The best fisheye lenses can seriously improve your photography if you're wanting an enormous viewing angle and wider shots. Fisheye lenses were invented to enable meteorologists to keep a close watch on the weather, but these lenses soon found favor with creative photographers, vloggers, and filmmakers.
Even the widest of wide-angle lenses have to compete with the circular aesthetic of a fisheye lens, whereas regular wide-angle lenses have a rectilinear design that aims to keep distortion to a minimum, the curvilinear nature of fisheye lenses produces extreme barrel distortion, giving a bold and unique look to images.
Nowadays, fisheye lenses have grown popular for underwater shooting, extreme sports, astrophotography and even creating virtual environments.
But what are the best fisheye lenses? The first thing you need to realize is that there are two main types of fisheye lenses… full-field diagonal fisheyes, and circular fisheyes.
Diagonal fisheyes (also sometimes confusingly called ‘full-frame’ fisheyes) produce an image circle that’s large enough to cover the entire image sensor. Whether designed for a full-frame or crop sensor camera, the resulting image has a regular, full-sized rectangular shape. However. It only gives a 180-degree viewing angle when measured on the horizontal of the frame.
Circular fisheyes produce a smaller image circle that fits within the boundary of the image sensor. In this case, you end up with a smaller, circular image but with an even wider viewing angle, equating to a full 180 degrees in both vertical and horizontal planes.
The vast majority of fisheyes are prime lenses but, as you’ll see from our guide, Canon and Nikon make notable exceptions in the shape of zoom lenses that deliver circular or diagonal fisheye effects at either end of the zoom range.
The next most important thing, of course, is getting a mount that is compatible with your DSLR or mirrorless camera. But also (for Canon and Nikon shooters) choosing a lens that works best with the camera's sensor size.
The best fisheye lenses in 2024
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Fisheye zooms
On a full-frame Canon SLR, this lens works as a circular fisheye at its shortest 8mm focal length. Zoom to the 15mm end of the range and it becomes a diagonal fisheye that still gives an extremely wide viewing angle, complete with the pronounced barrel distortion associated with curvilinear lenses.
It's an easy lens to live with, especially as it's like having two fisheye lenses in one. Because the bulbous front element protrudes from the lens, a two-stage lens cap is supplied, the barrel section of which also acts as a lens hood when used at 15mm. However, you need to remove it when shooting at shorter focal lengths. See our full Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM lens review.
Something of a ‘me too’ lens from Nikon, this is a copy of the genre-busting Canon fisheye zoom lens, launched seven years earlier. The zoom range is identical, enabling the lens to act as a circular fisheye at the short end, and as a diagonal fisheye at the long end. Both lenses have electromagnetic aperture control and, while this is the case in all Canon EF lenses, it’s a newer development for Nikon F-mount lenses, raising incompatibility issues with some older bodies.
Unlike Canon’s constant-aperture design, the Nikon has a variable aperture rating that shrinks from f/3.5 to f/4.5 as you extend through the zoom range. Nano Crystal Coat helps to keep ghosting and flare to a minimum and the supplied lens hood can be used at the longest zoom setting. The image quality is excellent throughout. See our full Nikon AF-S 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED Fisheye review.
Unlike the Canon and Nikon 8-15mm fisheye lenses that zoom from a circular to a diagonal fisheye effect on full-frame bodies, this Tokina delivers sensor-filling diagonal coverage at all zoom settings. It’s designed for APS-C rather than full-frame SLRs, where it gives a 180-degree viewing angle at its 10mm focal length, shrinking to 100 degrees at 17mm.
The viewing angles are much wider than when using the 10-17mm range of a rectilinear wide-angle zoom, and images shot with the Tokina have the trademark extreme barrel distortion of curvilinear lenses. Even so, the fisheye effect is lessened at the long end of the zoom range.
Exposure control is fully automatic in both Canon and Nikon mount editions, but the Nikon-fit version lacks an internal autofocus motor, so only manual focus is available on bodies from the D3 and D5 series and older entry-level SLRs.
