8mm F1.8 Fisheye Tests

Lens arrived on February 21 and I tested it out that night. Not only my third lens ever, but also my first prime lens ever, so maybe I was too excited, a little nervous too, especially at $1140 CAD new. I needed a lens for street photography at night and other low light situations. I did not realize how big 12-100mm and 8-25mm F4 were until I got this so that is also welcome. Surprisingly nice starry effect on the lights at F2. I figured the fisheye effect would be nice alternative to starry lights for a more dreamy feeling at night, so both fisheye and stars at F2 is even better. Now that weather is warm, I plan to try again later this month. My body is E-M1 II.

click on image for full size view

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It is a nice lens for sure...I like mine plenty. De-fish's in camera too if you want

A fisheye lens is a requirement in my camera kits. I started with the Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 in 1991 along with my EOS 10s. I acquired the Oly 8mm f/3.5 fisheye in 4/3 system as soon as it was introduced circa 2006. When I moved to µ4/3 in 2011, Lumix already had its 8mm f/3.5 (tiny tiny fisheye!) and it was the second µ4/3 lens I acquired after the Oly 12mm f/2. Then I traded that Lumix fisheye for the current Oly 8mm f/1.8 circa 2016.

You have a terrific lens in the Oly 8mm f/1.8. I don't use my fisheye all the time, but I get my share of good images every year with that lens.

Note: I never de-fish my images. The fisheye effect is why I own the lens. Getting a good image is a matter of finding the subject that shines when captured with a fisheye perspective. As for de-fishing, I heard a saying once, "If you didn't want to go to Chicago, why did you get on the train?" The same goes for fisheye lenses in my book. 😉

A few days ago I experimented with defishing these photos in Capture One and the "correction" is very extreme, and it doesn't really work because I already composed for the fisheye perspective. Maybe with more advanced software and in-camera preview, defish can be good option, not so much for "correction", but more like having a second lens as a bonus. Not something I will use much, considering I already have the 8-25mm F4. It will be very fun to experiment with the fisheye effect this summer, try something new.

Edit: I just realized the forum doesn't display my photos full-size? The photos were supposed to be 1280x960px, so sorry about that. I will try to fix it.

Edit 2: Okay, I have enabled the photos to display full size in a new tab if you click on them as a workaround. Hopefully, the admins come up with a permanent solution.

I know that the prior generation Olympus Cameras (E-M5iii, E-M1 ii and iii) could only defish the 8mm/1.8 in camera with photos and not video. Does anyone know if the same limitation exists with the OM1 and the OM5?

About the only time I use O. Workspace is for de-fishing 8mm FE photos. It gives a lot of control and does an excellent job. LR can't compete (IDK Capture One). I don't de-fish in-camera because it disables other features.

Super cool effect

Good to see you enjoying your new lens. It’s my UWA but I tend to defish in camera.

When you are ready, I think the Laowa 10/2 would suit you. It has excellent sun stars. That’s assuming you are comfortable with MF.

Andrew