This is my first fisheye lens and it’s a lot of fun.
This was a spur of the moment purchase because I came across it for a really good price. It was listed as used, but with a vendor I know and trust so I took a chance.
The model I got is the MF 8mm f/3.5 AE Asph IF MC Fisheye CS II DH for Nikon F. Quite a mouthful.
This lens feels quality because it is all metal and the focus and aperture ring are buttery smooth. And with that big glass on the front, it looks a bit alien like.
But it’s all manual, you say!
Yes, it is, but it doesn’t matter much because it is a fisheye.
And there are different models, and my model does talk to the camera via some pins, not autofocus though. So I have to focus manually, which is not much of an issue. But I can set aperture with the camera and works fine with D3300 and D5500.
This lens opens up a whole new world of photography, in a similar way to a macro lens does.
On a DX camera, it fills the frame. Traditionally fisheye means a circular image in the middle of the frame. Photos are supposedly 180 degrees, something I can’t verify, but it seems likely.
On this model, the lens cap fits on the outside of the lens hood, and you can remove the lens hood.
This is really exciting, I sure look forward to using it more.
The photo below is shot with the Samyang lens on the D5500, edited with On1 Photo Raw 2024, which recognized the lens and corrected at least some of the distortion. You probably can’t appreciate how wide the lens is from the picture, but the sun I could barely sense out of the corner of my eye, so I had to turn my head to see it properly.
