March 17, 2012
By John G. Sherman
Shot a 8mm
I have been shooting fisheye for over 5 years now and I eagerly awaited the arrival of a Canon fisheye quality lens with that wide of an angle.
After owning and shooting over a thousand images with this lens, I feel I have the time and experience to share some of my thoughts.
I love this lens and it's a perfect compliment to any fishing photographers arsenal. It's incredibly sharp and quick. The f/4 allows for great low light images, when bumping up your ISO. I really like how it's a Zoom. The other fisheye I've owned was a fixed 8mm, and wasn't very versatile. If all I'm shooting is at 8mm, everything begins to look similar. But with this lens you can zoom in to 15mm, which is a great length for hero shots without all of the distortion that you find at 8mm.
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Hero at 11mm
I shoot a lot out of a boat and this lens comes in handy in the tight quarters that you find in this environment. It would also be a great lens for underwater usage, although I have not yet used this in this situation. My camera I have used this lens with is the Canon 60D. Even with the cropped sensor there is quite a bit of vignetting at the 8mm focal length.. This goes away at 10mm. All of which is expected with a 180 degree view.
Hero at 8mm
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Given the circular nature of the lens, a polarizing filter isn't an option, but it's not needed. The sky pops with this lens and all colors are vibrant.
Landscape at 15mm
For fishing photographers who like the affects of a super wide angle lens, this a great addition to your canon arsenal. This lens like all of the Canon L lenses is not cheap. Going price these days is around $1,500 new..
Here are some examples of shots with this lens..
8mm cropped to lose the vignetting