Moonrise & Aurora

Moonrise & Aurora

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I'm looking for an extreme wide-angle/fisheye lens for my canon t2i, but am not sure what to get. I've heard the sigma 8mm is pretty good an obviously the canon 8-15mm f4 L as well, but that over a grand.. Also, i've already got the kit 18-55, 50mm 1.8 and 70-200 f4... so im looking for a lens that can get me that boinkers shot or an all out fisheye circular image... Any suggestions? I'm a litle concerned about the cost as well... Cheers! and thanks for replying! :)

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The cheap guys are off brand ones, Opteka, Rokinon etc. The mid price are Sigma. The high price are Canon. You will get what you pay for. If you have a budget that would help us to answer this. – dpollitt Dec 7 '12 at 19:15

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Another good lens is the Rokinon 8mm F3.5 priced at $279 on Amazon and B&H. I saw good reviews about this lens on both sites.

Here is a review of the lens from thephoblographer.com, and some sample photos too, although this review is for the Nikon mount.

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Samyang is the manufacturer. They sell it under their own name, plus Bower, Opteka, Pro-Optic and Rokinon. The lens is identical and all caveats in my answer still apply. - The Nikon mount version works differently because Nikon (like Pentax but unlike Canon) uses a mechanical coupling to stop-down the aperture, so it can be used in Aperture-priority in addition to Manual mode. – Itai Dec 7 '12 at 23:56
@Itai: I did not know that - thanks for pointing that out! A little off topic, but does that mean the Nikon mount lens is better than the Canon mount, or just works differently? – Chaithanya M Dec 8 '12 at 4:05
Optically, it is the same. It only works differently and, frankly, much more difficult to use, because Canon EF mount is all-electrical. – Itai Dec 8 '12 at 15:37
@Itai: aperture-priority mode works fine on Canon DSLRs with fully manual lens. I have the Rokinon 8mm referenced above and often shoot with it on a 60D in Av. Before I decided to buy I've asked specifically about this on this question. Maybe you mean that on Nikons Shutter priority can be used with a manual lens? – Miguel Dec 8 '12 at 17:18
@miguel - Well, if you call that working.... In Nikon and Pentax, it atcually fully works. You do not have to stop the lens down yourself and you get a bright viewfinder with the aperture wide-open until it stops down for the exposure. – Itai Dec 8 '12 at 17:40
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The Tokina 10-17mm is one of the best values. It is a rectangular fisheye, so it covers a 180° field-of-view at 10mm. The neet thing is that you can zoom it down a 100° and get more flexibility in zooming. It goes for around $670.

If you are feeling adventurous, you can get a Samyang 8mm F/3.5 rectangular fisheye for around $330. This is a completely manual lens. You have to not only focus manually but also set the aperture manually. It takes practice to use since you will be opening the aperture to focus and frame and stopping it down to meter and shoot. Think manual (M) mode, taken to the extreme.

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