The Sigma 10mm Fisheye: The Right Fisheye Lens For Your Camera?

The Sigma 10mm Fisheye Lens is designed primarily for digital Single Lens Reflex cameras with APS-C sized sensors. For Canon and Nikon that represents their 1.6x and 1.5x Crop camera systems. The Sigma 10mm Fisheye is a full frame diagonal, meaning that a 180 degree FOV is squeezed into a rectangular frame.

Sigma makes mounts for Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pentax and the Olympus Evolt Digital SLR's with their smaller 2x Crop sensors.

Nikon D3000

Sigma has for a long time been a leading third party lens provider; in the fisheye lens department Sigma has filled in the niches that Canon and Nikon have neglected. Canon and Sony users have probably been the most grateful because they don't make a fisheye lens designed for APS-C sensors. Many Nikon shooters who own the D40, D40x, D60, D3000, and the D5000 have turned to this lens because these cameras don't have built-in focus motors and neither does the Nikkor 10.5mm Fisheye Lens.

The Sigma 10mm Fisheye: The Right Fisheye Lens For Your Camera?

Image quality of the Sigma 10mm Fisheye

The Sigma 10mm is a professional grade lens at an affordable price. Images are clean and sharp - although a little soft around the edges when fully opened up at f/2.8. Contrast and color saturation are right on the money. In short, the Sigma takes great pictures, just as you would expect with any high caliber prime lens.

Sigma's done a pretty good job of reducing ghosting and flaring with its Super Multi-Layer lens coating. Chromatic aberration (color fringing) is not much of an issue either although that also depends on which camera system your using the Sigma 10mm with. Nikon is clearly the winner when it comes to Chromatic Aberration.

Product Features of the Sigma 10mm Fisheye

With a weight of almost 17 ounces, 3.3 inches long and 3 inches in diameter, the Sigma 10mm is a little heftier than similar lenses put out by Canon or Nikon. This is due mostly to Sigma's built-in Hypersonic Motor which runs Sigma's super fast and silent Auto Focus system.

The Sigma 10mm Fisheye Lens has a close focus range of 5.3 inches from the rear of the lens which means you can get as close as 3/4 of an inch to your subject matter. I don't recommend anybody get that close with a fisheye lens for the simple reason that you can't use protective filters on the front lens element of any fisheye lens.

The Sigma's fast and quiet Auto Focus responds quite well to most low light situations without too much "hunting" going on. When shooting in dim light and low contrast situations you can easily switch over to manual override by activating the AF/M switch on the upper left side of the lens barrel.

Is the Sigma 10mm Right For You?

For those Nikon owners using cameras without the built-in auto focus it's Sigma's high quality AF that usually wins them over. If your a Nikon shooter and you don't fall into that category then I'd stick with the Nikkor 10.5mm f/2.8 Fisheye Lens.

Canon 1.6x crop shooters have been neglected in the fisheye lens department for years. Canon recently came out with the 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye Zoom Lens that is designed to work with its entire lineup of SLR's. As I write this it's not yet available for sale, but, as an "L" series lens it's bound to be quite expensive, so I think the Sigma 10mm will continue to be popular with Canon users looking for a more affordable alternative.

What about Sony Alpha users? Sony has a 16mm fisheye lens for it's full frame SLR's, but nothing for the smaller sensors. You can get a converter for this lens, but that only adds to the cost of the already pricey Sony 16mm f/2.8 Fisheye. The Sigma 10mm represents a more affordable alternative.

Pentax has a 10-17mm fisheye zoom lens for its users and is about 0 - 0 cheaper than the Sigma 10mm. The Sigma is definitely the better lens but of course it lacks the versatility of Pentax's native fisheye lens. The big question for Pentax users is: quality or versatility?

Whether your a serious hobbyist or a seasoned professional the Sigma 10mm Fisheye Lens delivers high quality images. This lens is clearly a winner.

The Sigma 10mm Fisheye: The Right Fisheye Lens For Your Camera?

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Nikon D5000 Fisheye Lens - Making Photography Your Career

The Nikon D5000 fisheye lens is one of the most sophisticated accessories in the art of photography these days. If you want to add spice in your craft opt for this type of lens. Nikon fisheye lens is superb and can contribute dramatic effects that will satisfy your desire to capture happy moments.