For Smartphone shooters
Practical for both wide shots and even a bit of macro photography, this fisheye lens from Moment is great for capturing a wider scene with a creative flair. A compatible Moment phone case or drop-in lens mount is required to use this lens and offers seamless integration with a twist feature that locks the lens securely onto your device and won't easily fall off.
This M-series lens is perfect for those wanting to up their smartphone photography game in a fun way, ideal for those wanting to give the process of shooting fisheye a try, before committing to a costlier lens that's compatible with a DSLR or mirrorless camera body.
Unlike some of the other available lenses for iPhone and Android camera phones, lenses from Moment can only be fitted to either a specialist Moment Case or those that are fitted with a 3D printed drop-in lens mount.
See our full Moment 14mm Fisheye lens review.
Diagonal fisheye primes
Exactly the same size and 30g lighter than Sigma’s 8mm circular fisheye for full-frame cameras, this 15mm lens is a diagonal fisheye, effectively filling the image sensor of full-frame Canon and Nikon cameras while adding Pentax and Sony A-mount options to the list.
The built-in hood gives protection to the bulbous, protruding front element and a two-part lens hood enables the fitment of screw-in filters if you don't mind losing some of the image to vignetting. Alternatively, there’s a slot in the lens mount for using gelatin filters. Image quality is very good overall and there’s surprisingly little vignetting, given the fast aperture rating
Although designed exclusively for DX camera bodies with APS-C-sized image sensors, the Nikon 10.5mm lacks an internal autofocus motor. Instead, it relies on a screw drive from the host camera, making autofocus unavailable with bodies like D3, D5 series, and older entry-level SLRs.
It’s not as much of a problem as you might think, as the depth of field delivered by a fisheye lens is enormous, so manual focusing is relatively painless. The lens is very compact and lightweight yet well-built. Image quality is similarly impressive, with good sharpness even towards the extreme corners of the frame, although color fringing can be noticeable if uncorrected.
Despite being a diagonal rather than circular fisheye lens, this Samyang has a very bulbous and protruding front element. Thankfully, it’s reasonably well protected if you fit the supplied bayonet-fit hood. The lens has a tough aluminum alloy barrel, while optical highlights include three ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements and nano-structure coatings.
Although designed for full-frame cameras in mount options that include, Canon, Nikon, Pentax, and Sony, Samyang also market the lens in Canon M, Fujifilm X, Micro Four Thirds, and Samsung NX editions. Image quality is similarly impressive in all options although, naturally, the diagonal viewing angle of 180 degrees on a full-frame body is reduced to around 124 degrees on APS-C format bodies and just 97 degrees on Micro Four Thirds.
As well as being a manual-focus lens, aperture control is also manual, apart from the Nikon version which includes electronics to enable a full range of camera-driven PASM shooting modes. The lens can also be found sold under the Rokinon brand.
This is essentially a crop-sensor version of the Samyang 12mm f/2.8 ED AS NCS diagonal fisheye for full-frame cameras. As such, it has a shorter focal length to enable a similar 180-degree viewing angle, measured on the diagonal of the frame.
Mount options are many and varied, including Canon EF-S and EF-M, Fujifilm X, MFT, Nikon DX, Pentax K, Sony A, Sony E, and Samsung NX. Conversely, while the Samyang 12mm full-frame compatible lens is marketed in a selection of mount options that only feature crop-sensor cameras, this crop-format lens can also be used on full-frame bodies, where available in the camera range.
With this in mind, a ‘DH’ (detachable hood) option has recently been added. Both versions are optically identical but the DH edition avoids vignetting when shooting with a full-frame camera. This lens is sold under the Rokinon brand in North America.
