Nikon 8-15mm

FX AF-S f/3.5-4.5E ED Zoom Fisheye

Sample Images   Intro   Format

Compatibility   Specifications

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Performance   Compared

Usage   Recommendations

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Nikon 8-15mm

Nikon 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED (rear gel filters, 17.0 oz./481g, 0.5'/0.16m close focus, about $1,247) bigger. I got mine at B&H. I'd also get it at Adorama, at Amazon or at Crutchfield.

This all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to my personally-approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Nikon does not seal its boxes in any way, so never buy at retail or any other source not on my personally approved list since you'll have no way of knowing if you're missing accessories, getting a defective, damaged, returned, store demo or used lens. Buy only from the approved sources I use myself for the best prices, service, return policies and selection. Thanks for helping me help you! Ken.

 

March 2018   Nikon Reviews   Nikon Lenses   Nikon Flash   All Reviews

How to Use Ultrawide Lenses

Nikon Z7, FTX and 8-15mm

Nikon Z7, FTZ Adapter and 8-15mm fisheye. bigger.

 

Sample Images

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(More throughout the review.)

Orange Fountain against Blue Sky

Orange Fountain, 21 March 2018. Nikon D850 in 24 × 24mm square crop mode, Nikon 8-15mm Fisheye at 12mm at f/11 at 1/125 at Auto ISO 64, exactly as shot. bigger or camera-original © file.

 

Looking up at a sunshade through a fisheye lens

Looking Up, 21 March 2018. Nikon D850 in 24 × 24mm square crop mode, Nikon 8-15mm Fisheye at 8mm at f/11 at 1/160 at Auto ISO 64, Perfectly Clear. bigger or full-resolution.

 

Abandoned Lion Fountain

Abandoned Lion Fountain, 21 March 2018. Nikon D850 in 30 × 24mm 5:4 crop mode, Nikon 8-15mm Fisheye at 13mm at f/11 at 1/40 at Auto ISO 64, Perfectly Clear. bigger or full-resolution.

 

Blue and orange concrete and tile lunch table

Concrete Vineyard Table, 21 March 2018. Nikon D850 in 24 × 30mm 4:5 crop mode, Nikon 8-15mm Fisheye at 15mm at f/16 at 1/40 at Auto ISO 64, exactly as shot. bigger or camera-original © file.

 

Cactus through a fisheye lens

Desert Cactus through the Fisheye Lens, 21 March 2018. Nikon D850 in 24 × 30mm 4:5 crop mode, Nikon 8-15mm Fisheye at 15mm at f/9 at 1/80 at Auto ISO 64, Perfectly Clear. bigger or full-resolution.

 

Pepsi Fountain through a Fisheye Lens

Pepsi Fountain, 21 March 2018. Nikon D850 in 24 × 24mm square crop mode, Nikon 8-15mm Fisheye at 8mm wide-open at f/3.5 at 1/15 at Auto ISO 64, Perfectly Clear. bigger or full-resolution or camera-original © file showing original black borders.

Of course this shot is out-of-focus at the sides because I'm focused at about 6 inches on the fountain.

 

Shelves of building materials

Shelves, 21 March 2018. Nikon D850 in 24 × 24mm square crop mode, Nikon 8-15mm Fisheye at 11.5mm at f/11 at 1/100 at Auto ISO 64, Perfectly Clear. bigger or camera-original © file.

 

Marigolds seen through a fisheye lens

Spring Marigolds, 21 March 2018. Nikon D850 in 24 × 24mm square crop mode, Nikon 8-15mm Fisheye at 8mm at f/11 at 1/125 at Auto ISO 64, as shot. bigger or full-resolution or camera-original © file with black borders.

 

Introduction

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USA Version   Unboxing

Performance   Compared

Usage   Recommendations

Adorama Pays Top Dollar for Used Gear

Amazon

B&H Photo - Video - Pro Audio

Crutchfield

I buy only from these approved sources. I can't vouch for ads below.

