A fisheye lens may be exactly what you need in your photography bag. Here are seven reasons why.
Instant creativity is the number one reason why I love fisheye lenses. There have been times in which I have been doing night photography and was stuck or distracted. I’ve gotten calls before that disrupted my creative process. However, if I attach a fisheye lens, I feel like it turbocharges my creativity. A fisheye lens seems to create a lot of ideas.
Even if I have been to a location numerous times before, I can always count on a fisheye lens to give me a new glimpse into the world. After all, who looks at the world from a fisheye perspective regularly — besides, well, fish? The fisheye lens allows us to pull back and get a beautiful, distorted 180-degree view of the world. Or we can jam it in close to something to get an almost macro view, going for the detail. Or add a surreal or psychedelic look to some portraits or album covers!
That’s right. That 180-degree view (or so) works wonders for capturing the whole sky. Stick your lens straight up. There you go. A lot of times, what is on the ground will surround the edge, cradling the photo. This is great for night photography, astrophotography, and so forth. And as a bonus, a lot of fisheye lenses have wide apertures. They can let in a lot more light. This means that you can shoot faster and capture the stars as pinpoints if that’s what you want to do.
Get a lot of what is going on around you. And do so easily! Context is key for many photos. I should add here that if you wish, you can use a fisheye lens and fix the distortion later if you choose not to have it. And you do have choices. Photoshop and other programs can address this. You can also use PTLens, which gives a lot of control over lens correction. Or you can photograph panoramas by combining several photos and fixing the distortion in post-processing.
I love this sort of distortion. The elements in the distance fall away and look small, while anything up-close looks larger than life. How fun!
A lot of times, we need to address keystoning, straight lines on buildings or other things, and maintain proper perspective. Not here! Let it fly! Have fun!
Weird is great. Embrace your inner weirdness.
I have been using a Rokinon 12mm 2.8 fisheye lens since 2017. It’s good and sharp. Although it’s manual focus, it’s rather easy and forgiving to focus. Of course, there are many different types of fisheye lenses. Explore a little and see what each one offers.
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I am a night photographer. I drive long hours in a dusty car listening to weird music, stay out all night creating photos, get dirty, hang out with other creative sleep-deprived weirdos, see the stars drift across the sky and always find the best taco stands while photographing forgotten abandoned locales and amazing nightscapes. I have two books published with two more on the way. My images have appeared in National Geographic Books, Omni magazine, Los Angeles Times, Westways magazine and numerous other publications.
I for one really like the fisheye lens.
Right? I love them and wish that I had not waited so long to use one! Your fisheye night photos have been looking pretty great, by the way!!
I LOVE my Irix 15mm! While some say it’s not a fisheye, it’s at least a “start”! Extremely sharp and crisp. Infinite focus detent and more. Very well engineered. Very reasonably priced. It paid for itself on the first serious shoot I did with it – can’t beat that! Thanks for the recommendation (~3 years ago or so! LOL). Enjoy your articles, Ken.
I5mm starts getting that wide angle distortion, especially if you jam it up close to something. Great lens regardless. And sure, my pleasure. I love the Irix 15mm lens. And thanks so much for the kind words!
https://photofocus.com/reviews/seven-reasons-the-irix-15mm-f-2-4-may-be-the-greatest-budget-ultrawide-lens/
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