Rokinon 8mm F 2 8 UMC Fisheye Review | 54 Data compared

The Lonely Speck review identifies the Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II as an exceptional, compact manual lens for astrophotography on APS-C mirrorless cameras, praising its fast f/2.8 aperture and stereographic projection that reduces central bulging. The lens offers a massive field of view suitable for long exposures and features an accurate focus ring for sharp, infinity-focused night sky images. Key limitations, or cons, include its fully manual operation, lack of electronic contacts for metadata transfer, and the need to adjust the aperture via the physical ring, though the deep depth of field eases focusing.

The Rokinon 8mm F2.8 UMC Fisheye is a compact, lightweight, and highly affordable manual-focus ultra-wide lens designed for Fuji X-mount cameras, retailing for around $300. Despite its budget-friendly price, the reviewer found its build quality to be surprisingly excellent, featuring an aperture ring that clicks nicely in half-stops and a built-in lens hood to protect the protruding front element. Optically, the lens delivers impressive image quality, characterized by sharp details, great contrast, a three-dimensional depth, and minimal vignetting. With its fast F2.8 maximum aperture and a massive 180-degree angle of view (a 12mm equivalent on Fuji's APS-C sensors), the lens serves as a fantastic creative tool that allows photographers to emphasize space or playfully manipulate the fisheye distortion. While the review strongly recommends the lens, it highlights a few notable drawbacks. The primary pros include its highly compact size, exceptional optical performance, massive depth of field, unique perspective, and immense value for money. On the negative side, the focusing ring is tightly dampened and lacks a rubberised grip, which can cause fingers to slip in cold weather. Additionally, the physical...

The Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II is a compact, lightweight manual-focus lens designed for Fuji X-series cameras without needing an adapter. Priced between $250 and $290, it is constructed from plastic to maintain an affordable price point while preserving exceptional optical performance. The reviewer praises its excellent image quality, noting that it produces highly contrasty, sharp, and three-dimensional images with vivid, slightly warm color rendering. Flaring is well-controlled, and when stopped down to smaller apertures between f/5.6 and f/11, sharpness extends completely to the edges and corners, allowing photographers to maximize its large depth of field. The review highlights several pros and cons regarding the lens's design and performance. Key benefits include its affordable price, compact size, lightweight build that balances well on camera bodies, fast f/2.8 maximum aperture, and overall high fun factor. However, the lens has notable drawbacks, such as a plastic shell and both aperture and focus rings that feel too stiff. It also lacks a front filter thread and a depth of field scale, which is an omission the reviewer found surprising for a second-generation...

This review highlights the Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 Fisheye Lens as an exceptional, budget-friendly choice for APS-C crop sensor cameras, earning a high 4.5 out of 5-star rating. Priced under $250 USD, it offers incredible value compared to much more expensive brand-name alternatives. Key advantages include its remarkably sharp image quality with minimal chromatic aberration, and its ultra-light, palm-sized design weighing just 9.7 ounces. Furthermore, its fast f/2.8 aperture makes it a fantastic tool for astrophotography, such as capturing star trails, while its wide availability across multiple camera mounts makes it highly versatile for different photographers. However, the lens does come with a few notable drawbacks that users must work around. It is a manual focus only lens, meaning you must manually turn the focus and aperture rings directly on the barrel. Because it lacks electronic contacts, it does not send data to the camera, leaving the camera to display an aperture of F0 and misread the focal length in the metadata. Additionally, due to its extreme ultra-wide bulbous shape, users cannot attach standard physical filters, it is highly prone to...

The ⁠Samyang 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II is a highly affordable, third-party ultra-wide specialty lens designed to fill a gap in Fujifilm's native lineup. Retailing for around £280, this remarkably tiny, lightweight lens offers a fast f/2.8 maximum aperture and a massive 180-degree field of view, which equates to roughly a 12mm perspective on a full-frame sensor. Optically, the reviewer notes that the lens produces impressive sharpness, high contrast, and excellent control over flare, even when pointed directly at the sun. Additionally, camera metering functions perfectly in both aperture priority and manual modes. The primary pros highlighted in the review include its highly affordable price point, robust metal build quality, compact form factor, and excellent image sharpness. On the other hand, the major cons center around its strictly 100% manual operation, meaning it lacks any autofocus mechanism or electronic contacts to transfer metadata like aperture settings to the image's EXIF data. The physical design also lacks a filter thread, making it impossible to screw on standard filters. However, the reviewer notes that the vast depth of field means users can...