RIP Canon EF 15 f/2.8 Fisheye

[Canon Rumors]

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We’ll miss ya The Canon EF 15 f/2.8 is officially discontinued at B&H.

I hear from lots of people that aren’t happy with the 8-15 f/4L fisheye. They wish Canon would update the full frame fisheye 2.8 prime.

How many of you wish Canon would do a fast L prime fisheye?

Sigma to the rescue? I will say, the Sigma 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye is a great lens. It’s what we stock at Lens Rentals Canada. It can be had for $609 at B&H. I feel it’s as good as the Canon 15 f/2.8 was/is.

thanks Steve

cr

[TexPhoto]

Had the Sigma before, and loved that lens. Looooooove my 8-15.  It's wider than the Sigma. (It's 15mm is ever so slightly wide than the Sigmas 15mm) and it's still FF at 14mm, where it is considerably wider. For video you can go to 13.5. It's sharper than the sigma, especially way out on the corners.

FF fisheye on crop camera bodies is great.  i do shoot with a 7D in addition to my 5DII and knowing i can jump to FF fisheye on the 7D can be great.  This can be great in video mode.

Circular fisheye?  Not really my cup of tea, but I am trying to shoot it occasionally. 

[oaktowncabron]

Loving my 15mm Canon on a crop body and have for years now.  The only issues I have ever had is the stupid lens cap falling off, but I put a little electrical tape on the outside of the lens rim and now the cap holds with the friction.

Would I be interested in an update, sure.  Way back about a year ago there was a new fisheye mentioned and I was all about it.  Now with the 8-15 out it is intriguing but I'm not ready to drop that much $$ on it.  Sweet spot is around $800 for an updated fun fisheye prime for me.

[KyleSTL]

I hear from lots of people that aren’t happy with the 8-15 f/4L fisheye. They wish Canon would update the full frame fisheye 2.8 prime.

Who are these people?  I have no experience with this lens, but every review I've read online is glowing. They all say it's sharp, contrasty, and has excellent build quality. Heck, even the Nikon users are extremely jealous about this lens.

[lbloom]

I have a rental of the Canon 8-15mm fisheye on its way to me this week! I'm excited to use this lens for myself! But it is way to expensive for my uses. The 15mm would have been more reasonable. An updated and considerably cheaper 15mm prime fisheye would be a winner!

[J. McCabe]

I hear from lots of people that aren’t happy with the 8-15 f/4L fisheye. They wish Canon would update the full frame fisheye 2.8 prime.

Who are these people?  I have no experience with this lens, but every review I've read online is glowing. They all say it's sharp, contrasty, and has excellent build quality. Heck, even the Nikon users are extremely jealous about this lens.

Second the question - I have the 15mm f/2.8, and I love it. As I use it in low light situations, I consider keeping it even after buying the 8-15mm f/4.

As for Nikon's fisheye, I've read in a[n architecture ?] photography book the Nikon fisheye is so good, Canon photographers use it with an adapter.

[epsiloneri]

Who are these people?

Probably low-light people. From where I'm coming (astrophotography, northern lights photography), the two-stop one-stop difference in aperture is critical. The EF 8-15/4L FE may be a good lens, but it doesn't replace the EF 15/2.8 FE. Therefore it will be missed.

The 15/2.8 is already excellent optically, the loud focusing motor doesn't matter because the lens can almost be used as a fixed-focus lens (and I use MF for it anyway). The lens cap design leaves some to be desired (it keeps falling off), I'm using a rubber band to keep the cap in place (I may try the tape-friction trick mentioned by oaktowncabron).

[branden]

I have a rental of the Canon 8-15mm fisheye on its way to me this week! I'm excited to use this lens for myself! But it is way to expensive for my uses. The 15mm would have been more reasonable. An updated and considerably cheaper 15mm prime fisheye would be a winner!

That's a great idea, so great that I also just placed an order to rent one for the week. Picking it up tomorrow

[MazV-L]

I've been tossing up purchasing a fisheye lens for a while now, I have both a FF and APS-C body, renting a lens is not an option. Please post some sample shots of photos you've taken w/ either of the Canon fisheye lenses I'd be interested to see them, thankyou.

[J. McCabe]

Who are these people?

Probably low-light people. From where I'm coming (astrophotography, northern lights photography), the two-stop difference in aperture is critical. The EF 8-15/4L FE may be a good lens, but it doesn't replace the EF 15/2.8 FE. Therefore it will be missed.

Isn't it a one-stop difference in aperture ?

[Flake]

I wonder who the people are who want a 'faster' fisheye, probably the same bunch that scream 'faster' at every lens that's ever been released!  But this really doesn't make sense, why would anyone want a fast fisheye, unless it's f/.2 and therefore massive there'll be no noticeable effect on DOF but with a lens like this why is DOF important?

