I’ve been lucky enough to test out the 7Artisans 10mm F/2.8 Fisheye lens for Z-Mount for the last few weeks before it’s official release. Those of you who know me and have followed the site for any amount of time will know that I am one of the few people who genuinely enjoy using a fisheye lens. Because of this, I come into review having owned half a dozen lenses over the last decade, on both crop sensor and full frame cameras.
YouTube Review
Specifications
A fisheye lens gives an extremely distorted view of the world. Unlike controlled parallax ultra-wide angle lenses, the image of a fisheye lens is very distorted. Here are the specifications for this 7artisans 10mm F/2.8 fisheye lens
– Focal length: 10mm
– Aperture: F/2.5-F/16 clicked aperture
– Angle of view: 185°
– Filters: Not available
– Weight: 504g
– Close focus: 0.15m
What Makes This Fisheye Unique In The Nikon Z Line-up?
Just hearing the word autofocus and fisheye is very strange and no autofocus fisheye lens is currently available for the Nikon Z mount other than this lens being reviewed.
You could use an FTZ adaptor and use the AF-S 8-15mm F/3.5-4.5E ED fisheye lens from Nikon, but that will set you back almost £1500. You also have the AF Fisheye 16mm F/2.8D lens, for around £370, but of course, that is not 10mm!
So, as far as I am concerned, as long as the autofocus works well, and the lens is sharp, we could have possibly the best fisheye lens available for the Nikon Z mount.
Let’s find out..
It’s All About The Autofocus
Generally speaking, most fisheye lenses, and any fisheye lens currently available for Z-Mount are manual focus lenses. This isn’t usually a problem as fisheye lenses have everything in focus within a certain distance. For slow, methodical shooting you can simply adjust the focus ring to the approximate focus.
However, in faster environments, such as people, family, models, wedding and events etc you can be photographing people from various distances at a moments notice. Hitting that crucial eye focus suddenly becomes 100% easier with autofocus, and this is where this lens suddenly shines. It’s a true godsend to the world of fisheye photography.
In my tests using my Nikon ZF and Nikon Z6ii, eye and face autofocus has been for the most part extremely good, and hit it’s target. The only issue I’ve had is when photographing at and around F/8, where occasionally an image is out of focus.
To be more specific, at F/2.5-F/5.6 I never once experienced that issue, however at F/8 I had a couple of misfires. Very odd, and hopefully something they can look at in a potential firmware update for the lens. I’ve already taken hundreds of photos with this lens, and it is strange to see so many images oin sharp, and suddenly one that although the focus point shows it hit, it missed every single slightly (the whole image is out of focus).
Below Examples: The autofocus nailed its target, hitting the eye every time using the Nikon Z6ii in dark environments.
Image Quality
Unlike normal lenses, the distortion on a fisheye lens can create problems with image quality, especially in the corners of the frame due to its distortion.
I’ve included plenty of sample photos for you to inspect. Generally speaking the centre frame is very sharp from F/2.5 which is incredible to see. The corners get better as you step down, and for a fisheye lens they are very impressive.
You can get nice sun stars from F/8 onwards, and sun flare is extremely well controlled for a fisheye lens, definitely one of the best I’ve seen and used.
There seems to be little to no chromatic aberrations that I have seen, certainly none to be seen at normal viewing distance.
Overall I am really happy with the image quality. Contrast is kept under control, it handles the sun in the frame well and colours are vibrant. This lens far surpasses my expectations with it’s image quality.
Below Examples: As a landscape lens and general walkaround lens, the 7Artisans 10mm F/2.5 fisheye is an amazing piece of kit!
Lens Build And Features
The lens is small and not heavy, but built extremely well. At around 504g in weight, being nice and small, it fits nicely on the Z5, Z6 range and ZF cameras.
Impressively there are two function buttons. Both are quite small, and have some resistance in pushing them down. Straight from the box the F1 button is set to the Exposure Lock feature, and the F2 button is set to Manual Focus override.
There is a wonderful aperture ring that clicks nicely when you move spin it around. It covers F/2.5 though to F/16 plus the “A” for Auto setting.
You’ll find a AF/MF clicking switch on the side also, which is very nice to see on a lens of this price (a lot of Nikkor lenses don’t even have this switch!).
The focus ring is nice and smooth and works as you would expect.
Conclusion
People tend to buy a fisheye lens, use it once or twice, find it is just a novelty and then they will stop using it. It is certainly not a lens that should be on your camera all day, but for those who know, a fisheye lens is two lenses in one!
The fisheye lens as a standard is perfect for use in many situations such as landscapes, wedding and event photography to capture unique views and even for portrait photography where you want to create a unique and dynamic environment. Just don’t overdo it and use the lens sparingly.
It’s second use is one I find much more interesting. I’ve written about it before, and it is correcting the distortions of the lens in software to give the image a natural look. It may surprise you, but it’s easy to do and the results are phenomenal! In this wide angle comparison here you can see just how much wider a fisheye lens corrected is to a full frame 14mm lens!
Below Examples: Corrected Fisheye distortion of the 7Artisans 10mm F/2.5 fisheye lens.
Overall, after taking hundreds of photos with it in my testing, I know it will be a lens that I use for a long time to come, both for fun and for my work! It is the fisheye lens of my dreams with it’s sharpness, autofocus, function buttons and it’s versatility.
I make no money from this review, but the lens was provided by 7Artisans. All observations and thoughts are my own, and 7Artisans did not see this review, or the YouTube video review before posting. You can purchase this lens from 7Artisans.
Below Examples: More examples of landscape, walkaround and portrait shots.
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My name is Mark G Adams and I run Photography By Mark G Adams. I am a professional photographer from South Wales, shooting weddings, events and portraits as well as running meets and workshops. For fun I like to shoot landscapes, wildlife and occasionally do street photography. Enjoy my website as I share my knowledge learned over decades of working and having fun in photography. Feel free to like, comment and subscribe!
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Yesterday I ordered the little brother of this lens – the 7Artisans 10mm f/3.5 manual lens. I’m curious to see how it will perform on my Olympus M43 camera. I really like yummy pancake lenses. 😉
I hope it’s all good as this lens, the autofocus is incredible, and I never knew I needed AF on a fisheye until I had it 🤣
I use the 13mm 1.4 a lot for my night sky images, good lens.
Yes, they are fantastic. I’ve actually done a few night shots, I’ll have to get them up on the site. Thank you.