Sigma AF 8mm f/4 EX Fisheye

Quality Fisheye with some shortcomings... Sigma makes a great fisheye for Canon... Then again what choice does one have? Canon doesn't make a true circular fisheye. I've owned this lens twice, once a few years ago while shooting Nikon's D1x, and more recently on a Canon 1D mark III. It is a good lens with a couple of annoying problems: It has significant CA (Chromatic Abbberation) towards the edges, and it is rather prone to lens flare when there is an overhead light source. With that said, it is a sharp lens with good color rendering and good build quality. The main use for a lens like this (in my opinion) is for shooting 360 virtual tours. With a Canon 5D and this lens, 2-shot tours are possible. With a cropped sensor camera, 3 or 4 shots are needed, but that is still fewer than with any other lens. For those who own a Canon DSLR 1.6X sensor (Rebel, 30D, 40D, etc) this may not be the best choice now that Sigma has a 5mm fisheye specifically for cropped sensors... However if you shoot the 5D, or anything in the 1D series, this Sigma represents the best (and perhaps only) choice for an 8mm fisheye.

THE FISHEYE LENS for crop cameras The fisheye distortion is the perfect amount for a crop sensor camera. I use it on a Canon 40D and viewed different samples from other lenses before settling on 8mm. Look at sample photos to find what focal range on the type of camera you will use it on and select how much distortion you desire. 4.5mm was a full circle and 10mm was not enough fishy action for me. Auto focus is a must for me as I shoot aerial shots and events as things happen quickly. Focus is quick. It comes with a small hood to increase the circular vignette if you want more. I generally don't use the hood and crop the distortion or clone it out for a more eye pleasing photo. My eyes were straining when viewing the vignetting on the corners when continuously looking at the photos. It is a fun and fascinating lens! The cons are the chromatic aberrations, but all wide angles will have them and can be adjusted with post processing.

Good lens for equirectangular photography The 8mm Fisheye does what it's supposed to do. With a C censor it has very little black area around the image. With a full frame camera it has quite a bit of black area. If you're doing Google for Business photography making image spheres this is one of the approved lenses. For that it's a good lens and does what it's supposed to do.