Ultra-light, ultra-cheap fisheye prime launched: Brightin Star 10mm f/5.6 Pro APS-C

Hong Kong-based lens manufacturer, Brightin Star, has just launched an extremely cheap, APS-C fisheye prime for nearly all major mounts. I say fisheye, but calculate the crop factor and the 15mm focal length (give or take) could also be regarded as ultra-wide, depending on who you ask. Still, that super-wide 175-degree field of view should prove ideal for landscapes, architecture, and a super-wide range (no pun intended) of creative applications.

Imagery on the Brightin Star website shows plenty of night shots, but with a maximum aperture of f/5.6, you’ll probably need a tripod when shooting in low light. On the subject of aperture, the lens has a vintage-style clicked aperture ring (f/5.6 to f/22), which will please owners of retro APS-C cameras such as the Fujifilm X-T5 and Nikon Z fc.

Despite a post on Weibo stating that the lens features “an all-metal construction”, it’s extremely light, ranging from 94g to 116g, depending on the mount. It’s also only 20mm thick (not including the mount and lens hood), so if you like shooting wide, it could prove a handy everyday optic. As you’d expect from such an affordable lens, the Brightin Star 10mm f/5.6 Pro APS-C is manual-focus only.

On the Brightin Star website, it states: “Thanks to the hyperfocal distance feature, there is no need to adjust focus.” Presumably, this is referring to a fisheye lens’s inherently large depth of field, making shooting from the hip entirely possible. Still, focus can be adjusted, and the focus ring even includes a focus lever. The optic has a close minimum focus distance of 0.2m.

The hollow lens hood is designed to block light and presumably protect the front element, without encroaching on that extremely wide field of view. Together with the focus lever, it does give the lens a very distinctive look, with the silver appointments pairing nicely with a retro camera. The lens itself is constructed from six elements in five groups, while the aperture features a five-bladed construction. It retails for US$109.99 on Amazon US / £81.99.

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