Olympus 8mm f/1.8 ED Fisheye Pro M.Zuiko Digital

The uniqueness of the Olympus fisheye lens lies in its aperture, the maximum value of which reaches f / 1.8.

Pro

The prefix "Pro" in the name of the lens indicates that it belongs to the class of professional optics for the Micro 4/3 system. Such lenses are distinguished by a complex optical design (17 elements in 15 groups), designed to make the picture sharp and clean, as well as dust and water protection. Indeed, even at the most open apertures, sharpness over the entire field of the frame is at its best, and various parasitic effects (vignetting, chromatic aberration, etc.) practically do not appear.

Aperture

Fans of shooting the starry sky and underwater photographers will appreciate the high aperture of the lens — at f / 1.8 aperture, you don’t have to raise the ISO to the detriment of image quality. For the latter, there is an additional accessory, which is an underwater box (PT-EP13). With it, you can dive under water to a depth of 45 m.

Peculiarities

The minimum distance for focus is only 2.5 cm from the front lens of the lens. Close-up subjects stand out effectively from the background at maximum apertures, although beautiful bokeh is not at all typical for fisheye optics. Note that the lens itself is convex and it will not work to install a classic light filter on it. Also on board the lens there was no place for an optical image stabilizer. Owners of Olympus cameras will not be upset by this fact, since their cameras are a priori equipped with a matrix stub, but this may seem like a disadvantage to owners of Panasonic cameras. The focus system also deserves positive feedback, which catches the subject quickly and almost silently.

Unusual angles

The characteristic pattern with a predominance of convex geometric distortions allows you to turn even an ordinary everyday scene into something unusual. Well, if you like a more classic look of the image, take a closer look at the closest analogue of the lens in the face of the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 7-14mm f / 2.8 Pro — it costs even more, but has a variable focal length at a constant aperture of f / 2.8.