Name: ProOptic 8mm f/3.5 Manual Focus, Fish Eye Lens with Pentax Mount.
Brand: ProOptic
SKU: PRO835PX
Price: 287.95 USD
Availability: Discontinued
Rating: 4.25 (83 reviews)

ProOptic 8mm f/3.5 Manual Focus, Fish Eye Lens with Pentax Mount.

ProOptic 8mm F/3.5

ProOPTIC

ProOPTIC 8mm f/3.5 Fish Eye Lens with Pentax Mount

Adorama

Photography

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SLR Lenses

ProOptic SLR Lenses

ProOptic 8mm F/3.5 

Buy: ProOptic 8mm f/3.5 Manual Focus, Fish Eye Lens with Pentax Mount. Lens Mount: Pentax K, Lens Type: Fisheye

ProOptic

Lots of fun taking pictures with such a wide angle. Really good for architecture and dog faces. Manual focus only, but the site information is clear on that. Hard to focus because of large depth of field. Definitely turn on peaking (color marking of in-focus parts of image) if you have it. Very reasonable cost.

Enjoyable lens

Specialty lens that is well worth the price. Set the focus and forget it. It's that simple. Image quality is quite good.

Fish Eye

Everything I was expecting and more

First of all you can not beat the price.  At less than $300 it does what I need.  My first few shots using this lens were in one word "Spectacular".  We have an Old courthouse built in 1888 and from the first floor you can see all the way to the cupola.  I shot straight up (with my D5100) and got beautiful concentric rings of the second and third floors with the brass railing and accent lights.  A fisheye except for a very few is not your everyday lens.  Thios one does present a few challenges.  It is NOT a CPU lens and you can only use it in shutter priority and manual and it is manual focus. You can only playback (at least of my camera) only in those modes as the camera's computer does not recogize that a lens is attached.  Attching the lens to the camera is a bit stiff, but considering the price and the fact I needed this lens for a few planned shoots, I can't complain at all.  THe optics are excellent, just without the "Bells and Whistles".  If you need a fisheye in your kit for now and then shooting, I highly recommend it, if you need a fisheye lens a lot (such for realtors) then you need something a more expensive.

Good lens for the price

I initially bought it to get the fish-eye effect. This lens does an amazing job at that, biggest thing is to keep your fingers out of the way don't hold it by the focus ring. As Ken Rockwell mentions focus it once and you will probably never touch it again. My D7100 will meter with when set as a custom lens, and it will give the focus assist.  Also be sure to get insanely close to long straight objects and place them near the edges.  It's definitely the most fun I have had with a new lens.  Added bonus Sun Stars it does a wonderful job.

Great for artistic lines

Awesome Lens

I had a still camera with a fish eye on it. When I changed to a DSLR i really missed that effect, but the image quality from the DSLR it was amazing.
I get this lens less than a week ago from Adorama and I'm really happy with it.
It has a strong construction and its image quality is incredible, no dark zones in corners and you can have the biggest aperture from your lens during all the way since is manual.
The hardest part is indeed the manual focus, you need to be very careful at what are you shooting because doesn't have any exposure information in your camera. Beside that it is a great deal.

I'm happy with it!

I use it with a Ninja 3 panohead on tripod and PTgui find good control point everytime. Great lens.

great for sherical panoramas

Great Lens, comes in all sort of names, Bower, Vivitar, Sammy... so just get the cheapest one unless you care about the packaging and brand image. THEY ALL ARE THE SAME and come form the same factory somewhere in Korea.I really wanted to add a fisheye to my collection, problem was they're too expensive. I found this one, cheap compared to its Nikkor Counter parts.It's a bit tricky to put it on at first but you'll get a hang of it in no time.If you are just getting into fisheyes get this one, you won't regret it. It takes great videos, and great photos.If you are still in doubt read Ken Rockwell's review: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/8mm-f35.htmThis lens was a no brainer for me!

Great Bang for your Buck!

I'm not used to having lenses that are so exposed, so I'm extra careful. My friend had a try and accidentally touched it with a sweaty strap. so I had to clean it up a little with lens tissue and fluid :( 

As for the rest, this is one affordable lens that gives so much more for what you pay. Honestly, I didn't expect it to deliver this good results. But it does. It surpassed my expectations.

