Samyang8mm F2.8 UMC Fisheye II (Black) Lens for Sony E-Mount (NEX) Cameras (SY8MBK28-E)

I've recently become interested in doing night photography, particularly sky shots. I wanted to find a reasonably priced, fast fisheye lens and the Samyang 8mm caught my eye. I couldn't be more pleased with this lens on my Fuji XT2. It's tack sharp, the build quality is good, it's small and light, and extremely simple to focus manually -- just put it on infinity and you're good to go. The built in lens hood protects it, and the lens cap stays on securely while you're not using it. It even comes with a decent storage bag. I was never a fan of the "fisheye effect" but found that it's fun to use in moderation. What I really love about it is that if you level it, you can use this as an ultra wide angle lens and get an almost perfectly level horizon that just needs a slight "warp" fix in Photoshop. If I start to photograph people with this I'll try the Hemi plug in correction, but I haven't needed to use it yet. I'm very, very pleased!

Before anything else be aware that a fisheye has extreme distortion by intention. There are some one star ratings for other FEs because thebuyer did not know this. Second, to use this with a Fuji body you need to go into the menu and set”Shoot with out it lens” to ON because the is NO electronic communication with the body when using this lens. I think that may be true for Sony as well.I don't have other fisheyes to compare this with and comparing it to a non-fisheye is problematic. Nonetheless, in the absence of lab measurements I would have to say there is no grounds for complaint in regards to optical quality. This seems to be a well made, sturdy piece of equipment. [Update: Although sharpness is better than one might expect for the price, after a year or so of use I have become aware that the lens is a little softer than I gave come to expect from Fuji’s own lenses. Of course in the unlikely event that Fuji decided to make their own 8mm fisheye it would likely be larger, heavier and cost at least three times as much. So be aware that if you want the fisheye effect you may have to give up a little sharpness.]This is a fully manual lense. Used with a Fuji X-E2 this is not much of a problem. Although you manually stop down the aperture yourself, the Fuji adjusts the LCD and viewfinder brightness to compensate and calculate the correct shutter speed. As for who auto focus, it would be a waste to add AF to a fisheye. DoF is so deep one has to contrive to get an out of focus situation. At f/16 even an object touching the lens (not that I reccomend this) is in focus!How to use a fisheye. The first thing to remember it that you need to get really close. The second thing is to be aware that you can get a straight horizon line (if you want one) if you are careful and don't tilt the camera. The best thing to do with this is put it on your camera and leave it there for a a few hundred shots until you get the hang of it or decide you want no more to do with it. I found in some images outdoors you may not even notice the curvature -- at least not all that much -- and get a natural looking photo. In other situation, the curvature is very obvious but "works" somehow. And finally, some images are just dumb crap. Experimentation is the key.Update 1: Works just as well with an X-PRO2.Update 2: It is possible, but not easy to get an out of focus result. Rather than trying to calculate DoF or hyper focal distance, just use Fuji's focus peaking function.Update 3: When set to closest focus distance snd stopped down, and object almost touching the front element is sharp. Weird looking result usually, but entertaining.Update : Like all fisheyes shooting into the sun produces extreme flare. Hardly surprising. Nonetheless, try it as it might come in handy -- to me it suggests the last thing you might see before being abjusted by aliens!😱Update-2: A F/2.8 the resulting image is a bit soft. FR/4 is better.

The pronounced fisheye effect reduces the utility (to me). Lens makers have come close to 8mm with rectilinearity. If that is what you want, look elsewhere. The curvature here is a bit self-indulgent - but the lens seems sharp, the color good. On a Fuji camera this is a manual focus lens although focus at this wide angle may be gratuitous. Build quality is good; fit and finish is decent. I opted for the silver finish to remind me, in use, to restore my camera to settings for automatic focus when I remove it - and the silver hood is losing some of its finish to the mild abrasion suffered in a camera bag; that is my only complaint so far. I considered removing a star for manual focus but that is both clearly disclosed and the reason for the affordable cost - so Kudos to Rokinon.

Pros:* Wow this lens is sharp at 2.8! I haven't performed any static tests yet but in practice it's sharp corner to corner even at 2.8.* Nice small size* Focus is stiff. Normally I'd rank that as a con but in this case I like to set it and know it isn't going to move around. Depth of field is really big with a lens like this so focus isn't as critical normally* Fun. Love a good fisheye and this does not disappointCons:* There is no lightroom profile for this lens. Samyang should create one. With a fisheye it's nice to have a few different profiles- one to flatten it out (at expense of cropping) and one to just fix any minor lens design flaws.* Does not transmit aperture or focal length back to camera. When shooting in dark environments (with strobes in most cases) it would be nice to be able to read the aperture on the camera instead of trying to see it in the dark. I've ended up taping it in place in some instances.

Pictures below, note that1 - Outdoor pics at f8, focus infinity minus a hair, and the camera set the exposure2 - The detail in the car pic is from the original size 8.4 mpx image with no post-processing3 - The coffee kiosk pic, I am about 8 feet from the nearest corner of the building.-Decent lens, seems well built, focus mechanism is damped well enough to stay where you put it, f ring has positive detents. As other reviewers have noted, the one-foot minimum focus kind of works against the concept. Any fisheye gives it's most dramatic effect close-up, if that's what you're going for.I read a review of these elsewhere that said the glass is very good, but the construction involves a lot of plastic, so don't expect it to last years and years. For the amount of use this will get in my life, I'm sure it's more than adequate. Sharpness at my camera's medium size setting was kind of a pleasant surprise. Frankly, I hated to pay what this cost, but with decent specialty name-brand lenses -starting- at twice the price, the solid feel and image quality are plenty good for my needs.