This 8-15mm lens is Nikon's sharpest and most useful fisheye ever. It zooms from a circular image at 8mm to filling the full FX frame at 15mm.

On DX it fills the frame at 11mm, but can't zoom out far enough to fit the complete circle on the small DX sensor. You need 5.6mm to get a circular image on DX.

What makes this 8-15mm lens so much more useful isn't just that it makes 8mm circular and 15mm full-frame images, it's that you can zoom it anywhere in-between so you can get 180º corner-to-corner coverage with any crop setting on Nikon's better FX cameras like the D850, something no other Nikon fisheye has ever been able to do. Set the lens to 15mm for 180º corner-to-corner coverage on FX 24×36mm, set it to 13mm on 4:5 24×30mm, 11.5mm on square 24×24mm, and set it to 11mm on DX 16×24mm to fill the frame and cover 180º  corner-to-corner.

This lens makes circular images on a black background, not white as I prefer to show here. See Usage for how to turn the backgrounds white and curve your copyright information.

 

Format

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Performance   Compared

Usage   Recommendations

This is a full frame FX lens, and I'm reviewing it as such unless otherwise noted.

It works great on DX cameras, too.

 

Compatibility

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It has a new electronic "E" diaphragm.

It works perfectly on all FX Nikons, and works well on DX Nikons introduced since about 2007.

Older DSLRs and all 35mm cameras won't be able to control the new electronic diaphragm and will only shoot wide-open. If you don't mind shooting wide-open, which isn't that big a deal since fisheyes have enormous depth-of-field even wide-open, then it works and autofocuses on most Nikons, especially better AF 35mm cameras that work with an AF-S lens, like the F4, F5 and F6. I tried it on my 1988 F4 and it works fine, but only wide-open. It autofocuses fast, and reads the aperture and exposure information flawlessly in its finder, and Matrix metering works great.

Even on manual focus cameras back to the original 1959 Nikon F you can focus manually and shoot wide open. I tried it on my Nikon F and F3; all is perfect, even exposure, so long as you don't mind shooting at full aperture. So long as you have a fast enough shutter to expose in daylight, this lens wide-open is sharper than the older fisheye lenses. The biggest concern with manual focus cameras is that the slow speed (f/3.5~4.5) will often cause the split-image rangefinder in the center of manual-focus screens to black out; use the microprism or ground-glass instead.

Nikon says it won't work with any of the Nikon 1 series (even with the FT1 Mount Adapter) or Pronea cameras — but who cares?

See Nikon Lens Compatibility for more.

 

Nikon 8-15mm

Nikon 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED. bigger.

 

Specifications

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Name

Nikon 8-15mm

Nikon 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED. bigger.

Nikon calls this the Nikon AF-S Fisheye NIKKOR 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED.

    AF-S and SWM: Silent Wave Autofocus Motor.

    Fisheye: Crazy curved-image special effects lens.

    NIKKOR: Nikon's brand name for all their lenses.

    E: Electronic diaphragm. Silent operation, but only works with cameras introduced since about 2007.

    ED: Magic Extra-low Dispersion glass for reduced secondary chromatic aberration.

Also has:

    D: Couples distance information to the Matrix Meter.

    IF: Internal focusing; nothing moves externally as focused.

    Aspherical: Specially curved glass elements for sharper pictures.

    Nano Crystal Coat (N): Magic anti-reflection coating that has a variable index of refraction that's far more effective against ghosts and internal reflections than traditional multicoating.

 

Optics

Nikon 8-15mm construction

Nikon 8-15mm internal construction. Aspherical and ED elements.

15 elements in 13 groups.

2 aspherical elements.

3 ED extra low dispersion elements.

Equisolid-angle mapping function.

Nano Crystal coating.

Fluorine coatings to repel dirt and fingerprints.

 

Diaphragm

Nikon 8-15mm

Nikon 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED. bigger.

7 rounded blades.

Stops down to f/22-29.

 

Focal Length

8-15mm.

At 8mm, makes a circular image with black sides covering 180º in every direction on FX.

At 8mm, fills part of the DX frame with black corners.

