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First Impressions - Rockstar 10mm f8 Fisheye Lens

Started Feb 4, 2022 | Discussions thread
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HaroldC3
HaroldC3 Veteran Member • Posts: 3,067
First Impressions - Rockstar 10mm f8 Fisheye Lens
7

I just received the Rockstar 10mm f8 fisheye lens from China today. I purchased it off of AliExpress for about $50 USD and my hope was it would work well for my infrared (590nm) converted M6.

I will do a full review in the next couple of weeks after I've had more experience with this lens but these are a few of my first impressions.

First, the lens is a manual focus fixed aperture lens which makes it kind of nice so you only have to worry about focusing it. As you can see from the above photo, the lens is very thin. Without the lens cap, it protrudes out about as much as the grip on the M6. With the lens cap on, it's a centimeter or so past it.

When I first handled the lens I was surprised by the weight. I was expecting an extremely lightweight lens (even a plastic body) but it's got a quality feel with a metal body and a little weight to it (81 grams without the lens caps by my measurement). The focus ring is extremely smooth and it comes with a nice metal push-on lens cap. It also comes with a nice zippered pouch to store it in.

Mild sharpening was applied in CaptureOne. No distortion correction. Converted to black and white using Silver Efex Pro 2.

From the few test shots I took in my backyard I was very pleased with the performance of the lens. The lens is quite sharp with some mild sharpening. Without sharpness is okay but the fact it sharpens up nicely with even a little sharpening in post is a really nice.

I'm also happy to say, so far I have not noticed an IR hotspot. This was my main concern and I am very relieved that I haven't seen one. There is some vignetting but I think it looks pretty nice. The fisheye distortion actually seems to not be extreme and probably correctable but we'll see when I take some more images.

So in summary, for $50 USD, I have a positive first impression. I'm sure the fact that it's a slow fixed aperture lens will turn some people off from it but it will certainly suit my infrared shooting needs. Look for a more thorough review later.

https://www.dpreview.com/news/8807947932/rockstar-new-budget-friendly-10mm-f8-fisheye-and-27mm-f2-8-lenses-both-cost-less-than-80

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001770830946.html?spm=a2g0s.12269583.0.0.3ae56edcBcYXGS

 HaroldC3's gear list:HaroldC3's gear list
Canon EOS M6 Nikon Z7 Canon EF-M 22mm f/2 STM Canon EF-M 15-45mm F3.5-6.3 IS STM Nikon Z 14-30mm F4 +3 more
Canon EOS M6
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