Fisheye lenses are designed with exceptional and classy features that matches the new wave technology of today's generation. It is addictive to use, very light and quite handy in tight spaces. You will end up with plenty of shots that focuses really close and delivers punchy and vivid images with awesome color rendition. There are so many designs of fisheye lenses that matches different kinds of camera. There are different designs for auto focus, infrared compatibility, black finish, high speed and with day or night vision effects. It offers robust stability by incorporating a strict aluminum frame that can correct aberrations plus the digital imaging format that only requires a minimum focusing distance.

Nikon D3000

The item can be very manageable for indoors and outdoor use especially in limited spaces. In addition, the process of multi-coating assures virtually flare free photographs even under adverse lights conditions resulting in crisp, high-contrast pictures and good quality shots.

Nikon D5000 Fisheye Lens - Making Photography Your Career

Nikon D5000 fisheye lens is very to easy to use especially if you have all the descriptions, tools and manuals where you can read and comprehend all the details. It would be a great add-on lens to a photographer's collection since it contains a unique effect that can make the pictures look very fascinating and appealing. It's really wonderful to play around with this lens because it runs a simple manipulation of pictures. Fisheye lens made of Nikon quality calls for careful planning especially in line with picture arrangement compared to standard lens. It is indeed a great accessory that will let you enjoy the entire craft of photography.

Nikon D5000 Fisheye Lens - Making Photography Your Career

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Nikon Fisheye Lens AF DX-NIKKOR

Nikon Fisheye Lens AF DX-NIKKOR 10.5mm f/2.8

- Most important Features

Nikon D3000

The Nikon Fisheye Lens DX Nikkor lens is especially constructed for use with Nikon SLR digital cameras. It features a 180 angle of view as measured across the diagonal of the frame and provides high-quality images from infinity to the closest focusing distance of 0.14m (0.5 ft.), due to Nikon's innovative near-distance correction technique.

Nikon Fisheye Lens AF DX-NIKKOR

More precise exposure control is possible while this is mounted on a Nikon camera having 3D Matrix Metering capability, since area of interest distance information is transferred from the lens to the camera body. The purpose of an extra-low dispersion (ED) lens element ensures superb optical performance, while a 7-blade diaphragm produces an aperture that is almost circular for exceptional rendering of out-of-focus highlights.

- Setting the aperture on the Nikon Fisheye Lens AF DX-NIKKOR

Because this Nikon Fisheye Lens does not hold an aperture ring, you should adjust the aperture on the camera body.

- Focusing and depth of field

With D2H, D1-Series, D100 and D70 digital SLR cameras, both autofocus and manual focus are workable. To focus manually, rotate the focus ring until the image in the viewfinder appears razor-sharp and clear.

If your camera has a depth of field preview (stop-down) button or lever, depth of field can be observed while looking through the camera viewfinder. It is furthermore probable to determine the depth of field by using the depth-of-field index.

- Composing

Using a fisheye lens requires much more planning in relation to picture arrangement than with a standard lens. This lens not only produces extreme barrel distortion but furthermore exaggerates the virtual size of objects to conform to its format: Objects close the midpoint appear bigger than those next to the edges and they reveal a smaller amount barrel distortion. The entire field of view is pushed into the distance and spatial relations are transformed, and with a slight change of the camera, extra distortions are produced. Be careful
Not to accidentally include unwelcome objects in the picture, such as the legs of your stand or your own hands or feet.

- Use not obligatory Nikon Capture, a powerful digital postproduction tool, to convert the images taken by this fisheye to the regular wide-angle lens projection method. For more details, go to see the instruction handbook provided with Nikon Capture 4.

Slight vignetting possibly will occur in the four corners of the frame when shooting at its nearby distance or smallest aperture.

- Taking flash pictures with cameras having built-in flash

Avoid taking flash pictures with cameras having a built-in flash, for the reason that the flash will not cover this lens's 180 picture point of view.

- Filters

A regular filter cannot be attached to the front of the lens. Use a gelatin filter by cutting it to an appropriate size. Then include it into the filter holder on the back of the lens. Rotate the focus ring to the infinity setting to accomplish insertion easier.

Nikon Fisheye Lens AF DX-NIKKOR

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