Whereas lenses like the Lensbaby circular fisheye and Samyang 8mm diagonal fisheye are available in a Micro Four Thirds mount option, this Panasonic diagonal fisheye is designed exclusively for MFT cameras - making it suitable for use on Olympus OM-D and PEN cameras, the Blackmagic PCC 4K, and Panasonic G-range cameras.
It’s amazingly small and lightweight, measuring just 52mm in length and weighing a mere 165g. Even so, it feels solid and well-built. The fixed hood gives some protection to the protruding front element although the lens isn’t weather-sealed. Autofocus is fast and the short minimum focus distance of 10cm enables extreme close-ups.
Whereas many MFT format lenses are distortion-free, thanks partly to in-camera corrections, the exaggerated barrel distortion of this fisheye lens is thankfully clear to see.
Although full-frame mirrorless cameras are increasing in popularity, Canon, Nikon, and Sony haven't gotten around to making fisheye lenses for these models yet. So this 7artisans model is of great interest to anyone who has bought a Canon RF, Leica L, Nikon Z, and Sony FE mount camera.
It is a fully-manual lens - but in our tests, we were impressed by the sharpness and lack of color fringing. It is solidly built too considering the price, with the barrel, built-in lens hood, and mount all being made of metal.
Who says a new lens has to break the bank? This diagonal fisheye can be had for a bargain price, yet you'll still get the same bulging fisheye wow factor as you'd get from a much pricier optic. So what's the catch? Well, predictably this is a fully manual lens, meaning you'll need to focus manually and set your exposure manually, as there are no electronic contacts to transmit exposure metering information.
However, this needn't be a deal breaker, as the depth of field is large enough at such short focal lengths to make manual focusing fairly easy. Its diagonal fisheye field of view has been tailored to APS-C and Micro Four Thirds mirrorless cameras, offering a similar effective field of view to a 10mm full-frame fish-eye lens.
Circular fisheye primes
As one of Sigma’s ‘DG’ lenses, this one is designed for full-frame bodies but can also be used on cameras with smaller APS-C format sensors. Unlike the Samyang 12mm f/2.8 ED AS NCS, the Sigma is a circular rather than diagonal fisheye with a wider viewing angle. It also features automatic aperture control and the autofocus in both Canon and Nikon mount options.
However, the Nikon-fit version lacks a built-in autofocus motor, instead relying on a screw-drive mechanism from an in-body motor. That shouldn’t be an issue, as all Nikon full-frame SLRs feature an AF drive motor. Sharpness is pretty good across the whole frame and color fringing remains low even towards the periphery of the image circle.
Originally released for the Micro Four Thirds mount, this compact circular fisheye is now available for Canon EF-M, Fujifilm X, and Sony E cameras as well. For the cost, you might expect a plasticky construction, but in our tests, we were impressed by the build of this lens.
It is really small too - so easy to carry around just in case you find a use for it when traveling. Its angle of view is wider and offers a 210° view of the world - but this does mean you have to be very careful to ensure you do not appear in your pictures when you least expect it.
Circular fisheye lenses for APS-C format cameras are pretty thin on the ground but this 5.8mm f/3.5 Lensbaby is available in a variety of mount options including Canon EF-S, Fujifilm X, Nikon DX, and Sony E. It’s also available in Micro Four Thirds fit, catering to an even smaller image sensor.
Highlights include an oversized 185-degree viewing angle and ultra-short minimum focus distance, at which the front of the lens comes to a distance of just 6mm from the subject.
However, autofocus is unavailable in any of the mount options and you can typically only use the lens in aperture-priority and manual shooting modes. You might also need to enable the ‘shoot without a lens attached’ option in the camera’s menu system, as there are no electronic connections.
How we test lenses
We test lenses using a mix of both real-world sample images and lab tests. Our lab tests are carried out scientifically in controlled conditions using the Imatest testing suite, which consists of custom charts and analysis software that measures resolution in line widths/picture height, a measurement widely used in lens and camera testing. We find the combination of lab and real-world testing works best, as each reveals different qualities and characteristics.
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