More than I expected

Great bargain fish eye. Solid with clear optics. Fun, creative lens

Just buy one

The construction is of plastic and fine but not really heavy duty.
The bayonent mount is tight and a bit sticky for the last couple of mm.
It is sharp and clear and while of course it is heavily distorted (at 8mm) it turns out this is not an issue for more shots than I thought.

Sharp and more useful than I expected

I love using this lens! Though it's very job-specific, you will have fun taking unique pics w/a fun fish-eye angle.
  The only issues to have are the fact you can only shoot in Manual (f-Stop and Shutter Speed) as the Nikon chip will not read the lens. Also, there is no white dot line-up marker, but you'll get the hang of that in no time.
 Overall an amazing purchase with great glass for the price.

Amazing and Fun Lens for a Great Price

I use this lens for creating 360 x 180 panoramas used for image based lighting. This was the cheapest fisheye lens I could find yet it has astounded me. At f 8 the lens is sharp, and has very very little lens flare when pointed directly at the sun. Only problem I have found is that the focus ring and the painted scale are off, however there a fixes for this on the internet! (try google) 

Over all, this inexpensive lens is well worth the price. The quality is actually good and the image sharp (in the hands of a good photographer). Now probably my most used lens.

Pro-Optic (Samyang) 8mm lens review

This is a manual focus lens, but that's not really a problem, almost everything will be in focus if you set it for a focus in the middle of the focus range you want (called "Hyperfocal distance").

Colors are deep and rich, contrast is excellent (too good, sometimes), and my copy is plenty sharp when stopped down a few clicks (I don't know how sharp it is wide open at 3.5 since I've never used it there).  

The curvature of the fisheye-effect is visible, but not super pronounced; I find that with landscape photography, if I keep the shot lined up with the horizon in the middle, curvature is not even noticeable unless you have a vertical straight line near the far left or right of the frame (see my included pic as a good illustration of this point).  Also, there is software available that does an incredible job of 'flattening' fisheye pics to remove any curvature; oh, the wonders of computers...

Because this lens has such a wide angle (167 degrees on Canon crop sensors, like my Rebel XSi, a full 180 degrees on other brands like Nikon), if it's a bright sunny day, your frame will include the full gamut of lighting, from bright sun to deep shade, and digital cameras don't have that much dynamic range; I find that taking pictures  with the XSi in daylight, I have to set exposure compensation between -1 1/3 to -2 full stops to keep from totally blowing out most of the sky.  With this lens, I find that I must check the histogram of each picture to see if *anything* bright is blown (not just highlights!), and comp down appropriately.  I never used to pay attention to histograms, but with this lens I must; it has been a learning experience, and it doesn't bother me.  This is my first fisheye, and they are a different beast for sure.

I originally wanted a regular wide lens, but they are very expensive, and this 8mm was about half the price of the cheapest wides, so this was my choice, and I am very, very pleased with it.  In fact, I can just crop my pics and have the equivalent of any lens between 8mm and 18mm (where my 18-135mm lens starts).  I'm no longer shopping for a wide-angle lens, I've got such a good one in this fisheye!

To use, I set my XSi to Aperture-priority, check my focus ring (I leave it set at about 8' all the time, and most everything from 2 feet - infinity will be in focus), and check my aperture ring setting (usually f5.6 - f11), then take a test pic, check the histogram, and set my exposure comp accordingly to protect my highlights.  Easy!  And second-nature to me now.

I only have two complaints: firstly, the aperture ring is thin and right up to the camera body, and the overhang of the built-in flash covers it, making it problematic to see (especially without my glasses); secondly, when removing the lens, about the only place to grip it where you can twist the lens is on the built-in lens hood, so be careful not to get hand prints all over that huge curved glass in front (good luck, it takes practice).  But these are minor.

This has lens has been lots of fun, and I keep it in my camera bag and use it almost every time I take pictures outdoors (and it is essential for indoor wide shots).  Get it!  It's a bargain.

Get this lens!

