{"id":6190,"date":"2016-02-10T22:53:41","date_gmt":"2016-02-11T03:53:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/?p=6190"},"modified":"2024-09-05T16:51:51","modified_gmt":"2024-09-05T21:51:51","slug":"review-olympus-8mm-f1-8-fisheye-pro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/review-olympus-8mm-f1-8-fisheye-pro\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Olympus 8mm f\/1.8 Fisheye PRO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Up for an in-depth look today is the Olympus 8mm f\/1.8 Fisheye.  It’s the first prime lens released under Olympus’ PRO moniker, and features a weathersealed high-grade body and fast aperture, which is unique among fisheye lenses. If you’ve never used a fisheye lens before, it’s worth your while to do so, as the extreme wide-angle view can allow for the capture of scenes that would otherwise be impossible with other lenses.  I’ve used quite a lot of fisheye lenses over the years, and I always enjoy bringing one out.  The Olympus 8mm has some unique features that fisheye lovers will really enjoy, but with those capabilities comes a high price tag of $999.  Is it worth it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
The Olympus 8mm f\/1.8 Fisheye PRO on the OM-D E-M10 Mark II<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Construction and Handling<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The 8mm f\/1.8 fisheye is the first prime lens released by Olympus with the PRO label (later followed by the 300mm f\/4). As such, it’s built how you’d expect: well.  It’s constructed with an all metal exterior, save for the built-in lens hood, to produce a lens body with a solid feel that gains splash and dust proofing for use in inclement weather.  The lens is fairly hefty compared to the other smaller and slower fisheyes available for Micro 4\/3, but considering the high-end build and very fast aperture, it’s actually smaller than I expected.  It’s a dense lens, though, with 17 elements packed into the optical path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lens isn’t big enough to cause handling problems with most of the Micro 4\/3 lenses. It feels fairly nice on my E-M10 Mark II, even without the added hand grip.  The focus ring is by wire, like all Micro 4\/3 autofocus lenses, and is smooth and well damped.  Unlike the other PRO series lenses, the 8mm fisheye lacks the focus clutch mechanism and L-Fn button that the other PRO series lenses have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The extreme width that a fisheye provides necessitates a built-in lens hood that covers as much of the optics as it can, though care must be taken with the front element due to its proximity to the front of the hood. As with all fisheyes, the extreme angle of view precludes the use of lens filters.  The bulbous front element is covered by a deep lens cap that fits over the lens hood and locks into the small side edges of the hood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
The 8mm f\/1.8 Fisheye with it’s lens cap<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Autofocus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Olympus 8mm fisheye features a decently quick and quiet autofocus motor.  A lot of fisheyes don’t really need to be focused much, but that isn’t the case with this lens because of the combination of the fast f\/1.8 aperture and the extreme close-focus ability this lens offers. Let’s talk about that feature first. When reading the spec sheet, you see a minimum focus distance of 4.72″.  This seems close, but you don’t realize how close until you use the lens.  That MFD puts the focus point a half an inch in front of the front element.  Yes, a half an inch.  You can actually rest the bottom of the lens hood on your subject, tilt the lens slightly, and focus in the middle of the frame.  This capability opens up a huge world of compositional capabilities.  Being able to focus this close opens up the ability to use the lens for very unique close-up shooting with interesting background context.  Essentially, you won’t run into a practical situation where you can’t focus on something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, that ability to focus super close, combined with the f\/1.8 aperture, can actually create quite a lot of background blur: a unique proposition with a fisheye lens.  You’ll see several examples on the next two pages showing close-up performance and how this works.  So, this relates to autofocus because unlike a lot of fisheyes, critical focus is very important with this lens when shooting close up, and thankfully, the 8mm f\/1.8 delivers.  Focus is dead-on accurate and reasonably fast.  Because of the focus range from very close up to infinity, it focuses a touch slower than some lenses in the Olympus lineup, but certainly fast enough for any use I had for the lens.  If you’re not already focused close up, and are focusing anywhere outside of a few feet, focus is essentially instant, so those looking to use this lens for shooting close up on sports like skateboarding aren’t going to have any problem with focus speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue: Image Quality<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Sharpness<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Fisheyes have a challenge: So much is included in the frame that you often want all of it to be sharp.  Thankfully, the Olympus 8mm f\/1.8 delivers and delivers well in this department.  The 8mm fisheye is an exceptionally sharp optic.  Even at f\/1.8, the center (and majority of the frame) is absolutely razor-sharp.  In the center of the frame at all apertures, it rivals the very best lenses in the Micro 4\/3 system.  We’re honestly at Nocticron and Olympus 75mm territory here, if not possibly a cut above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Rock<\/a>