At 11mm (the dash on the zoom ring), fills the entire DX frame with a 180º diagonal view.

At 15mm, fills the entire FX frame with a 175º diagonal view. You can shoot at about 14.5mm for 180º

 

Angle of View

180º

Equisolid-angle mapping function.

 

Autofocus

Internal focus: no external movement as focused, so no air or dust is sucked in.

 

Focus Scale

Yes.

 

Infinity Focus Stop

No.

 

Depth of Field Scale

No.

 

Infrared Focus Index

No.

 

Close Focus

0.5 feet (0.16 meters).

 

Maximum Reproduction Ratio

1:2.9 (0.34 ×).

 

Filters

Rear slot.

 

Caps

Nikon 8-15mm

Nikon LC-K102 cap for 8-15mm lens. bigger.

Plastic snap-in LC-K102 cap included. It only attaches to the included HB-80 hood; there is no cap that attaches directly to the lens.

Standard Nikon rear cap.

 

Hood

Nikon HB-80 Hood

Nikon HB-80 Hood. bigger.

HB-80 plastic bayonet hood included.

 

Case

CL-1218 sack included.

 

Size

3.05" maximum diameter ×3.27" extension from flange.

77.5 mm maximum diameter × 83.0 mm extension from flange.

 

Weight

16.955 oz. (480.8g) actual measured weight, lens only.

Nikon specifies 17.2 oz. (485g).

 

Announced

12:01 AM, 31 May 2017, NYC time.

 

Promised for

June 2017.

 

Included

Lens.

Special LC-K102 snap-on front cap.

HB-80 bayonet hood.

Standard LF-4 rear cap.

CL-1218 sack.

 

Nikon's Model Number

20066.

 

Price, USA

$1,247, May 2017 ~ March 2018.

 

Getting a Legal USA Version

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Compatibility   Specifications

USA Version   Unboxing

Performance   Compared

Usage   Recommendations

This section applies in the USA only.

In the USA, be sure your box has a 5-year warranty sticker:

Nikon 8-15mm

Nikon 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED. bigger.

and that you have a USA warranty card on top when you open the box. The serial number on the card must match the serial number on the bottom of the lens and it must have been purchased from an authorized dealer for the warranty to be valid. The serial number on the box should match, too.

If not, you got ripped off with a gray market version from another country. This is why I never buy anyplace other than from my personally approved sources. You just can't take the chance of buying elsewhere, especially at any retail store, because non-USA versions have no warranty in the USA, and you won't even be able to get firmware or service for it — even if you're willing to pay out-of-pocket for it when you need it!

Nikon USA enforces its trademarks strictly. It's unlikely, but possible that US customs won't let your lens back in the country if you bought a gray-market version in the USA, carried it overseas, and try to bring it back in. (If you take the chance of buying one overseas, be sure you have a receipt to prove you bought it overseas and be prepared to pay duty on it.)

If a gray market version saves you $400 it may be worth it, but for $200 or less I wouldn't risk having no warranty or support.

Always be sure to check everything while you can still return it, or just don't buy from unapproved sources or at retail so you'll be able to have your lens serviced and get free updated firmware as needed.

Get yours from the same places I do and you won't have a problem, but if you take the risk of getting yours elsewhere, be sure to check everything while you still can return it.

 

Unboxing

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The box is completely unsealed. There is no way to know if anyone else has been fiddling with your lens, swapping parts and accessories, or even if it's a used lens.

Especially with an exotic lens like this, it's critical only to buy from an approved online source, since they ship from automated warehouses where no shifty salesmen or customers ever get to touch your new lens before it ships. While new $10 CDs, DVDs, Blu-Rays and bottles of milk and drinking water are sealed and quite obvious if anyone's opened them, paradoxically Nikon doesn't bother sealing anything, so your only insurance is to buy only from a trusted online dealer.

Nikon 8-15mm

Box, Nikon 8-15mm. bigger.

Flip open the top and you'll see the USA warranty card on top with the English/French/Spanish/Portuguese instruction sheet under it:

Nikon 8-15mm

Paperwork, Nikon 8-15mm. bigger.

