8-15mm or 15mm fisheye?

[Alex]

Hey guys,

Just a quick question... I did try looking but there seems to be a fair bit of conflicting info on both these lens... I have at the moment a Canon 15mm 2.8 fisheye. I am looking to use this as my main surf lens in my water proof housing... I have read that the 15mm suffers a lot from CA and that the autofocus isn't very good, to be honest I have never noticed it... My girlfriend really wants to buy my 15mm off me which is why I was looking at the 8-15mm. Am I going to be better off keeping the 15mm or will the L lens make a night and day difference?

Cheers
Alex

 

[Random Orbits]

According to TDP, the 8-15 should be sharper outside the center (might help if you defish) and it should be better against flare.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-8-15mm-f-4-L-USM-Fisheye-Lens-Review.aspx

If you're happy with the 15mm, I don't think you'll be blown away with the 8-15's advantages for twice the price. One of the advantages of the 8-15 is the flexibility you have with crop and FF bodies. You can get a wider AOV with the crop, and you can get the porthole look with FF. I don't use the porthole look much but changing the AOV on the crop is a nice feature. I've unloaded the crop camera since moving FF, but I can imagine that the 8-15 would be a lot more valuable to someone that has both types of cameras. You might have to try renting it out to see if it makes sense to you.