Customer Reviews

Rokinon FE8M-P 8mm F3.5 Fisheye Lens for Pentax (Black)

5 star:		(96)
4 star:		(48)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Fisheye lenses are very fun - they give a totally different perspective compared to just about any lens out there. The most common type seem to be the "circle" type, which product a big circle in the center of your image (with the fisheye image inside of that). On digital cameras with a crop-factor (like the Canon Rebel series, XXD series and even 7D), this can sometimes result in what looks like a circle with the top and bottom cut off.. not the most enjoyable image.

That's where this one comes in - the Rokinon produced a rectangular fisheye image - there is no "circle" as with other types of fisheye lenses, but you still get that great fisheye look (distortions and all).

You might see other similar looking (and priced) Fisheye lenses available out there.. Bower, Pro-Optic, Samyang, Rokinon, Vivitar, Falcon. These are ALL THE SAME LENS - Samyang, the manufacturer, simply re-brands it and changes the colors a bit (For example, look at: Vivitar - Fisheye lens - 7 mm - f/3.5 - Canon EF Pro-Optic 8mm f/3.5 Manual Focus, Fish Eye Lens with Canon EOS Mount ). With that said, be sure to check out the others to find the most affordable. The Rokinon is often 50-75 dollars less than the Vivitar.

The lens is a Canon EF mount (I only mention this because it's not listed in the description, only that it's "For Canon" - I wasn't sure if it was EF or FD mount before ordering). It WILL fit onto any EF Mount (meaning it will work on a 5D) but because it's SO WIDE, the hood will show up in images on a fullframe camera (it will not show up on images on a 1.6x crop camera like the Rebels, 7D or XXD line). The hood is not removable, but some people actually cut it off to use with full-frame cameras like the 5D.

The lens is rounded like a traditional fisheye, so you cannot use lens filter in front of this.

The angle is VERY WIDE - probably 180 degrees.. I have the lenscap on a leash (capkeeper) and it shows up in images if I don't move it. Things right to the side of the lens will appear in the photo.. it's hard to hide from it!

The low price comes because the lens does NOT make electrical contact with the camera. It's a MANUAL LENS - there is no autofocus, and the camera will not recognize it as a lens. You change the aperture by turning the manual aperture ring on the lens itself. You focus using the larger ring. Since the lens is so wide, if you set it to infinity (on the focus scale), then bring it back to just before that mark, most of your image will be in focus. It's actually tougher to get stuff out of focus than in focus (great for those like me who can't manual focus at all)

If you set your camera to AV mode (haven't tried the others) it will automatically determine exposure for you (I was worried about this, figuring a manual lens had to be set manually (including exposure)) - You can, of course, still set it manually. And while it does meter, it's not always perfect so be sure to review your images once in a while to make sure everything is turning out. One of the problems is that with such a wide angle of view, there can often be very different lighting conditions. Taking a photo indoors, for example, will often result in a darkened room and very bright light sources wherever windows are. You almost need to "HDR" these to get usable images. Outdoors or in even lighting conditions, it works great.

The price is much less than other wide angle lenses (because those have name-brands behind them and features like autofocus and probably better optics). The only cheaper alternative are the poor screw-on fisheye filters that attach on top of an existing lens, but these will often produce near unusable photos. The photos from the Rokinon are surprisingly sharp.

The downside to it is that quality control on the distance-scale can be poor - a number of people are reporting getting this lens (or the other rebranded variations) with a distance scale that is "off" - meaning that the 2 foot mark might actually be "Infinity", but I think it is something you can learn to deal with after a few uses. It doesn't make the lens unusable by any means.

The other negative is that this lens is about 300 bucks for a manual-only lens made by Rokinon (or Samyang, etc..) - that's almost the same as you'd pay for a Canon 50mm 1.4 lens (or similar). With that said though, I still really enjoy it and would re-buy it again if I had to make the choice again.

