You could say that Nikon's 8-15mm F3. 5-4. 5E ED goes full circle: at the long end on full-frame it provides a 180-degree diagonal angle of view that occupies the whole frame, and at 8mm it provides a circular fisheye effect.
Nikon also touts its "next-generation design for high-resolution Nikon DSLR cameras. "
We've been out shooting it on such a camera – the 36MP D810 – as well as a bit on the DX-format D7500. Take a look at our first samples with Nikon's newest wide zoom. And continue reading below the jump for some notes from the field.
See our Nikon AF-S Nikkor Fisheye 8-15mm F3. 5-4. 5E ED sample gallery
Notes from the field
Looking through our initial samples, one thing is certain: this lens is very sharp throughout the zoom range. Though we did notice a bit of lateral chromatic aberration in some images near the edge of the frame, which will impact sharpness.
A sample photo from the Nikon 8-15mm.
Notice the lateral CA is visible at 100%.
And though this lens is built for Nikon full framers, that does not mean it isn't useful on a crop sensor camera. Below we've compared the lens' widest field of view on both a D810 and a D7500.
The wide end: on the full frame Nikon D810.
And on the crop sensor Nikon D7500.
Another note about the 8-15mm: The hood will often get in your image, especially when shooting full frame and especially toward the wider end. We chose to shoot the majority of this gallery sans-hood. Below is an example of an 8mm shot with and without the hood.
Losing the hood allows you to capture far more image, however it also makes it very easy to accidentally end up with a blurry finger in your shot. This is thanks to the location of the zoom ring a few millimeters from the front element. And seeing as there is no filter thread - common for fisheyes - the hood is really the only protection from accidental bumps, so if you plan to shoot without it, be careful!
This image was shot with the lens hood attached at 8mm.
This image was shot without the lens hood attached at 8mm.
2017-8-1 16:00