Fish eye lens is basically a wide angle lens that captures an extremely wide image with the produced images being highly restored to give the pictures a dynamic, abstract feel to them. Photographers can get a fisheye lens from any major lens manufacturer. Canon and Nikon are said to be the best lenses if you have their cameras, while Tamron, Tokina, a Sigma make excellent alternatives that are cheaper.
In addition to the lens, there are also fish eye adapters which is a fun way to experiment with fisheye photography; but keep in mind that’s not a realistic alternative to an actual fish eye lens.
Mainly, there are two types of fish eye lenses; circular and full frame. They both produce a different effect. The circular fisheye lens allows for photographers to capture a full 180 degree view of all directions resulting in a circular image with black edges. The full frame fish eye lenses also captures a 180 degree view but only along its diagonal. The top and bottom sides of the image are typically around 100 degrees vertically and 180 degrees horizontally. Even though full frame images on’t cover a wide angle, they come out rectangular and do not feature the black edges that the circular images do. This makes the full frame more suitable for such purposes as taking landscape portraits and capturing the interior of buildings.
A cheaper alternative for photographers who want to try out fisheye photography, is a fisheye conversion lens, also known as a fish eye converter; which attaches to your existing lens to give you a wider viewing angle. However, just as fish eye adapters, fish eye conversion lens shouldn’t be thought as a realistic alternative for photographers who want to take good quality photos with a fish eye lens.