Rock House – Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II with Olympus 8mm f\/1.8 Fisheye @ f\/5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The edges take a bit longer to catch up, with some softness on the edges and corners wide open, which quickly sharpen by f\/2.8 and provide excellent sharpness deep into the corners by f\/5.6. A truly outstanding performance.  I will note, however, that my review sample showed some slight decentering, as my right edge of the frame showed a bit more softness than the left.  In fact, at f\/1.8, my left edge was reasonably sharp while the right was soft.  However, even with this slight decentering defect, the lens was still sharp to the corners by f\/5.6, which rendered the impact of this error to be minimal in field use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bokeh<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Bokeh on a fisheye?  With this lens, yes.  When focused at closer distances, the lens shows pronounced blur, and amazingly, that blur is very pleasing.  I was surprised to see that the bokeh produced by the 8mm f\/1.8 is smooth, even and quite good to my eye.  Specular highlights are evenly illuminated and there’s gentle falloff between colors in the background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Killerspin<\/a>
Killerspin – Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II with Olympus 8mm f\/1.8 Fisheye @ f\/1.8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Contrast, Color and Chromatic Aberration<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The 8mm f\/1.8 fisheye produces images with exceptional color and contrast.  Much like the other PRO badged lenses in the Olympus lineup, care has been taken in the design of this lens to produce excellent contrast and rich color even at f\/1.8.  There’s really no change in the drawing style of the lens at various apertures.  Only at extremely close focusing distances does the lens drop off a bit in contrast, likely due to some spherical aberration induced by the close focusing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lens exhibits extremely minimal lateral chromatic aberration, such that you’d be hard pressed to see it in any images. It can produce some longitudinal CA, however, most visible when shooting close up at wide apertures.  It’s not too bad, but it’s definitely there if you’re shooting a high contrast subject with parts that fall outside the plane of focus.  Some fringing can also occur on high contrast edges, though it’s more blue than the typical purple fringing that can sometimes occur.  In all, though, the 8mm performs fairly well in this regard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Distortion, Flare and Vignetting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Being a fisheye, the lens is designed to have massive distortion, which renders straight lines as curved unless they don’t pass through the center of the image.  On the opposite side of this, curved lines and circles will see less distortion than on a rectilinear ultra-wide angle.  The distortion is often one reason for selecting a fisheye lens, though personally, I enjoy fisheyes for the opportunities afforded by their extreme field of view.  While the fisheye distortion will be incredibly obvious when shooting subjects with straight lines, such as buildings, shooting other subjects can often hide the distorted nature of the fisheye.  Shooting landscapes with the horizon in the center, or without a reference point can capture views that no other lens can while hiding the fisheye distortion.  Believe it or not, shots captured with people, when they are not placed at the edges of the frame and shot at a moderate distance can show only minor distortion of features.  You’ll see two self portraits in the image sample section: one where I maximize distortion, and one where it’s much more subtle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Flare<\/a>
Flare can be an issue in some shots – Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II with Olympus 8mm f\/1.8 Fisheye PRO @ f\/ 5 (HDR of 3 shots)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Flare performance is rather important in a fisheye lens, as the extreme width will place the sun in the frame in many outdoor compositions.  The Olympus 8mm shows only average resistance to flare, however.  I’ve definitely seen worse flare performance in fisheyes, but I’ve also seen much better.  It is quite possible, depending on the sun’s position in the frame, to induce rather large multi-colored flare ghosts.  This can sometimes enhance images, but more often than not, it will detract a bit from the final image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 8mm f\/1.8 also shows notable vignetting at f\/1.8, though this eases fairly quickly and by f\/4, it’s invisible in real world shooting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all, the performance of the 8mm fisheye is outstanding.  Only less than perfect flare performance really mars what is otherwise an exceptional optic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue: Conclusion and Image Samples<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Pros<\/h4>\n\n\n\n