Is it worth getting the Olympus 8mm 1.8 Fisheye?

[Jonathan F/2]

I'm racking my brain if I should buy the Olympus 8mm 1.8 Fisheye! I currently own the Rokinon 7.5mm and I love that lens, but there are times when I want more light gathering and autofocus. I would also like to have a lens where I can really unleash the potential of the high resolution mode of my E-M5 II, I keep thinking this lens is the one to get to create some awesome images. The only thing holding me back is price, but I could sell a couple lenses and try buying the lens through Greentoe.com to get an additional discount. What do you guys think, is it worth it?

 

[nstelemark]

I would say yes. I am not an ultrawide type of person and I really like this lens for more than just landscape type stuff:

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[nstelemark]

Not that it does a bad job at landscapes:

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[tkbslc]

Do you like the Samyang, but want 2 stops faster aperture and AF? Do you have a bunch of money burning a hole in your pocket? If so, then definitely!

 

[Jonathan F/2]

Do you like the Samyang, but want 2 stops faster aperture and AF? Do you have a bunch of money burning a hole in your pocket? If so, then definitely!

Yes, yes and no! Lol That's my dilemma!

 

[PakkyT]

The answer to your question is YES, you should get it.

And the reason I know this is because most people who think they want to try out a fisheye are very excited with it for a couple weeks then get bored with it maybe pulling it out again in a year for another two week stint, but never really being won over with that type of photography. For those people I say try out the Rokinon or one of the many other cheaper manual focus fisheyes out there and give fisheye photography a test drive.

YOU, on the other hand, have done the test drive, enjoy fisheye photography, and now want to upgrade to a better fisheye lens. So you are very much less likely to regret your expensive purchase as you are more likely to get a lot of good fun use out of that purchase as a veteran fisheye shooter.

Have fun!

 

[nstelemark]

And the reason I know this is because most people who think they want to try out a fisheye are very excited with it for a couple weeks then get bored with it maybe pulling it out again in a year for another two week stint, but never really being won over with that type of photography. For those people I say try out the Rokinon or one of the many other cheaper manual focus fisheyes out there and give fisheye photography a test drive.

This makes sense. I tried the BCL 9mm fisheye before taking the plunge.

 

[ahinesdesign]

Look at the native lens showcase for the 8mm 1.8

If the images there don't sell you on it, nothing will...

 

[David A]

I've never owned a fisheye but I thought long and hard about whether to get the 7-14mm PRO or the 8mm fisheye when they were released together since I wanted something wider than 12mm. I've got the 9mm fisheye body cap lens but I don't like its focussing mechanism, I don't like the fixed f/8 aperture, and it never seems quite sharp enough for what i want when I use it so I've tended to stop using it, and even though I enjoy using it when I do use it, I never end up really enjoying the results I've got with it. I went for the 7-14mm and I'm really impressed by it, but I kept thinking about the fisheye. Yesterday I bought one home so now I learn how to use it. All I'll say at present is that I'm impressed, more than I expected to be.

Do I really need it? I'd have to say no, but I think I'm going to enjoy having it. Is it worth it? Depends on what you're buying it for, and how much of whatever you're buying it for you actually expect to get from it. After 24 hours and a few early experiments, I've got no regrets and I'm looking forward to learning a lot more about what I can do with it.

 

[PakkyT]

I've got the 9mm fisheye body cap lens but I don't like its focussing mechanism, I don't like the fixed f/8 aperture, and it never seems quite sharp enough for what i want when I use it so I've tended to stop using it, and even though I enjoy using it when I do use it, I never end up really enjoying the results I've got with it.

Well to be fair you are talking about a under-$100 body cap with a plastic lens and a little lever for crude focusing. It is not meant to be anything more than something fun to play with for cheap. For this fisheye, the key is finding photos that play into the fun aspect of it where intent of the photo is not the actual quality of the shot.

For example, at a family outing, go around and get right into people's faces, encourage them to make silly faces and have fun with it. Show them the shot and everyone has a great laugh over them. Who cares if the shot is grainy and a tad out of focus?
[Image removed due to pending VerticalScope switchover. I do not agree with expanded licensing grab in their Terms of Service.]

 

[nstelemark]

I've got the 9mm fisheye body cap lens but I don't like its focussing mechanism, I don't like the fixed f/8 aperture, and it never seems quite sharp enough for what i want when I use it so I've tended to stop using it, and even though I enjoy using it when I do use it,

Within its limitations I don't have any problem with the output of the 9mm BCL:

9mm BCL at f8 (of course)

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[Deleted member 20897]

It sounds like the Oly lens ticks all the right boxes except price. That seems to be the way it goes sometimes. The Rokinon is a decent lens, used to have one in Nikon mount.

