OLYMPUS M.Zuiko Digital ED 8mm F1.8 FISHEYE PRO For Micro Four Thirds System Camera Fast and Furious Fisheye Weather Sealed Design Wide Angle

This has the potential to be a quite long review.Disclaimer:I had a four thirds SLR back in 2006 and wanted the Panasonic 8mm 3.5. It had autofocus and was a fisheye! I was a college student at the time and could never justify it. This lens completes a journey that started when I lusted after the Panasonic.One of the beautiful things about Micro Four Thirds is that manual focus adaptable lenses are available (both in native and non-native mounts) and are affordable! I bought the 7.5mm Rokinon/Samyang/Bower f3.5 lens for my MFT camera in 2013; it was amazing! I started to shoot 360 panoramas with ease (and as few as 5 or 6 shots!). It was a brilliant, artsy, small, solid lens that was also affordable! It was built like a tank! I felt that I could drop my camera and the lens would absolutely survive - but it was manual focus. I kept the Rokinon, enjoying fisheye photography and missing a shot or two every now and then because scale focusing is pretty difficult with that lens. But I loved it!On to the Olympus!As a proper "grown-up" I was recently able to justify the mammoth purchase of the Olympus 8mm f1.8! Yes, 1.8! My biggest fear going in was that it would only be marginally better than the Rokinon, and I would feel that I've spent $800+ on an incremental improvement. On paper my fears are quite justified; in reality, there's nothing to fear as the user experience more than makes up for it!First thing:This lens is larger, and heavier than the Rokinon. This is obviously a disadvantage, however the second point more than makes up for it!Secondly:The Olympus has a f1.8 aperture. On an 8mm lens, the shallow depth of field problem (yes, it's a problem despite what full frame zealots will have you believe) is not that big of a deal. For instance, at f1.2, the Panasonic Nocticron is basically unusable for anything other than a straight on studio shot if you're closer than 10 feet. There's just nothing in focus! But on this 1.8 fisheye, there's a lot of stuff in focus even at 8-10 feet close. Also, f1.8 is insanely fast/bright for a fisheye. I can basically shoot an indoor panorama at ISO 400 instead of ISO 1600 - that is significant on a (comparatively) noisy MFT sensor.Thirdly:Autofocus (especially when it's this quick) is an amazing asset on an fisheye! It simply changes the way you use the lens. I can now get shots of cats for my local rescue using the fisheye - near impossible with the Rokinon, due to the skittish nature of a foster cat in a cage, and the not quite ample f3.5 aperture of the Rokinon. Bright, high-key ISO 200 in-focus shots of my kids are now possible. Kids never sit completely still, and you always need to re-set the focus right before the shot - Olympus' autofocus in this lens handles it easily. I almost never lose a great shot because it's soft. It's a common problem to forget the Rokinon set to 0.25m and then try to take a landscape shot; I've lost far too many to that sort of issue, and it's simply not a problem anymore.Finally:It's built like a tank and weather-sealed. OK, the weather-sealing is a weird point because I don't have a weather-sealed body, and I'm not letting water splash my $800+ lens, but it's nice to have. However, it's a very tough lens with a great feeling focus ring.I work at a user experience design agency. Our day-to-day job is to think of how the user feels when using a web site, or when going through the registration process and entrance of a conference/workshop. When I use this lens I simply feel like it is right, and all that is left to do it to frame the shot, and grab the moment. Sometimes I de-fish it (partially) in Lightroom, but other times it stays with its full fisheye perspective.This lens it NOT the most practical lens, but more often that not, my favorite shots are made with it.

I have to be honest, at first I wasn't sure if I liked this lens but it was only because I hadn't had time to really test it out. I have to say after a weekend of using it, I fell in love. This is a great lens for landscape, cityscape, and nighttime sky photography which is mostly what I shoot. In fact, it has become my standard lens for landscapes and handles dark lighting beautifully with the f1.8. The distortion of the fish eye can make for some fun and interesting shots in everyday settings as well. I would definitely recommend this to any photographer doing this type of photography.

Offers great flexibility for landscape composition and also getting me excited about night sky photography. Awesome job of picking up the northern lights clearly down in North Carolina recently at f1.8. I'm using it on an OM-1 MK2 and you can easily shoot with fish eye correction enabled in the menu settings at 3 different widths for even more flexibility on those occasions you don't want or need 180 degree field of view.

Probably not a lens I'll use everyday but sure love the end result. Very sharp, just fun to play with. Also I appreciate the lens hood and it's design, it fits over the lens which protrudes a little and also the small lens hood. Also, the lens it self is very compact.

Fun lens, autofocus is good but could be a little better. Overall it’s a great fisheye lens.

First Fish eye lens I have purchased and it is well worth the money and wait. Solid build. Been waiting for a fisheye in 2.8 or lower and this one delivers. So far I have only shot one gig with it and some limited landscape shots. Only down side is the pics look so good I'm afraid I will over sue it. Sometimes too much of a good thing is not so great. If you are on the fence about the price then you already know what your looking at. Take the plunge and get ready to capture the shots in low light that everyone else is missing.

Have been slowly switching to micro four thirds since my canons have become to heavy to use with my arthritis. Have fallen in love with the Olympus system, and their glass is top notch. This is my first fisheye where I could actually use it hand holding in lower light. It's a solid lens, and the system is allowing me to continue photographing.

This lens is amazing. I was apprehensive buying it, thinking it might be a one trick pony (how many fisheye pics of dog noses do I need?). I was wrong. I use this lens for so many things. It is one of my most used lenses and it makes exceptional pics.