Flip open the cardboard shelf and you'll see the CL-1218 sack in a plastic bag sitting on top of a white foam spacer:

Nikon 8-15mm

Nikon 8-15mm lens and CL-1218 sack in box. bigger.

Pull out the white foam spacer and you'll see the lens with its hoods attached in a plastic bag, sitting on top of a corrugami bottom spacer:

Nikon 8-15mm

Nikon 8-15mm lens in box. bigger.

Pull all of this out, and this is what you get:

Nikon 8-15mm

What's included with a new Nikon 8-15mm. bigger.

When you take the lens and caps out of its plastic bag, you'll see that your new lens arrives with the HB-80 hood attached to the lens and with a clear plastic dirt-sealing sheet between the hood and LC-K102 cap on top of it all.

The clear plastic sheet helps keep dirt out of the lens during shipping. If it's missing, it probably means it's a used lens sold by a shoddy dealer who let other people play with it before selling it to you as "new" at full price.

Nikon 8-15mm

Dirt-seal protective sheet on a new Nikon 8-15mm. bigger.

 

Performance

Top   Sample Images   Intro   Format

Compatibility   Specifications

USA Version   Unboxing

Performance   Compared

Usage   Recommendations

Overall   Autofocus   Manual Focus   Breathing

Bokeh   Projection   Ergonomics   Falloff   Filters

Flare & Ghosts   Lateral Color Fringes

Lens Corrections   Macro   Mechanics

Sharpness   Stabilization   Sunstars

 

Overall

Performance          top

The 8-15mm is ultrasharp at every setting, and is the most useful fisheye ever made by Nikon because it does the work of about five other fisheyes to cover five different formats.

 

Autofocus

Performance          top

Autofocus is fast, but it usually is with all ultrawide lenses.

 

Manual Focus

performance          top

Manual focus is super-easy: just grab the rear focus ring at any time for instant manual-focus override.

It slides with a fingertip.

 

Focus Breathing

Performance          top

Focus breathing is the image changing size as focused in and out. It's important to cinematographers because it looks funny if the image changes size as focus gets pulled back and forth between actors. If the lens does this, the image "breathes" by growing and contracting slightly as the dialog goes back and forth.

The image from the 8-15mm gets smaller as focused more closely.

 

Bokeh

Performance          top

Bokeh, the feel or quality of out-of-focus areas as opposed to how far out of focus they are, is fine — but it doesn't matter because it's nearly impossible to get much of anything out of focus with a fisheye lens.

I shot these on DX to try to show the details a little better.

Nikon 8-15mm Bokeh

Davis 6250 weather station, 23 March 2018. bigger or camera-original © file to explore on your computer (mobile devices rarely display full resolution images properly).

 

Nikon 8-15mm Bokeh

Davis 6250 weather station, 23 March 2018. bigger or camera-original © file to explore on your computer (mobile devices rarely display full resolution images properly).

As always, if you want to throw the background as far out of focus as possible, shoot at 15mm and f/4.5 and get as close as possible.

 

Projection

Performance          top

This fisheye uses equisolid-angle mapping.

 

Ergonomics

Performance          top

Nikon 8-15mm

Nikon 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED. bigger.

Ergonomics are the best of any fisheye lens.

Zoom and focus are easy, with instant manual-focus override by touching the focus ring.

The LC-K102 cap comes off the HB-80 hood as do most Nikon lens caps, and the HB-80 hood goes on and off with a bayonet with a lock button. It's easy to remove and attach the hood/cap combo for circular fisheye use. See Usage.

 

Falloff

Performance          top

Falloff on FX or DX isn't an issue.

 

Filters, use with

performance          top

There's no way to attach filters to the front, and there are no built-in filters as on Nikon's earliest fisheyes.

If you must use filters, you have to cut gelatin filters to fit the rear filter slot.

Nikon 8-15mm

Rear Filter Slot, Nikon 8-15mm. bigger.