Want a true wide angle, almost fisheye lens without spending the dough that Nikon demands? This lens is for you! It's manual focus, but at this wide an angle, the DoF is extremely deep making focusing a matter of simply reading the scale. It's sharp, clear, smooth, made of metal, and durable. An all around great deal on an aftermarket lens. 

The price difference between this and the closest thing to it that Nikon offers is significant. The quality of the image and the build of the lens is the same however.

Great Deal!

I've been wanting a fisheye for years buy couldn't
justify the price of a dedicated lens for the number of applications.  However, this is a super product for the price. Just about every shot may be made more creative by using this lens.  You cannot imagine in your mind's eye what this will do so you have to try.  Absence of autofocus is a pain, but the $1,000 savings more than makes up for it.  Do not buy this lens.  I want to keep this a secret for myself.

Super value

So happy I bought this.  Good images.  Requires getting used to. Not for every photo.  Sometimes you have to take the pictures and only then decide whether it's worth keeping. Great for experimentation.

Best photo bargain around

Harvey, it should work on your 7 D with proper adaptor The problem with any fisheye is its limited use and the fact it needs extra light. all the more reason not to spend a fortune on one.

Good fisheye for the money

Cool fisheye effect is a must in my bag of lenses.
Sharp, light, cheaper then autofocus lenses.

Pro-Optic 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye

Works fine

A nifty gizmo for the price, I'm still exploring uses for this lens and having fun doing so.  When you really need a fisheye nothing else will do, and this one fills the perfomance/price bill.  Sharpens significantly when stopped down a bit.  No autofocus (pretty worthless feature on a fisheye anyway IMO), so you need to be attentive to f-stop and focus ring.  Tremendous DOF in daylight at f/8.  For astrophotographers - if using an EOS clip filter on a modified body, focus for infinity will be almost all the way to the close focus end of the focus ring.

Fun to experiment with

This is a niche product which is great for unusual landscape shots and for specialty shots at events.

excellent product for niche use

Wonderful lens to render that special difference. The curvature can be controlled, also can be used to effectively add interest to special shots especially architectural.

Nikon Pro-Optic 8 mm, outstanding!

Catch this Fish!

Possibly not as good as the much more expensive oem alternatives... Don't have any to compare it to, but lots better than the converters I have tried. For the limited use it will get it is a clear choice over the brand models, and has no obvious flaws. With adapters the Nikon model will fit just about anything, and since manual focus and exposure are preferred at this focal length I am now done getting fisheyes.

Bargain price and gets the job done

Hopefully this was a bad sample and it says alot about quality control. To say no part of the frame was in focus would be generous. After viewing first 3 images, double checked focus and took several more. Looks like a screw in fisheye attachment. Will send back and perhaps try another.

Bad Sample?

I bought this for myself as a birthday present.   It isn't the kind of thing I use every day. This is something I pull out when I want a photo to have a different "look", or when I'm feeling creatively blocked.  The object in the center of the frame looks normal, while the surrounding area gradually gets more and more compressed as you look to the edges of the frame...it can be a very cool look!  I've had a surprising amount of fun with this lens, and it has helped my photography by making me more conscious of what is at the edges and corners of the frame.

A cure for photographer's block

For the price, it's unbeatable. Excellent optics and as a fisheye, the lack of auto-focus can't be a dealbreaker. The front lens cap is very poorly made, but there is little solution for it. The rear lens cap may as well sit on your shelf as a back-up if you have extra Nikon caps around. If not, the extra five bucks to get one is about as close to a must-buy as there can be.

Excellent fisheye

Wanted a fisheye for some time now. The cost allways put me off for some thing I would use occasionaly. This lens fit the bill. I used it to take some close up shots of myself and my guitar player on stage with just the house lights. The shots turned out great. I used the suggestion from another review" set the focus on 2 foot and the apeture on F8" and most every thing is in focus from near to far.There is a learning curve since the lens is manuel every thing. I set my Canon 50D on manuel and adjust the shot as required with ISO, and apature. You can set the Canon to AV and get good results to.Just remember the camera won't comunicate with this lens. If I broke this lens today I would order another to replace it, I'm fully satisfied with what it is and what it does.