Well what can I tell you, this lens is awesome, I've testes it and let me tell you some of the results I noticed:

- The amount of flare (even pointing the lens towards the sun) is minimal, it really surprised me in a very positive way.
- It doesn't darkens the corners or produce vignetting effect AT ALL!
- The quality in the final pictures is superb, the pictures are crisp sharp even in the edges!
- Unlinke the peleng lens, the rokinon does fill the entire frame of the picture with no empty corners.
- It does not have the annoying lock ring of the peleng.
- When you handle the lens it feels great, the build quality is great and the rubber grip in the focus ring is awesome, its heaviness makes it feel like a solid rock and well built pice of glass; and, unlike the peleng, it does look modern!
- The colors look nice and saturated in the final pictures.

I loved this one, and I can truely say that this lens will exceed your expectations, the best bang for the buck!

Note for the buyers: this lens is also sold under other brands such as: opteka, samyang, falcon; but it's the same glass

If you are reading the review for this lens, you are looking at a highly underrated lens. The performance of this lens has surprised a lot of critics including Ken Rockwell and photozone. If you are out there shooting with fisheye, you definitely should not mind about manual focus and manual aperture. Otherwise, go ahead and spend 3 times as much of your hard earned money on Sigma or at least 4 times as much on the new Canon 8-16mm L which hasn't been shipped yet. BTW the price of this Samyang fisheye has dropped to $263. Hello? How much does the plasticy Canon kit lens cost? For the quality of its optics and build (metal), the Samyang is a real bargain. The first thing I did with this lens was to shoot toward the sun and confirmed that flares were very well controlled. You get a nice single streak of flares and they are not all over the place. Just be realistic with laws of physics, you cannot expect no flare at all with such wide angle even with nano or whatever coating. This Samyang is arguably the best choice for APC DSLRs with all factors considered. And it 's made in Korea too unlike some N company with cheap Chinese made lenses.

I bought the Rokinon 8mm fisheye to use with my Sony Alpha 55 camera. I am very pleased with this lens. It is surprisingly sharp and generates no chromatic aberraton to speak of. It is fun to be forced to do everything manually, and its fisheye characteristics provide an interesting new way to perceive the world. Remember that the camera will not recognize this lens unless you go into the menu settings and Enable the Release w/o Lens option (most commonly used for attaching the camera to an astronomical telescope). Highly recommended!

If you're curious about fisheye or are just interested in getting a super wide angle lens this is the one to get. Sure there are probably better lenses out there, faster, better built, more expensive, ect. And if you have the money and are a photo perfectionist then go ahead and invest in one of those. But, if you're cheap, like me, and are okay with handling a manual lens, then this one will give you great results. Yes, it has no electronic parts and it won't auto-focus, but at 8mm focus is hardly an issue.

Now if you're really really cheap you could also get one of those fisheyes that screws onto the front of a normal lens, but I assure you the results you get from that will pale in comparison to a real DSLR fisheye lens.

So in between the cheap fisheye attachments and the super expensive professional grade ones out there, this is an excellent balance between quality and affordability.

I bought this lens after reading several reviews. I got it this morning and used it on my lunch break for about 30 minutes and it seems great so far. The image quality is good, but you can see that for yourself in the customer images. So, here are a few things you can't tell from the customer images. Things I knew going into this purchase - these are not complaints - just a few notes that you may not have been aware of:

1. First, it is a great lens for the price; very solid, feels nice, looks good. Definitely worth it if your want to give fisheye a try without breaking the bank.

2. You can not use filters with this lens.

3. This len (for Canon cropped cameras) has a viewing angle of 167 degrees NOT 180. It is however 180 degrees for cropped Nikon, Sony, etc. Not a big deal, the lens definitely has a great fisheye effect.

3. There is definitely some CA (chromatic abberation), but that can easily be fixed in your favorite photo editing software.

