I acquired the Nikon AF-S Fisheye Nikkor 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED lens a few years ago while I was still using the Nikon D850 as my main camera. However, I have not had the opportunity to do this lens any justice until 21 December 2024 when we visited the city. On this day, the Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.8 S lens was my main lens on the Nikon Z8 but took the fisheye lens with a Nikon FTZ II adapter just in case there would be a reason to use it.

Someone once said that to use a fisheye lens effectively, the photograph must look like it wasn’t taken with a fisheye lens at a glance. When we were in Melbourne Central, I thought the architecture of the location was designed to be photographed with a fisheye lens. The circularity and curvature of the interior of the building will compliment the distortion of the lens. I think I have achieved the goal of taking a picture with a fisheye lens that still looks reasonably natural. I hope you agree with me.

The first 2 photographs are taken at 15mm which has a 3:2 aspect ratio. When the lens is zoomed at 8mm, I have to remove the lens hood so that a circular image can be taken. The lens has a 180 degree view of view from the front element with either focal length. Owing to the high contrast, I have to employ 5-shot backet of 1 2/3 stops apart and stack the images with Adobe Lightroom.

First: Nikon Z8, Nikkor 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED @ 15mm f/4.5 1/200s ISO-64.

Second: Nikon Z8, Nikkor 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED @ 15mm f/4.5 1/200s ISO-100.

Third: Nikon Z8, Nikkor 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED @ 8mm f/4.5 1/200s ISO-64.