What are my options for full frame circular fish eye?

JasonMulvern · Aug 18, 2023

What would be my lens options for a circular fish eye lens on a full frame Z (eg. the Z6ii) please? I already have an FTZ adapter so can use Z or F mount.

I see from searches here the Nikon 8-15mm should work with the FTZ. At around £1500 in the UK is there anything cheaper? The Meike 4mm looks like it is for APSC only. I can't see anything from Samyang and TTartisan's 11mm looks like it covers the whole frame.

The zoom of the Nikon looks nice though, being able to choose between circular or full view.

Leonard Shepherd · Aug 18, 2023

Ingenious44 said:
What would be my lens options for a circular fish eye lens on a full frame Z (eg. the Z6ii) please? I already have an FTZ adapter so can use Z or F mount.

I see from searches here the Nikon 8-15mm should work with the FTZ. At around £1500 in the UK is there anything cheaper? The Meike 4mm looks like it is for APSC only. I can't see anything from Samyang and TTartisan's 11mm looks like it covers the whole frame.

The zoom of the Nikon looks nice though, being able to choose between circular or full view.

I am not aware of anything else current from Nikon.

The 8-15 works well - with a price around £1450 from WEX and other places.

It was around £1,100 when I bought mine 4 years ago.

You can (just) get a conventional fish-eye effect at 14mm.

If you shoot RAW, Lightroom can de-fish a circular fish-eye image to a normal image equivalent to about 11mm - with some loss of corner quality

--
Leonard Shepherd
In lots of ways good photography is similar to learning to play a piano - it takes practice to develop skill in either activity.

vbuhay · Aug 18, 2023

Ingenious44 said:
What would be my lens options for a circular fish eye lens on a full frame Z (eg. the Z6ii) please? I already have an FTZ adapter so can use Z or F mount.

I see from searches here the Nikon 8-15mm should work with the FTZ. At around £1500 in the UK is there anything cheaper? The Meike 4mm looks like it is for APSC only. I can't see anything from Samyang and TTartisan's 11mm looks like it covers the whole frame.

The zoom of the Nikon looks nice though, being able to choose between circular or full view.

I have the TTArtisan 7.5mm f2.0 Z Mount Lens - Cheap at about $139 back in 2021 (B&H)....Fully Manual only...small but Beefy metal construction(front lens Cap - a bit loose)...uses an internal ND1000 filter included.

TTArtisan 7.5mm f/2 Fisheye Lens with ND1000 Filter A31B-Z B&H (bhphotovideo.com)

vbuhay · Aug 18, 2023

vbuhay said:
Ingenious44 said:

What would be my lens options for a circular fish eye lens on a full frame Z (eg. the Z6ii) please? I already have an FTZ adapter so can use Z or F mount.

I see from searches here the Nikon 8-15mm should work with the FTZ. At around £1500 in the UK is there anything cheaper? The Meike 4mm looks like it is for APSC only. I can't see anything from Samyang and TTartisan's 11mm looks like it covers the whole frame.

The zoom of the Nikon looks nice though, being able to choose between circular or full view.

Click to expand...

I have the TTArtisan 7.5mm f2.0 Z Mount Lens - Cheap at about $139 back in 2021 (B&H)....Fully Manual only...small but Beefy metal construction(front lens Cap - a bit loose)...uses an internal ND1000 filter included.

TTArtisan 7.5mm f/2 Fisheye Lens with ND1000 Filter A31B-Z B&H (bhphotovideo.com)

Here are some sample test shots:

With my Z50.... I need to try it with my Z9 one of these days.

kenw · Aug 18, 2023

Ingenious44 said:
TTartisan's 11mm looks like it covers the whole frame.

Be advised the TTArtisan 11/2.8 fish-eye is actually a 15 mm focal length (actually slightly less, like 14.7 or something). They call it a "11 mm" because when de-fished it provides the FoV of an 11mm rectilinear lens.

You might look for an APS-C whole frame fisheye lens which would end up being a circular fish eye on a FF camera (so like the 8mm and 7.5mm APS-C fisheye lenses from a variety of manufacturers). I recall seeing some reviews of such lenses where they show the image shot by a FF sensor.

--
Ken W
See profile for equipment list

commiebiker · Aug 18, 2023

Ingenious44 said:
What would be my lens options for a circular fish eye lens on a full frame Z (eg. the Z6ii) please? I already have an FTZ adapter so can use Z or F mount.

I see from searches here the Nikon 8-15mm should work with the FTZ. At around £1500 in the UK is there anything cheaper? The Meike 4mm looks like it is for APSC only. I can't see anything from Samyang and TTartisan's 11mm looks like it covers the whole frame.

The zoom of the Nikon looks nice though, being able to choose between circular or full view.

This one might still be on ebay: https://petapixel.com/2023/07/17/extremely-rare-nikon-6mm-f-2-8-fisheye-appears-on-ebay-for-146000/

Vexred · Aug 18, 2023

Maybe I am wrong and you applied some software correction, but it seems like a diagonal fisheye, while the OP asked for a circular fisheye...
I still have a Peleng 8mm f3.5 manual circular fisheye (so 180 degrees on both x and y axis and a lot of black frame around the circular image...) that I paid around 120$ many years ago: I was tempted to get one of the Sigma 8mm iterations, but all the tests that I saw on the web did not show much improvement over the venerable Peleng, exprecially in the corners...

vbuhay · Aug 18, 2023

Vexred said:
Maybe I am wrong and you applied some software correction, but it seems like a diagonal fisheye, while the OP asked for a circular fisheye...

