The Streets of Sydney Through a Fisheye Lens
I have been shooting for many years but I never had any interest on getting a fisheye lens until earlier this year when I stumbled upon an ad on gumtree. Someone was selling a 7artisans 7.5mm f2.8 fisheye lens (Fuji mount) at a bargain price that's very hard to resist so I ended up purchasing it!
The lens is in brand new condition with very smooth manual focusing ring. The only thing I dislike about is the declicked aperture ring. It's also small yet well balanced when mounted on my Fujifilm X-S10 or on the X-T2.
I packed it with me to work one day just to test if I'd be happy with the fisheye field of view for street photography. Most would prefer a 50mm or a 35mm equivalent for shooting streets but I like to experiment.
Fujifilm X-T2 | 7artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 | ISO 200 | f/8 | 1/25 sec
Long ago, when I started my photography journey I was a big fan of ultrawide angle lenses. The past few years, my style has shifted more into intimate landscape photography using medium telephoto to long telephoto lenses. The first few images I took with the 7artisans 7.5mm lens, I found myself struggling to compose the shot. There's just too much going on in the image.
Fujifilm X-S10 | 7artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 | ISO 320 | f/8 | 1/900 sec
Fujifilm X-S10 | 7artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 | ISO 160 | f/8 | 1/70 sec
Then I started playing with light and shadows to create visual direction. I also had to embrace the crazy amount of distortion. After all it's a fisheye lens. The two images below where taken just an hour after Sunrise around Sydney.
Fujifilm X-S10 | 7artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 | ISO 320 | f/8 | 1/150 sec
Fujifilm X-S10 | 7artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 | ISO 320 | f/8 | 1/40 sec
There's always a camera and a lens in my office bag every time I go to work. Sometimes when I get to the city early, I'd walk around for an hour before going to the office. Most of the time specially in the autumn and winter months, I'd prefer to walk around with the camera during my lunch break. With the camera always with me, there's always a photo to be had even in the train or at the train platform!
Fujifilm X-S10 | 7artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 | ISO 1600 | f/8 | 1/10 sec
Fujifilm X-S10 | 7artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 | ISO 160 | f/8 | 1/3 sec
I also find this lens great for shooting architecture and interiors provided you like the 'creative' and unique fisheye look!
Fujifilm X-S10 | 7artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 | ISO 160 | f/8 | 1/4 sec
Fujifilm X-S10 | 7artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 | ISO 160 | f/8 | 1/8 sec
Fujifilm X-S10 | 7artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 | ISO 320 | f/8 | 1/60 sec
Fujifilm X-S10 | 7artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 | ISO 320 | f/8 | 1/100 sec
Although ultra wide angle lenses like this one is easier to handhold at slower shutter speeds, I find that when paired with my Fuji X-S10's the internal IBIS works really well to help me achieve some creative motion blur in my images.
Fujifilm X-S10 | 7artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 | ISO 160 | f/8 | 1/3 sec
Fujifilm X-S10 | 7artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 | ISO 400 | f/8 | 1/7 sec
It's probably obvious by now that all the images here were taken at aperture of f/8. I find that it's the sweet spot for this lens. At least for my copy. At its widest (f/2.8) the corners can be a bit soft but it gets better starting at f/4. I prefer to set mine to f/8 for shooting streets and architecture.
Fujifilm X-S10 | 7artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 | ISO 160 | f/8 | 1/2 sec
So it is it worth keeping??
Fisheye lens is not for everyone. And it can get a bit boring (at least for me) when used a lot! I like switching to different focal lengths from time to time but there's a lot of creative possibilities that this lens can offer. And besides, I got it used for just over $100 so to me it's definitely worth keeping! It's a fun lens to use after all.
Fujifilm X-T2 | 7artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 | ISO 400 | f/8 | 1/40 sec
All the images in this blog and in the Gallery are copyright protected. Please feel fee to contact me if you want to purchase or license my images.