The filter size is 27 × 29mm. Cut it from filter sheets with scissors. Once cut into a 27 × 29mm rectangle, cut off 5mm from each corner at a 45º angle. Cut in 5mm along each side of the filter, the same as cutting-in 3.5mm 45º diagonally from each corner.

Once cut, slide the filter in with the long dimension horizontal, the same orientation as the cut-out in the back of the filter holder slot.

Do not use a polarizer on a fisheye lens; the sky's natural polarization will appear as a dark band across your photo.

 

Flare & Ghosts

Performance          top

There aren't any ghosts. This is shooting straight into the sun:

Nikn 8-15mm ghosts

Abandoned Fountain, 21 March 2018. Nikon D850, Nikon 8-15mm Fisheye at 8mm at f/8 at 1/320 at Auto ISO 64, Perfectly Clear. bigger.

 

Lateral Color Fringes

Performance          top

There are no color fringes as shot on my Nikon D850, which by default correct for any that may be there.

This is both excellent, and far better than any of my other Nikon fisheyes.

The image turns blue just before it goes black at the edge of the image. This is normal.

 

Lens Corrections

Performance          top

It corrects automatically for falloff (Vignette Control) and lateral color fringes (chromatic aberration) on most Nikons. You can turn off Vignette Control if you like.

There is no in-camera distortion correction; this is the whole point of this lens. I have proposed and will propose again that camera makers add options to provide both rectilinear and cylindrical corrections in-camera with fisheye lenses. This will be exceptionally useful with Live View showing the live corrections so we can compose and frame well. We can't see the resulting post-correction framing and composition today since no camera offers as-shot corrections with Live View. (Invention Disclosure 8PM EDT 22 March 2018).

 

Macro

Performance          top

It focuses to within about a half-inch (1 cm) to the front surface of the lens. Even on FX this is very close:

Nikon 8-15mm macro performance

Kienzle Flieger Automat 800/2843, 23 March 2018. Nikon D850 in 24 × 36mm FX mode, Nikon 8-15mm Fisheye at 15mm at f/4.5 at 1/30 at Auto ISO 64, Perfectly Clear. bigger or camera-original © file.

 

Nikon 8-15mm macro performance

1,200 × 900 pixel crop from above. Nikon D850 in 24 × 36mm FX mode, Nikon 8-15mm Fisheye at 15mm at f/4.5 at 1/30 at Auto ISO 64, Perfectly Clear. bigger or camera-original © file.

If this is about 6" (15cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at a huge 27½″ × 41¼″ (70 × 105 cm) at this same high magnification. If this is about 12" (30cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at a mammoth 55 × 82½″ (1.4 × 2.1 meters) at this same extremely high magnification!

The texture you're seeing is on the watch face. This is probably the sharpest I've ever seen this watch face rendered, and this is wide-open at f/4.5. It will be sharper stopped down, and of course depth-of-field is so thin that the watch hands are closer and not in focus, much as the day and date are farther away and not in focus either.

Be careful not to damage the glass or stick your head into an airplane propeller.

 

Mechanical Quality

Performance          top

Nikon 8-15mm

Rear Filter Slot, Nikon 8-15mm. bigger.

This is a well-made lens that feels very solid with metal innards. The exterior is mostly plastic.

 

Hood

Plastic bayonet, included.

 

Front Bumper

None.

 

Filter Threads

None, metal rear slot only.

 

Hood Bayonet Mount

Plastic.

 

Gold ED Band

14 karat gold filled metal.

 

Front Barrel

Plastic.

 

Zoom Ring

Rubber-covered plastic.

 

Mid Barrel

Plastic.

 

Focus Ring

Plastic.

 

Rear Barrel

Section with focus distance window: plastic.

 

Identity

Gold-look plastic plate around focus distance window.

 

Internals

Seem like mostly metal!

 

Dirt Seal at Mount

Yes.

 

Mount

Dull chromed metal.

 

Markings

Paint.

 

Serial Number

Nikon 8-15mm

Nikon 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED. bigger.

