Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye Lens

Last week I took delivery of my new Canon 15mm lens. I ordered it from a Hong Kong supplier on eBay on Friday and it was delivered by DHL on Wednesday. Excellent service.

As for the lens itself: wow! The perspective on the full-frame Canon 5D is spectacular - similar to the Peleng 8mm on the APS-C sensor (see my previous post on the Peleng) but with superb edge to edge sharpness and magnificent colour rendition. It is light years ahead of the Peleng but that is no surprise given that it is (a) a Canon and (b) almost three times the price. Ken Rockwell has a good post on the lens here: http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/lenses/15mm-fisheye.htm

Given the extreme perspective, the lens is of limited use but is ideal for novelty shots and for photographing groups of people in confined spaces. Also, it needs to be used on a Canon full-frame camera i.e. the 5D and 1Ds series. There is little point in my view in putting it on an an APS-C body as you will not be getting the full effect.

Here are some shots taken while road-testing the lens in the past week.