CANON 15MM FISHEYE MANUAL
CANON 15MM FISHEYE SERIES

Illumination appears even across the image area at all apertures, although the edges of the circular image field can look a little fuzzy at apertures faster than f/5.6.

It can be cured in software.Īpochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more.ĭistortion is typical of fisheye lenses, and the projection is quite even across the image area, resulting in more natural looking images than some fisheye lenses, which can leave objects near the edges of the frame looking contorted.ĭue to the 180 degree field of view, it isn't possible to formally test for falloff of illumination towards the image boundaries. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. At 15mm and f/4, fringing covers almost 2.25 pixels widths, which will most definitely be visible in high contrast areas towards the edges of the frame.Ĭhromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Simple.įor this review, the lens was tested on a Canon EOS 5D Mark III using Imatest.Īs is often the case with fisheye optics, chromatic aberrations are quite high towards the edges of the frame, and with this lens, the issue increases as the lens is zoomed in. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column. The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. As is the case with other focal lengths, sharpness towards the edges improves as the lens is stopped down, reaching fairly good levels from f/5.6 onwards. Although clarity in the centre of the image area is still very good, the quality towards the edges of the frame remains fairly poor at maximum aperture. With the lens stopped down to f/11 sharpness towards the edges of the image circle improves to good levels.įinally, at 15mm, there is a drop in overall sharpness levels. As the lens is stopped down, the clarity towards the edges of the image circle improves dramatically and between f/8 and f/11 resolution approaches excellent levels throughout the image circle.Īt 10mm, sharpness in the centre remains outstanding at maximum aperture, but the clarity towards the edges falls away somewhat. Towards the edges of the projected image circle, sharpness drops off gradually only reaching fair levels at this aperture. Thankfully the expansive depth of field can help absorb any focusing errors.Ĭanon 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye Zoom PerformanceĪt 8mm and f/4, sharpness in the centre of the frame is outstanding. This isn't necessarily an issue with the lens itself, just an observation, and one of the quirks of using a fisheye.

CANON 15MM FISHEYE MANUAL

Full time manual focus adjustments are supported, although due to the nature of the lens, it can be difficult to accurately judge focus through the viewfinder. Unfortunately there is no hyperfocal scale on the lens, which can be useful when using a fisheye. Markings are provided on the left hand side of the lens denoting where to zoom to to get a diagonal fisheye field of view for APS-C and APS-H, for example, the APS-H marking sets the lens at around 12mm.Īuto focus is extremely fast, as you may expect from a fisheye lens. Some facility to lock the lens at either 8mm, or 15mm for full frame users would also have been much appreciated, as the zoom only requires the lightest touch to move through the range. The zoom action is very smooth, if a little loose and a limiter switch can be engaged to stop the lens being zoomed to focal lengths shorter than 10m, for use on an APS-C Canon camera. The lens body is sealed against dust and moisture and the lens has a weighty solid feel to it, which compliments the Canon EOS 5D Mark III used for testing perfectly.

CANON 15MM FISHEYE SERIES

At 8mm a circular image is available, but with much of the projected picture area cropped from the top and bottom.Ĭanon 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye Zoom Handling and featuresĪs is typical of Canon L series lenses, the build quality is superb. Those using this lens on a camera with an APS-C sensor have a diagonal fisheye at 10mm with a little zoom to save cropping afterwards. With the lens zoomed to 15mm, the lens offers a diagonal fisheye image, with a field of view of 180 degrees from corner to corner. At 8mm it provides a circular fisheye image, with a 180 degree field of view in all directions.

This unique lens offers two lenses in one for full frame camera users.

Canon 15mm fisheye