Sticker glued into recess in the bottom of the lens barrel.

 

Date Code

None found.

 

Noises When Shaken

Moderate clattering.

 

Made in

Thailand.

 

Sharpness

Performance          top

It's ultra-sharp at every setting from center to edge.

The only limitation to picture sharpness will be your skill as a photographer. For instance, for a sharp photo you must avoid apertures smaller than f/8 which dull the images from any lens due to diffraction, your camera and subjects must hold still, and you need to shoot at not more than ISO 100 for the sharpest results from any camera.

Abandoned Fountain

Abandoned Fountain, 21 March 2018. Nikon D850 in 24 × 24mm square crop mode, Nikon 8-15mm Fisheye at 11.5mm at f/11 at 1/60 at Auto ISO 64, Perfectly Clear. bigger or full-resolution.

 

Nikon's MTF charts agree with the ultra sharpness I observe:

Nikon 8-15mm MTF

Nikon 8-15mm MTF at 8mm.

 

Nikon 8-15mm MTF

Nikon 8-15mm MTF at 15mm.

 

Image Stabilization

Performance          top

There is no Image Stabilization (Vibration Reduction (VR)), but so what, with such a short focal length you can hand-hold at very slow speeds.

 

Sunstars

Performance          top

With a rounded 7-blade diaphragm, the 8-15mm makes only mild sunstars on brilliant points of light:

Nikon 8-15mm sunstarsAbandoned Fountain, 21 March 2018. Nikon D850, Nikon 8-15mm Fisheye at 8mm at f/22 at 1/40 at Auto ISO 64, Perfectly Clear. bigger.

 

Compared

Top   Sample Images   Intro   Format

Compatibility   Specifications

USA Version   Unboxing

Performance   Compared

Usage   Recommendations

 

Versus Nikon Fisheyes

Nikon fisheyes come full circle: 56 years of history

Nikon Fisheyes Compared

8mm f/8, 16mm f/3.5 AI, 16mm f/2.8 AI and AI-s, 16mm f/2.8 AF-D, 10.5mm f/2.8 DX & 8-15mm E. bigger.

This shows Nikon's first 8mm f/8 of 1962~1965, the 16/3.5 of 1973~1979, two versions of manual-focus 16/2.8 from 1979~1998, the 16/2.8 AF-D of 1993~present, the 10.5mm DX of 2003~present and today's newest 8-15mm zoom. Not shown are any of the 6mm 220º fisheyes of 1970~1998, the 7.5mm f/5.6 of 1966~1970, the 10.5mm OP of 1968~1976 or the gigantic 8mm f/2.8 fisheyes of 1970~1982.

By "full circle," I mean that Nikon's first 8mm f/8 was a 180º circular fisheye, which gradually developed into the more useful frame-filing 16mm fisheyes, and today 56 years later we have this new 8-15mm which for the first time in Nikon history lets us get back to the circular image in an affordable, hand-holdable lens again.

 

Versus 8mm f/8 and 7.5mm f/5.6

Nikon 8mm f/8 fisheye

Nikon 8mm f/8.

Nikon's oldest 8mm f/8 and 7.5mm f/5.8 mirror-up fisheyes are smaller and lighter than this new 8-15mm lens, but much harder to find. You have to lock (or push) the mirror up to use them, or adapt them to mirrorless cameras.

The first 8mm f/8 requires you shoot in Live View and use your fingers to flip-up the mirror as you delicately insert the lens into your camera. Its optics aren't as sharp wide-open and it has more color fringes than this newest 8-15mm, but if all you do is shoot at 8mm, they give the same pictures, especially if you stop-down the 8mm f/8 for sharper results. The real differences are that the 8mm f/8 has a screw-on metal cap versus the plastic bayonet of the 8-15mm; I find the 8-15mm cap more convenient. You never need to focus the 8mm f/8; it's fixed-focus.

 

Versus 8mm f/2.8

Nikon 8mm f/2.8

Nikon 8mm f/2.8.