My issue is that I did not use it enough to justify keeping it. Price aside, can you justify using the Olympus lens enough that the 2 stops more light and AF are worth it? Only you can decide.

If much rather have the Panasonic or Olympus 7-14. They are more versatile for what I do. For the times I want to tinker with fisheye, the 9mm BLC from Olympus is just fine with me.

 

[GRIDDD]

It sounds like the Oly lens ticks all the right boxes except price. That seems to be the way it goes sometimes. The Rokinon is a decent lens, used to have one in Nikon mount.

The Rokinon 7,5mm for m43 is way better then the Nikon version, my girlfriend has it for Nikon so i´ve seen the result from the same situations.
And I had the m43 version then, but sold it and got the Oly 8mm as soon as it was out, and it´s maybe not way better but you sure notice a big difference.
I would not want to go back now, so i´d say if youre into fisheye, you wont regret it once you forgot the money you had to pay

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[Jonathan F/2]

It sounds like the Oly lens ticks all the right boxes except price. That seems to be the way it goes sometimes. The Rokinon is a decent lens, used to have one in Nikon mount.

My issue is that I did not use it enough to justify keeping it. Price aside, can you justify using the Olympus lens enough that the 2 stops more light and AF are worth it? Only you can decide.

If much rather have the Panasonic or Olympus 7-14. They are more versatile for what I do. For the times I want to tinker with fisheye, the 9mm BLC from Olympus is just fine with me.

I considered the 7-14mm focal length, but I like shooting at night quite a bit and that 1.8 aperture is the hook for me! I got an offer for the 8mm on Greentoe, but I'm trying to see if I can get a lower price!

 

[Deleted member 20897]

I'm glad that others love the fisheye. I've not really found a "need" for it so that pull is just not there for me. I can completely understand wanting that light soaking f/1.8....goodness I love my Oly primes for that.

Sounds like you really are one that loves the Fisheye look, so patience and savings will help get that thing into your hands in the future! Good luck!

 

[David A]

Well to be fair you are talking about a under-$100 body cap with a plastic lens and a little lever for crude focusing. It is not meant to be anything more than something fun to play with for cheap. For this fisheye, the key is finding photos that play into the fun aspect of it where intent of the photo is not the actual quality of the shot.…

Within its limitations I don't have any problem with the output of the 9mm BCL…

I agree entirely. I think the body cap lenses are a great idea, and I've defended them here in the past. I also purchased both of them as soon as they were released and played with both for a while, but then stopped playing with them. They now tend to sit in my bag and rarely see any use at all.

My problem with the body cap lenses is that the fixed f/8 aperture is a problem for me given my eyes are limited when it comes to low light situations. My eyes have small pupils and I have early cataracts. I have problems in low light. A fixed f/8 aperture really puts me at a disadvantage including when I'm focussing and a lack of light along with a focussing lever with a very small throw from closest focus to infinity is extremely difficult for me to get good results. I've seen others get much sharper results than I tend to do and I definitely put that down to me rather than the lens. I don't get results that are as sharp as I'd like and I can assure you that "as sharp as I'd like" doesn't mean as sharp as a normal prime when I'm using the body cap lens.

I could have said more in my original comment about why I haven't been satisfied with the body cap lens but I was more interested in saying something about the lens that is the subject of this thread. I only mentioned the body cap lens in order to indicate what my fisheye experience was since the OP indicated that he had a fair bit of fisheye experience.

I wasn't trying to run the body cap fisheye down and I talked about it in terms of why I wasn't happy with it. I didn't say things like "this is a bad or flawed lens". I'm never going to be able to get the best that can be obtained from it, and that's my problem rather than a problem with the lens. What I was trying to say where I was coming from when it came to my purchase of the 8mm PRO lens.

 

[ex machina]

I've never felt the need for autofocus with my Rokinon 7.5, but a faster lens could come in handy, should I ever win the lottery...

 

[Jonathan F/2]

I've never felt the need for autofocus with my Rokinon 7.5, but a faster lens could come in handy, should I ever win the lottery...

Yeah I feel the same way! The Rok is great as-is, but that 1.8 aperture on the Olympus would open up a lot of possibilities!

Greentoe gave me an over at almost $100 off retail...I'm really thinking of pulling the trigger! Though I do wish Olympus would dump some refurbs in the outlet store!

 

[GRIDDD]

After you have used the oly 8mm (with it´s shallower DOF) on objects closer than 1m to the camera you will not want to go back to a lens without AF.

 

[bigboysdad]

After you have used the oly 8mm (with it´s shallower DOF) on objects closer than 1m to the camera you will not want to go back to a lens without AF.

Lol, the master's spoken and verdict's been given. I'd say we can probably close this thread now!