Wetpixel

Review: Nikon 8-15 mm f/3.5-4.5 Fisheye lens

by adamhanlon

The Nikon AF-S FISHEYE NIKKOR 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED on DX cameras:

With cropped sensor cameras (FX) the lens has an actual focal length of 8-15mm, however, the lens vignettes at focal length of around 10.5 mm or less. There may be some minor differences around which point the lens vignettes based on the port and housing combination used and, possibly, individual camera’s mountings.

The lens was tested on a Nikon D500 in a SEACAM housing with a 160 mm FP port. Testing was carried out with using a 20mm extension, but there seems too be no optical improvement in doing so with this set up. In fact, it seems to produce worse vignetting. Further testing of other housing systems is necessary to validate this. The images below were all taken with no extension.

The 8-15 mm on DX does not produce a full circle fisheye.

As is the case on FX, the lens focuses literally on the dome port:

Lens at 15 mm

Lens at 11 mm

Lens at 8 mm (note vignetting)

These charts also show how the image distorts as the focal length decreases. Nikon claim that the focusing distance is not related to the lens’s zoom positions nd this series of image should suggest that it will focus on objects immediately in front of the dome at 8 mm all the way through to 15 mm.

The lens is very sharp throughout the aperture range. The following is a series of test shots are a variety of apertures, each with a 100% crop from the lower left hand corner of the image.

The images have not had any creative sharpening applied, but have had sharpening that has been automatically applied in the D810’s profile in Lightroom. Apertures are listed in the center of each image.

Nikon D500, Nikon 8-15mm f3.5-4.5, SEACAM FP Port. Focal length: 15mm. Aperture: f/5

Nikon D500, Nikon 8-15mm f3.5-4.5, SEACAM FP Port. Focal length: 15mm. Aperture: f/5.6

Nikon D500, Nikon 8-15mm f3.5-4.5, SEACAM FP Port. Focal length: 15mm. Aperture: f/6.3

Nikon D500, Nikon 8-15mm f3.5-4.5, SEACAM FP Port. Focal length: 15mm. Aperture: f/7.1

Nikon D500, Nikon 8-15mm f3.5-4.5, SEACAM FP Port. Focal length: 15mm. Aperture: f/8

Nikon D500, Nikon 8-15mm f3.5-4.5, SEACAM FP Port. Focal length: 15mm. Aperture: f/9

Nikon D500, Nikon 8-15mm f3.5-4.5, SEACAM FP Port. Focal length: 15mm. Aperture: f/10

Nikon D500, Nikon 8-15mm f3.5-4.5, SEACAM FP Port. Focal length: 15mm. Aperture: f/11

As might be expected, depth of field is pretty amazing:

Nikon D500, Nikon 8-15mm f3.5-4.5, SEACAM FP Port. Focal length: 10.5 mm. Aperture: f/9

Perhaps not the best example, but the camera and lens’s performance in high contrast scenes seems very good. Certainly, there is no signs of flaring or ghosting in high tonal range images.

Page 1: Introduction.
Page 2: Nikon 8-15mm Red Sea Portfolio by Alex Mustard.
Page 3: The Nikon AF-S FISHEYE NIKKOR 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED on FX cameras.
Page 4: The Nikon AF-S FISHEYE NIKKOR 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED on DX cameras.
Page 5: The Nikon AF-S FISHEYE NIKKOR 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED: Working Conclusions.