It becomes circular when used full frame. I have not tried that however....

Vexred · Aug 18, 2023

vbuhay said:
Vexred said:

Maybe I am wrong and you applied some software correction, but it seems like a diagonal fisheye, while the OP asked for a circular fisheye...

Click to expand...

It becomes circular when used full frame. I have not tried that however....

Sorry, but I do not think that it is possible (being a fixed focal lens, using it on a DX sensor just gives you a cropped image, but it cannot modify the nature of the image: a diagonal fisheye gives you 180 degrees on the diagonal of the image, while a circular fisheye will give you 180 degrees on the horizontal and vertical axis... The only lens that can switch between the two types of fisheye is the NIkon 8-15, but you have to change the focal length...).

kenw · Aug 18, 2023

Vexred said:
vbuhay said:

Vexred said:

Maybe I am wrong and you applied some software correction, but it seems like a diagonal fisheye, while the OP asked for a circular fisheye...

Click to expand...

It becomes circular when used full frame. I have not tried that however....

Click to expand...

Sorry, but I do not think that it is possible (being a fixed focal lens, using it on a DX sensor just gives you a cropped image, but it cannot modify the nature of the image: a diagonal fisheye gives you 180 degrees on the diagonal of the image, while a circular fisheye will give you 180 degrees on the horizontal and vertical axis... The only lens that can switch between the two types of fisheye is the NIkon 8-15, but you have to change the focal length...).

The diagonal of a DX sensor is 28mm, the width of a FF sensor is 36mm and the height of a FF sensor is 24mm.

Thus if you take a diagonal fisheye for DX sensor and put it on a FF sensor you end up with a nearly circular fisheye image. You see the full 180 of horizontal and just end up with the vertical dimension slightly clipped.

EDIT: In fact, TTArtisans themselves advertise the referenced lens as circular on FF. From the B&H listing for the Nikon Z mount version:

This dynamically wide 7.5mm f/2 Fisheye Lens from TTArtisan is a lens that fills the image area of an ASP-C image sensor from corner to corner, but also acts as a circular fisheye when used on a full-frame format image sensor.

--
Ken W
See profile for equipment list

Les Kamens · Aug 18, 2023

yeah there is that one. nice carry around and can double as a shield

vinturius · Aug 18, 2023

The fun of circular fisheye is easily wearing out compared to that of full frame, so the 8-15 is the best option. The 8-15 is way sharper than the 16mm that Nikon had before.

If price is a factor then an alternative would be the 7.5mm from the 60s, especially when it is missing the rear cap and the viewfinder. Since it is a collectors item this makes the price drop. (but you really must have the front cap) On a Z camera you do not need these, just get the $14 Fotasy F to Z adapter and keep it on the lens permanently.

But the wiser decision is still the 8-15 with the full frame option to fall back on. Or wait for a Z fisheye to come on the market. Then you can get my 8-15 rather cheap...

JasonMulvern · Aug 19, 2023

Thanks everyone.

I've decided as a stop-gap and also as this is such a niche lens I might lose the novelty of it, to stick to a £250 Laowa 4mm Z mount, but on my existing Z50, which I purchased this morning. The image on the Z50 is a lovely circle which is what I am after. I will press this into service tonight for a full-sky timelapse and report back.

It's so strange having both manual aperture and manual focus, but oddly satisfying being so "hands on". The depth of field on this is incredible.

If my fish eye projects prove fruitful and I want to up the quality then the Nikon 8mm zoom fish eye is the way forward, on a full frame body.

JHern · Aug 27, 2023

Please let us know how it works for you…would love to see some samples!

I have an older Nikon 16/2.8 (AF-D) that is optically superb, but interested in some of the more extreme wide fisheyes presently available.

Rudi P · Aug 28, 2023

B&H has one Sigma 8mm f/3.5 circular fisheye for full frame Nikon F mount in stock for $449. I own one and it works fine with the ftz adapter.

Rudi

jimdelves · Jan 16, 2024

JHern said:
Please let us know how it works for you…would love to see some samples!

I have an older Nikon 16/2.8 (AF-D) that is optically superb, but interested in some of the more extreme wide fisheyes presently available.

I love that lens. I can’t wait for Nikon to make a Z version, or for someone sensible to make an adapter that brings AF to D lenses on a Z. The 16mm is a brilliant street lens

Ellis Vener · Jan 16, 2024

I'm late to this party, but with an EF to Z adapter the Canon EF 8-15mm f/4 USM is also an option. Like the Nikkor, at it's shortest focal length and the removable lens hood detached, you get a circular image on a full-frame camera.

--
Ellis Vener
To see my work, please visit http://www.ellisvener.com
I am on Instagram @EllisVenerStudio
“It's not about the f-stop." -Jay Maisel
Don't be "a photographer.” Be photographing. (Paraphrasing William Faulkner's advice to writers.)

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