Nikon's gigantic old 8mm f/2.8 fisheyes are best left to collectors. They have inferior optics and are difficult to use because of their giant size and the care required not to damage them, and they are very expensive.

 

16mm FX and 10.5mm DX Fisheyes

The 16mm FX and 10.5mm DX fisheyes fill the frame with a rectangular image.

This new lens has far superior optics to any of these, however these are smaller, lighter and more durable, since they use a not-too-weird cap and have protective "petals" that protect your lens from banging into walls.

The oldest 16mm f/3.5 has better optics than the newer manual-focus 16mm f/2.8 versions.

The 16mm f/2.8 AF fisheye has optics about as good as the oldest 16mm f/3.5.

Stop any of these down for the best results, they get soft at the sides wide-open.

Nikon's 10.5mm is for DX cameras only, and has the best optics of any Nikon fisheye other than this 8-15mm. This is a decent choice for a DX camera, but its screw-type AF system only works with Nikon's better DX cameras.

 

Versus Canon

The Canon 8-15mm is very much the same, just made a little more nicely and of course fits Canon, not Nikon, cameras.

 

Versus Tokina

The Tokina 10-17mm zoom fisheye was the first of this kind. It only works on DX cameras, and never goes circular. Oddly it lets you zoom-into a rectangular image for less-distorted effects than either the Nikon or Canon 8-15mm lenses.

 

Usage

Top   Sample Images   Intro   Format

Compatibility   Specifications

USA Version   Unboxing

Performance   Compared

Usage   Recommendations

 

Hoods & Caps

Nikon 8-15mm, HB-80 hood and LC-K102 cap

Nikon 8-15mm, HB-80 hood and LC-K102 cap. bigger.

This lens sees 180,º and to do that you can't use any sort of hood. The included HB-80 hood is used only when you're shooting at the longer focal lengths that fill the rectangular frame, otherwise you'll see the black hood on the sides of your image. Even on DX, the hood will block your image at 8mm:

What happens if you use the hood and shoot at 8mm, even on DX. bigger.

If you're shooting at the longer settings to fill your frame, you can leave the HB-80 hood on the lens. Now you remove and attach just the LC-K102 cap as you shoot:

Nikon 8-15mm

Nikon 8-15mm, HB-80 hood and LC-K102 cap. bigger.

if you use the lens at the wider settings as I do, I prefer to remove or attach the HB-80 hood and LC-K102 cap together as a unit. I always leave the hood and cap connected, and remove or attach them by pressing the rotary hood lock button, rotating them both 90,º and then removing them together and putting them in my pocket:

Nikon 8-15mm

Nikon 8-15mm and HB-80 & LC-K102 combo as removed for circular shooting. bigger.

This lens with its included HB-80 hood is as safe to walk around with as any other lens. However, when you pull off the hood to shoot 180º you have bare glass poking out the front, and anything you walk past or brush against can and probably will damage the front of your lens. Worse, since the depth-of-field is so deep with fisheyes that anything on the front of the lens will be in focus and visible in your pictures, any damage to the front element pretty much junks the lens.

Therefore I always extend my fingers and hold the front of the lens with my fingertips to protect the lens with my palm anytime the hood isn't on, and always put on the cap and hood immediately after I've got my shot and walk to a new setting.

Beware: circular fisheyes are very easy to damage because their glass pokes out, and any damage will be visible in your pictures.

 

Formats

Most people don't realize that you shouldn't shoot this on conventional 24 × 36mm FX. If you do, you'll get relatively boring images that are too short and too wide:

Quonset Hut

Quonset Hut, 21 March 2018. Nikon D850 in regular 24 × 36mm mode, Nikon 8-15mm Fisheye at 15mm at f/7.1 at 1/200 at Auto ISO 64, Perfectly Clear. bigger or full-resolution.

Worse, if you shoot circular images in regular FX mode you'll have the circle in the middle and wasted black space on either side. This makes your thumbnails much smaller when you catalog your images, as a small dot in the middle of a lot of black.

