Lensbaby 5.8mm f/3.5 Circular Fisheye Manual Focus Lens for Nikon DSLR

2019-01-20T05:47:29

I like fisheye lenses and the LensBaby is the keeper, after trying the 8mm Rokinon/Samyang (non circular) and the 6.5mm Meike on my Fujifilm APS-C cameras.Two reasons for that: 1.The lens is not specifically made for the Fuji mount and because of that there is an extension ring between the lens body and Fuji mount. This adds some extra length to it (i.e. longer distance between the front element and the mount) which makes easier to not include your fingers in the frame. Yes, 5.8mm give a very unusually wide field of view.2. Being 5.8mm, it gives a perfectly circular image on the APS-C Fujifilm sensors and this is what I was going for.That being said, a circular Fisheye lens can be a very creative tool if used by the right person and is definitely a fun toy for every photographer that likes circular fisheyes.End notes:-The easy way to remove the front cap is by pulling from on side only-Extreme flare is part of the equation and fun of circular Fisheyes

Georgios K.

2018-01-24T11:41:55

This lens will work as advertised but don't expect great quality images. The visibility of the inside of the lens can be fun but get's in the way of the images. On balance for the price, it's a nice ultra wide angle lens with limitiations.

Tim M.

2016-12-13T12:48:35

The Lens is Finely crafted even though plastic is used. The focus and aperture barrels are firm. The sharpness at smaller apertures proves to be sharp.

Christopher R.

2016-05-23T09:56:59

I have only used the lens a few times, but am generally happy with its performance. I still need to work on improving the sharpness. Negative aspects would be the plastic mounting ring as other users have noted.

BARBARA A.

2016-04-18T18:57:35

Provides APS-C circular fisheye capability without the high cost of the 4.5mm lens by another company. Only down side with this lens is the plastic lens mount.

SCOTT D.

2015-03-07T19:00:00

Very fun to play with such a wide angle, easy to crop down for square image. Hard to focus in viewfinder but I found that using Live-View and magnify the lcd screen makes it much easier.

PhotoKid

2014-05-27T21:00:00

I really wasn't expecting too much in the way of quality from this lens, but I got less than I expected. For a lens priced more than my wonderful Nikon 50mm f1.8, I assumed it would be of similar quality, especially since it's completely manual. It's not... Right away I noticed the packaging wasn't sturdy enough and the lens was rolling around in it's box. Next was the aperture ring. There is hardly any friction at the f stops, so the slightest touch or bump and it changes by it's self . Next thing was the focus ring which has very little drag and again the slightest touch or bump and the focus ring will move. Because there is literally no drag on the focus ring, I found it difficult to make small adjustments and was over and undershooting where I wanted focus to be. Just removing you fingers from the ring, can cause the focus to change and if you let your fingers on the ring, they're also in the photo. Since the lens is small, the rings are close together, so I found when focusing, my big fingers would accidentally moved the aperture ring and vice-a-versa. Using my D300s in bright sunlight, the green dot in focus indicator was not always available. You need quite a bit of contrast before it will appear on close-up work and I found without this aid and since the image is so distorted and since I wear bifocals, I visually couldn't tell if there was focus or not. While trying to focus on the center of a pink flower with little contrast, I never got the green dot to appear and many out of focus shots even using the distant scale on the lens and a tripod. It's a little better using live view, but not if your in bright sunlight and you can't see the screen. It also gives this Halo around the photo which was describe in the Demo Video, but I didn't always want it and there is no way to get rid of it except in post production. It does create some cool effects but not enough to make me want to keep it and figure out it's little quirks, so I'm returning it and looking for something else. If you're good at shooting manual, maybe you'd have better luck..

Tom

2014-05-21T21:00:00

Love the special effects you can great with this lens. It opens up so many creative doors.

apicturemoment

2014-05-19T21:00:00

Except for a somewhat flimsy front lens cap, this lens fully met my expectations - especially for its cost! The images are acceptably sharp(again considering its price). It's a fun lens to use. Just be careful where you place your fingers and toes.

CHARLES B.