Bower SLY 358N 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens For Nikon APS-C Cameras

Comments about Bower SLY 358N 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens For Nikon APS-C Cameras:

For the price, this lens does everything that an expensive Fisheye does.

Comments about Bower SLY 358N 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens For Nikon APS-C Cameras:

I have only used this lens once, but it was great fun. Shot sunsets over the lake. Disconcerting at first because the angle is sooo wide. Once I learn to use the distortion, I'm sure I can make it work. I got down on the center line of a highway going into the village and I was amazed at the depth perception.
I thought I would miss the auto focus (this is a manual only lens) but the depth of field is so great I did not really notice having to move the focus ring much.
I would recommend this lens--I already have.

Comments about Bower SLY 358N 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens For Nikon APS-C Cameras:

This lens performs just like the more expensive lens that are all auto. This has the added benefit of being about 1/2 the cost of the fully auto lenses. It will test your abilities with your camera know-how, but the quality of image this lens produces is well worth it!

It is on the heavy side with all metal construction.

Comments about Bower SLY 358N 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens For Nikon APS-C Cameras:

Go this lens just in time for our family vacation and had a blast playing with it. sharp images, easy to focus and has a good feel to it. very pleased.

Comments about Bower SLY 358N 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens For Nikon APS-C Cameras:

Im new to photography. Received a Nikon D5100 for christmas. I was looking for a wide angle fisheye lens. Did some research and everything was out of my budget. I decided to buy this lens because of the reviews and it was within my budget. When I opened the box the first thing I noticed was its weight and built. Its heavier than the Nikon 18-55mm kit lens. Very solid with a metal mount. Putting it on the camera was a little tricky at first. I couldnt match the attachment to the body. You get used to it though. The lens is completly manual. So your settings need to be in manual mode. After taking it for a test drive I was very impressed with the results. It was sharp and the wide angle effect was really good. Very sharp at f/5.6 - f/11. I do recommend this lens. Its great for its price and a lot of fun. It came with a pouch, rear and front caps. Its a steal.

Comments about Bower SLY 358N 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens For Nikon APS-C Cameras:

Use it on Nikon D90. Nice picture but works only on manual mode without metering measurement.

Comments about Bower SLY 358N 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens For Nikon APS-C Cameras:

As for every fish eye and super wide angle lens, not your every day lens but it does what it's supposed to do well. Manual focus isn't an issue, ring focuses smoothly and barely any adjustments is needed to get clear pictures. Feels solid and well made. Definitly Recommended.

Comments about Bower SLY 358N 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens For Nikon APS-C Cameras:

First the good news: I love the lens for its creative capabilities. Get close and a new world of opportunities and possibilities opens. This affordable ultra-wide angle lens is a great next addition to your camera-bag.

After using the Bower 8mm for a week of two in the field I noticed tiny metal particles on my DSLR's sensor. I found dust specs in my images when reviewing them on my screen.

In the begining this lens has a somewhat tight fit on the camera body and there is no "white dot" marker to line up with. I have used the lens on two DX bodies: Nikon D2x and D80 and a FM2a. The fit gets more worn in after a while and I think that is where the metal particles on the sensor come from.

Comments about Bower SLY 358N 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens For Nikon APS-C Cameras:

You've probably already seen the reviews. Yes, optically it performs far better than it's price would suggest, and yes the build quality is very good. On the flip side, yes it's a fully manual lens and you may or may not get anything useful out of your camera's metering.

You've probably also read that these lenses sometimes come with the focus badly calibrated. That was the case with mine, which hit infinity focus at about the 1.2 foot mark. That meant that the majority of of the focus travel was beyond infinity and close focus was limited to about 10 feet, depending on aperture. Fortunately it's easy to fix with good instructions available with a google search. Be prepared, or buy from a store that will do it for you. It's worth the trouble.

Image quality falls apart wide open, but is good by 5.6, very good by 8.

Composition with a fisheye is challenging - be prepared to push in close and have fun!

Comments about Bower SLY 358N 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens For Nikon APS-C Cameras:

After several outings with this lens, I remain super impressed. The build quality is solid and, at f8, the picture is sharp corner to corner. I worried about the 'manual only' operation before I got it but this turns out to be a non issue - depth of field is so great that, unless I am focusing really close, it can be left set at 10 feet and everything is in sharp focus. As for exposure, the large field of view means that it is really easy to guess an average exposure - I have had less miss exposures with this lens than I get with my other lenses using TTL metering!
Altogether, a really good purchase - I just regret waiting for so long before buying one.

Comments about Bower SLY 358N 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens For Nikon APS-C Cameras:

image quality is good, great addition with the Nikon D7000.

Comments about Bower SLY 358N 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens For Nikon APS-C Cameras:

explore great photos with 180 degree fisheye

Comments about Bower SLY 358N 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens For Nikon APS-C Cameras:

Got this fisheye as a Christmas present for my D7000. Produces great images, without too much distortion, though the wide angle can make it difficult to focus at times. Very satisfied with performance.

Comments about Bower SLY 358N 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens For Nikon APS-C Cameras:

Great lens. Well made. I used this lens for my trip to CA, and it did a great job for shooting the beautiful coastline. Drawback is that it's a little heavy. But in general, I liked it.

Comments about Bower SLY 358N 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens For Nikon APS-C Cameras:

Not very expensive but takes gorgeous pictures

Comments about Bower SLY 358N 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens For Nikon APS-C Cameras:

For this money, I don't thinks exist something better. It reproduces good colors used with a D7000. Contrast is very good. No purple fringe detecter, even in really high contrast tests.
Of course it lacks AF, and in my version, any comunication with the camera. Anyway, D7000 can work with manual lenses, so it was not an issue.
Only drawback, minimum focusing distance is a little too long (30 cm compared to de 14 of the nikon 10.5), but nothing I can't live with...

Conclusion: I'll buy it again without doubt. And I'll try the 35 and 85 of the same brand.

Comments about Bower SLY 358N 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens For Nikon APS-C Cameras:

This is an incredibly fun lens, and it works flawlessly with my Nikon D7000. Set the maximum aperture in the settings menu, and it even meters in A mode.

If your camera doesn't support non-CPU lenses, you may be better off waiting for the updated version of this that contains a chip. Otherwise you have to use full-manual mode.

Comments about Bower SLY 358N 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens For Nikon APS-C Cameras:

I use fisheye only in 1% of my shooting time and therefore I was looking for some inexpensive lens.
The Bower 8/3.5 seems like a right choice for me.
For such a short focus length the manual focusing is very forgivable.
This lens is not a sharp king but nobody expect it from fisheye.

Comments about Bower SLY 358N 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens For Nikon APS-C Cameras:

Just wrote a long review about this lens and BH decided to throw me an error and lose it all.. awesome. so 1 star to you BH... What the [*].....in short. Good lens. however the Fstop reading on the CAMERA is incorrect.

Comments about Bower SLY 358N 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens For Nikon APS-C Cameras:

This cheap little fisheye is amazing for the price. It is solidly built with an all metal housing. It is a bit heavy, and I'm fond of that. It is a fully manual lens, You set the zoom and aperture re. However it seems to have a tab that seems to allow for a camera to control the aperture. However my camera does not use it. Over all once the lens is stopped down the images are very sharp for the price. If you shoot in dusty conditions be ready to constantly clean this lens. The bulging front lens is a magnet for dust. And with almost unlimited depth of field, you will see it in your photos.