[Gcon]

I hear from lots of people that aren’t happy with the 8-15 f/4L fisheye. They wish Canon would update the full frame fisheye 2.8 prime.

Who are these people?  I have no experience with this lens, but every review I've read online is glowing. They all say it's sharp, contrasty, and has excellent build quality. Heck, even the Nikon users are extremely jealous about this lens.

I think the people who are complaining are the ones that don't own the new lens. I have to admit - I was a complainer at first. I wanted f/2.8 and as a full frame shooter - couldn't care less about the zoom. Then I read the review on The Digital Picture (.com) and realised that f/2.8 on the original is pretty blurry and for me that makes it a useless aperture. I think it's probably impossible based on physics of light to make f/2.8 sharp on a 15mm fisheye. Since a soft aperture is unacceptable for a L-designated lens, I'd say this is a contributing factor in making the widest f/4 - that and it being a zoom where f/4 is standard.

Anyway I went out and got one and did a two week road trip pulling out the fisheye regularly (new toy). It has all the "C's" in spades - color, clarity, contrast - all fantastic. Unfortunately also cost - not cheap.  It's a little bit punchier in the colors that my 17-40mm f/4L. I really can't fault the IQ at all except corner sharpness until you stop down but that's to be expected for a fisheye.

What a lot of people don't realise is that you can use it on a full frame down to just below 14mm. The difference between 15mm and 14mm is quite large, and I'm really glad I've got that extra mm over the original one.

Besides cost, the only other thing that annoys me is the outer lens cover comes off really easily with the slightest push of the release button. The built in 'hood' stays on pretty well as that twists off.

If you are a full frame shooter then if you want f/2.8 then you can go out and buy the old one, but expect pretty ordinary soft results and if you are a pixel peeper, you just won't use it. As an owner of the new lens, I really don't think anyone should shed a tear with the news of the old lens being discontinued.

[Gcon]

I just saw the cost of the Sigma fisheye - wow! So much cheaper! If cost is an issue then definitely get that one. The Canon one shouldn't be that much more expensive - possibly it's still at "early adopter" prices. I think if the Sigma is worth US$600-700, then the Canon 8-15mm f/4L should probably be around the US$1000 mark. It is 100% deserving of its 'L' designation though and build quality is great (easily removed lens cap excepted!).

Again - I wouldn't worry about about losing f/2.8. Who really needs depth of field on a fisheye? It's not like you're going to get much at 14mm or 15mm anyways. Faster shutter? Have you seen the 1Dx high ISO ability?!   f/2.8 is not really needed, or won't be, for a fisheye lens. A sound choice I think by Canon.

So if you want the very best you have to pay through the nose for it. If you can wait then wait - perhaps it'll have big price drops once Japan/Thailand recovers and early adopters like me have theirs. I'm guessing it'll be $1200 in 6 months but hopefully it'll drop more.

[goodmane]

I've owned the Sigma, and loved using it on a crop body for wide portraits without weired rectilinear faces. So I wouldn't go with the f4 zoom.

But the Canon version was nicer aesthetically to the Sigma in my opinion. If you hold one, and see that massive glass on the front, you will be in love! But for me, I couldn't afford the £500 price tag (and that was years ago), so I went with the Sigma.

The Canon would definitely be in my lens bag, were money no object. I imagine the collector's price will shoot up now!

[Canon 14-24]

Probably low-light people. From where I'm coming (astrophotography, northern lights photography), the two-stop difference in aperture is critical. The EF 8-15/4L FE may be a good lens, but it doesn't replace the EF 15/2.8 FE. Therefore it will be missed.

As Epsiloneri pointed out, the folks that are upset with the f/4 fisheye are not primarily because of the DOF, it's because of the inability to use the lens for low light situations such as astrophotography and the ability in low light situations to use a lower iso for noise levels suitable to their tastes.

Having used the 2.8 fisheye I will admit there were times I shot indoors and had to shoot at 2.8 to keep the iso around 800-3200 at hand holdable shutter speeds on my 5d2. Also it is to my understanding astrophotography or to prevent the stars from streaking, it sometimes requires a 30-45 second exposure, so regardless sometimes people will have to be shooting at iso 6400 at 2.8 to get within that range. I am sure as future camera models pop out the higher iso will provide suitable noise levels to various photographer tastes, though currently those models are either not released or out of price range to some.

Also the lens cap issue may sound miniscule to some, but it can become an annoyance. The old 15 2.8 was super loose and i had to use a lenshoodie (best option I've found) to solve the cap from slipping all the time. From reviews it appears the new fisheye has a similar annoying case. I also read about a lot of similar annoyances with the 14-24 nikon lens cap. I just have my hopes that if Canon does release a lens with a protruding or bubble like frontal element that they can get the cap done right like a twist/lock with threading on the 17mm tse.