For circular shooting on FX, set your camera to its 1:1 square 24 × 24mm mode if you can. Not only does this let the circular images be much, much larger when displayed as thumbnails, it speeds your workflow and makes more sense:

Nikon 8-15mm

Nikon 8-15mm

Shot in regular FX mode. bigger or full-resolution.
Shot in 1:1 square mode. bigger or full-resolution.

To get 180º corner-to-corner coverage with any crop setting on Nikon's better FX cameras like the D850, zoom the lens to fill your cropped finder.

You don't need to remember this, but for reference set the lens to:

Format Set for 180º corner-to-corner Set for 180º circle
FX 24 × 36mm 14.5 mm 8 mm
4:5 24 × 30mm 13 mm 8 mm*
1:1 24 × 24mm 11.5 mm 8 mm*
DX 16 × 24mm 11 mm 5.6 mm**

* so you may as well use the 1:1 square crop mode.

** This lens doesn't go to 5.6mm; use the Sunex Super Fisheye. At 8mm it will cover 180º side-to-side with black corners.

 

White Borders

This lens, like all lenses, makes black borders outside its image area.

This is great for slide shows in dark rooms, but when shown on a white page as I do here, I prefer white borders.

In Photoshop CS6:

1.) Crop my full-frame images to a square: CMD-OPT-C, and enter the vertical pixel dimension into the horizontal dimension box.

2.) Select the circle: use the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M), and drag it from top left corner to bottom right. Hold the SHIFT key to force it into a circle, and choose the exact lower-right position to make the circle just the right size.

2a.) Move the circle if you need to.

2b.) For a softer edge, set FEATHER = 20 pixels or so.

3.) Select the black corners, instead of the circle, as SELECT > INVERSE.

4.) Press DELETE, or IMAGE > FILL, and fill with white, or any color you like.

5.) To curve your copyright notice, select your text, and hit the WARP TEXT option (the crooked-T half-circle cattle brand along the top bar), select STYLE > ARC, at about -10.

 

Lens & Personal Safety

Finger on front element of fisheye lens

Rockwell's finger touching the front element.

People die every year when they get too close to airplane propellers with fisheye lenses. I haven't died yet, but I've been doing this since the 1970s — my mom's been a pilot for ten years before I was born!

Looking through your viewfinder, things look a lot farther away than they actually are. People die when they get too close!

Be careful.

Even if you don't die, it's easy to bang the front element on your subject; objects are still reasonably in-focus even if they're touching the glass.

On that note, keep the front clean and don't ever scratch or nick it, because unlike with normal lenses, whatever's on the front of the glass will be visible in your pictures.

 

Recommendations

Top   Sample Images   Intro   Format

Compatibility   Specifications

USA Version   Unboxing

Performance   Compared

Usage   Recommendations

I've owned fisheye lenses since the 1970s, and this is by far the best ever from Nikon. It does everything a fisheye is supposed to do, and does everything well. This is a very impressive lens, especially for the low price.

Fisheye lenses are very, very difficult to use well. Their best application for most people is inside very large train stations, cathedrals, or in downtown Manhattan shooting buildings looking down. Otherwise see How to Use Ultrawide Lenses. The key is you have to get close, and pay rapt attention to the shapes and forms of what's in your image. The specifics of what's in the picture doesn't matter; what matters is the overall fundamental elements of composition.

I got mine at B&H. I'd also get it at Adorama, at Amazon or at Crutchfield.

This all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Nikon does not seal its boxes in any way, so never buy at retail or any other source not on my personally approved list since you'll have no way of knowing if you're missing accessories, getting a defective, damaged, returned, store demo or used lens. I use the stores I do because they ship from secure remote warehouses where no one gets to touch your new lens before you do. Buy only from the approved sources I use myself for the best prices, service, return policies and selection.

Thanks for helping me help you!

Ken, Mrs. Rockwell, Ryan and Katie.

 

© Ken Rockwell. All rights reserved. Tous droits réservés. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

 

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Mr. & Mrs. Ken Rockwell, Ryan and Katie.

 

 

 

21-23 March 2018, 31 May 2017