4. This is a fully MANUAL lens. You have to manually set the aperature and focus on the lens - NOT through the camera. The lens does not actually communicate with the camera body. If you are confused by this, read you camera's manual or look for a free tutorial online by Googling "Photography for Beginners". There are a ton of free tutorials that will help you learn. That's how I got started.

5. The aperature ring shows six values of 3.5, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22. However, when you rotate the aperature ring, it clicks 9 times from 3.5 to 22 - just something to keep in mind. Not a big deal since a lens of this nature is going to have a pretty wide depth of field most of the time anyway.

If you just want a quick "how-to" for this lens, then:

1. Set the aperature (on the lens) to f5.6 or up (f8, f11, etc)
2. Set your camera's ISO to AUTO
3. Finally, set the focus ring (again, on the lens) to the infinity symbol.

Now, as long as you are at least 2 feet away from you subject, your pictures will be in focus without doing anything else to the lens. If this seems complicated, don't be afraid! It's actually quite simple! Again if you are confused, search the Internet for the following terms:

Aperature
Depth of field

Well, that should get you started. If you are ok with the things I listed above, then go get this lens! You won't regret it!

Just got the Rokinon 8mm Fisheye lens for my Sony A700. What a fantastic lens!!!!!!!!!
This lens actually works in program 'P' mode, providing AUTOMATIC exposure control with the Sony A700, contrary to what the Instruction Manual states.
Set the camera to 'release without lens' and the ISO to 'auto' and focus to 'manual'.
Set the aperture on the lens to f5.6 or f8 and the distance to about 2 feet and you are all set to go.
The camera will automatically adjust the shutter speed and ISO to suit the lighting conditions!
Most of the exposures will be spot on and extremely sharp from inches away to infinity.
I initially bought this lens as an inexpensive 'gadget' lens expecting it to spend most of its time in the camera bag. Boy was I wrong! This lens is slowly becoming my favorite lens and I am even considering using it as a portrait lens! It is the sharpest lens that I own!
It is indeed a rare occasion when the least expensive lens just may be the best!
The only complaint I have is the poor and confusing Instruction Manual.

I have a Canon T2i I recently purchased and I love this camera. After "playing" with it, I knew that my next investments would involve getting my lens game up. After reading a review on EyeNorth.com, I figured this was a modestly priced lens that would give me what I wanted. The Rokinon fisheye did not disappoint. The images I've captured so far with this lens (still and video) has been GREAT! Pairing this lens with my kit lens, a 50mm, and a good telephoto is ideal (looking for a good telephoto now) and I think I'm good to go.

The lens take excellent, super-wide shots and I love the distortion it gives when you're within inches of an object. Works great with the music video work I do and even give my documentary footage a special flair. I'm going to have a lot of fun with this lens.

First off, this lens is built very well for a sub-$300 lens. It's also very sharp and takes a great picture. I'm very happy with the price/performance with this lens. It does not communicate with the camera body I have (Canon T2i), so it is a completely manual lens, but I knew that when I bought it.

This lens is a neat little toy; it has a very wide FOV good for artistic shots or shots where you really want to capture the atmosphere. Of course has manual focus only. Don't bother using it at max aperture (f/3.5) - it has pretty bad contrast and not so good color detail, but the next stop (5.6) improves greatly. Your camera's buit-in flash will not properly illuminate what you're taking a picture of (obviously) so if you are inside you will definitely need an external flash with a diffuser, unless you are planning on using a tripod and taking a picture of something very still.
Sharpness could be better - i was a little disappointed by that. But there probably aren't many other options for this type of lens to choose from.
Careful using this lens, as the front glass element is huge and will rub against anything you happen to have near it - always put the lens cap on it when not in use.
I am giving it 3 stars mainly because the image quality was disappointing.

Pros
Great FOV
Feels well made for the most part
Focus is fairly accurately labeled

Cons
Contrast is decent at higher f numbers, but downright unusable wide open.
Really cheap plastic used for built-in front lens flare blocker (i forgot what that's called).