Ultra Wide Angle - Fisheye Lenses

A fish eye lens is basically a wide-angle lens that takes a very wide globe like image. Originally the fisheye lens was developed for use in meteorology and astronomy. They were actually called whole-sky lenses. Fisheye lenses soared in popularity because of the unique distorted images they produced. Fish eye lens pictures were used when shooting wide landscapes to give the suggestion of the curve of the Earth.

With a Nikon fisheye lens (and with other brand name lenses) there are two kinds of fisheye lenses – the circular and the full frame. If you use an Olympus fisheye lens, and use the circular lens (one of the first to be developed), you'll find it works in a 180 degree hemisphere. It projects this picture as a circle within the film frame.

If you are using a full-frame fisheye lens such as the Canon fisheye lens, the Swann fish eye lens, or the Sigma fisheye lens you'll find the original circle has been expanded to cover the entire 35mm film frame. This means the picture angle for these lenses only measures 180 degrees – corner to corner. And as you will now know from your research on the Nikon fisheye lens, the first full-frame fisheye lens that was mass-produced was the 16mm lens by Nikon. (1960) An interesting bit of trivia for you, this lens is usually the one used by most photographers.

Just to digress for a moment, good news for those of you wanting a circular lens. The Peleng 3.5/8 mm fisheye lens is one of the few circular fisheye lenses currently available. That makes it extraordinary. But what also makes it stand out is its price. Depending on where you get this lens, you could be paying as little as $200.00 USD.

Not sure what mm to get for a lens? Really, all you need to do is perform an Internet search for mm fisheye lenses and virtually the whole world is at your fingertips. Take a nice slow gander through all the information to get a feel for the various mm's available before you decide to buy one or maybe even rent one.

Find the 27mm fisheye lens, the 58mm fish eye lens and the 65mm fisheye lens on eBay, other auction sites, and manufacturer’s sites or as third party sourced lenses.

Other uses for a fisheye lens are photographers wanting to shoot skateboarding and get as close as they can and still keep the skateboarder in the shot. Those peepholes in doors? Those are fisheye lenses as well. And the first music video to be shot completely with a fisheye lens was for the Beastie Boys in 1989. Remember the song Shake Your Rump?