Sigma Fisheye 8mm f/3.5 EX DG Circular Fisheye Autofocus Lens for Nikon AF

Comments about Sigma 8mm f/3.5 EX DG Circular Fisheye Autofocus Lens for Nikon AF:

I carry my 8mm Sigma with me everywhere to use on my full frame D700. I also have the 14-24 Nikon, and while that is a higher quality lens (a bit sharper, and it doesn't do the "circle" thing), it is huge and it weighs a TON, and is therefore a bear to carry around.

The Sigma does a wonderful job of capturing my world the way I see it. Somehow, our eyes are aware of things way to the left and way to the right, just the way this 180 degree lens works, and I love using it to record events -- all the people at a table of 10 at a wedding, or all the people in the luxury box at a baseball game, all with one photo, and not having to make anyone move. (And I actually love the circle thing! It makes beautiful 16 by 16 photos on my Epson printer).

About the only drawback that I have found is that, not surprisingly, the Nikon exposure system doesn't know what to make of the data that it gets from this lens, so I sometimes have to take two or three photos to get the right exposure.

Comments about Sigma 8mm f/3.5 EX DG Circular Fisheye Autofocus Lens for Nikon AF:

I use this for spherical panoramic photos and it is the best lens for the job.

Comments about Sigma 8mm f/3.5 EX DG Circular Fisheye Autofocus Lens for Nikon AF:

Full frame, 8mm, 3.5 autofocus suitable for Nikon FX: does any other lens compete with this offering from Sigma? To my knowledge, the answer is no ... and that makes the quibble that follows a bit irrelevant. If you want what this lens offers, then this is what you've got to get, at least for now. Sigma has carved out their own monopoly. On to the quibble: I hate the external focus ring. Hate it. I support lenses with fingertips under the lens, and it's a bear to do it with this thing without interfering with the @#$!! external focus, and perhaps harming the lens in the process. I haven't harmed the lens in this fashion yet, but must remind myself every time I put it on: watch out for the #$@$ external focus! There's barely room for the tips of my fingers for balance on the edge of the lens. Lousy ergonomics. Other than that, I'm a happy camper. I didn't expect reasonably speedy, sharp autofocus or ultra high quality output, but got both. It's a fine piece of glass. I second everything Justin L. wrote in his review.A special, important note to Capture NX users: if you see a big, fat ring in the center of images taken with this lens, go to Develop --> Camera & Lens Correction --> Vignette Control, and change Intensity to 0. That'll fix you up.

Comments about Sigma 8mm f/3.5 EX DG Circular Fisheye Autofocus Lens for Nikon AF:

This is one of the only currently produced fisheye lenses that will give a full circle 180 degree field of view on Nikon FX or 35mm cams.

The clerk at the store advised this lens was intended for DX as the full circle would be an unintended result, but it doesn't look very good on DX. I tested it on a D200 and instead of just the full 180 degree view to the four corners, you could still see the sides of the image circle, just not the top. Not sure how the guy was steering me, but if you need a diagonal fisheye for DX I would say look elsewhere.

This lens is fairly light, but seems sturdily built, and very compact. The whole front lens element is completely exposed, leaving it vulnerable to damage and dirt, but this it true of most if not all fisheyes. It can be hard to keep clean, but I keep a blower brush on hand which takes care of most of it instantly. Images are sharp throughout the aperture range in my experience with the D700. Focus is fast and fairly quiet, the focus ring moves externally, so if you steady your camera with a hand under the lens, this might make your grip a bit precarious as the focus ring takes up a good deal of the length of the lens. Manual focus is a little tight, but smooth, which I believe is good if you have to tweak focus very lightly. Min focus distance is amazing, one of my only worries about this lens is possible scuffing because I keep bumping into my subjects with the front of the lens. Even then, focus is tack sharp. The two part lens cap arrangement is very good. It stays firmly in place, but is easy to remove and replace, swapping out this lens is very easy especially with the included cap.

I haven't owned another circular fisheye yet to know how much this differs among them, but for information's sake, you can see washed out light bleed around the image circle if there are direct light sources within or close to the image circle. It doesn't seem to affect the actual image much unless it's a lot of light or pointed directly into the lens, and can be blacked out very easily in PS. It can actually make a cool effect in some situations depending on composition. It is a fast lens, but it loses just a bit with 3.5 min instead of 2.8 like some other currently available fisheyes.