is crisp and clear. I wish it could do a little better in low light, but I knew what f/3.5 meant when i bought it. It feels secure when connected to the camera, and the fact that it doesnt communicate with my camera doesnt bother me at all because I shoot in manual all the time anyways. I like how the aperture control is on the outside of the lens, and the dial moves and clicks into place very easily and securely. Overall, I would give it 5 stars because of the crispness of footage, the ease of use, the quality of build, and the professional look it will give your camera when in use. (NOTE: THE REMOVABLE LENS HOOD IS MADE OF PLASTIC, NOT METAL, but are cheap to replace if you happen to break it)

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This is a great lens for the price. Do not get the first version with fixed lens hood. This one is detachable, mainly for storage. You still cant put a filter on it. This thing has some new glass in it and is very sharp. Its manual as a compromise, so it takes some experimenting to get a good exposure.

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Wow! I ordered this lens to use with a Canon T3i (primarily for landscapes) meaning this really isnt a fish-eye for my purposes, but an ultra wide angle (approx. 13mm with crop factor). The image quality is great - very good edge-to-edge sharpness (at f:8 or smaller), and great depth-of-field. Even at very close range (less than 12"), Im getting nice, sharp images provided Im using a smaller aperture. The manual control of this lens poses no problems at all. Under most circumstances, I set focus to 5 and the aperture to f:8 or smaller. To find the exposure Im after, I simply put the camera in manual mode, and adjust the shutter speed to get the results I want, as seen in live-view. The build quality seems very solid and I was pleasantly surprised to find the aperture ring adjusted in half-stop increments past f:5.6 You wont see that difference in actual depth-of-field but you can in exposure value. So far, I am thrilled with this lens!

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I have a Canon 7D that I purchase with a Canon 24-105 L series lens. This is the second lens Ive purchased for the camera and people would sort of scoff at me when I would say that I wanted to get a wide angle lens before purchasing a telephoto lens. After sharing the lens with friends one person immediately purchased it and everyone else tell me it is on the top of their wish list. The lens is so much fun to use that I find myself using my camera a lot more. That alone should give it a five star rating. Most of the time, after I take a picture,I find myself saying "Thats incredible!" While many people try to avoid barrel distortion I love how it can draw you eye to the subject. The lens is well made and has the feel of a much more expensive lens. Outdoors I usually stop down a stop or two in order to get the correct exposure for a blue sky. I dont believe that is a metering problem with the lens itself but because it is so wide. Because it is a manual focus lens it has taken some time to get back in the habit of actually having to touch the focus ring. While through the viewfinder everything might appear to be in focus images can get a little soft if youre not correctly focused. Since it is extremely wide things only get a little soft. That however is a case of operator error rather than a problem with the lens.

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