The fisheye lens is one of those marmite things – you know the analogy so I won’t bother. As I’m purely in the positive side of that analogy I’m back in the fisheye game – thanks to a 2nd hand purchase of a Samyang 8mm f2.8 UMC Fish-eye II.
It’s one of the gaps in the Fuji X system plugged by a few manufacturers so there’s no need for an OEM lens to be rushed out. In the fully electronic world of modern cameras the Samyang is a totally manual lens – anyone that’s ever used a fisheye however will realise this is a non-issue as you often shoot at f/8 and 1m to infinity so the world is pretty much in focus regardless. The only issue with a manual lens is the lack of Exif information being passed back to the body.
Construction wise, it’s a solid lens – well built, controls move well and the aperture ring is nice and simple. The lens hood is superb with a locking mechanism which Canon could have done with the adding to the old EF 15mm (although that originally came out in the 1980’s – so maybe I’m been too critical of them!). The odd bit is a clear plastic/metal underneath section at the base – looks a bit odd, but looks are unimportant as this is just a lens.
Image wise, I’m impressed. I’ve not gone down the pixel peeping route as frankly I can’t be bothered. For me it’s a great replacement for the old Canon unit.
Click on the images below for a larger view.
