Samyang 8mm f2.8 Fisheye Lens for Fujifilm X-Mount Review

How do you make a great lens even better? That's exactly what Samyang did with their 8mm fisheye lens. They simply outdid themselves.

When I was shooting with my Pentax DSLR, I wanted an ultra-wide lens, but I actually settled with a fisheye first. The Pentax DA 10-17mm Fisheye. It was a decent lens, but I realized wanted w   i    d   e   r! When I got an opportunity to get a Samyang 8mm f3.5, I sold my Pentax and got it instead. It was better than the Pentax because it's crazy wide AND it had a stereoscopic projection which really looks more natural that the Pentax version. The Pentax however, had a few strengths under it's belt, which of course is the fact it is an autofocus lens, ability to zoom AND it can focus up to 10cm close making giving really silly photos of children and pets. 

When I decided to switch to the Fujifilm, I thought I could reuse my Samyang 8mm f3.5 with my Pentax to X mount converter, but oh was I wrong.

X marks the spot!

Samyang 8mm f2.8 vs Samyang 8mm f3.5

The Samyang 8mm f3.5 with the Pentax converter made my setup really big and cumbersome. Worse, for reasons I still do not know why, photos look extremely soft when using the lens on my Fujifilm X-M1. On my Pentax k-5, the Samyang was excellent when used at f5.6 and above (it's soft wide open) and never exhibited any of the softness I see on my Fujifilm X-M1. No matter what aperture I use, the photos sucked. At first I thought it may be due to the additional registration distance the mount converter added to the lens, but that doesn't make sense since that is the same effective distance it is on my Pentax. I also thought it maybe related to the shutter shake caused when the mechanical shutter closes on my camera which somehow resonates with the lens, but I have set the shutter speed to the max and yet it happens. I still have no answer to it, but it doesn't matter anymore because I now own the Samyang 8mm f2.8 Fisheye lens for X-Mount and I am not looking back.

Taken with the old Samyang 8mm f3.5 at f8 with my Fujifilm X-M1.
Inexplicable softness not seen when using Pentax. Also strong CA.

The Package

Just a word about the packaging before I go on. When I first opened the courier package which was sent from my seller, I instantaneously fell in love with the lens. I knew it would be small, but I was surprised at how small it really is (perfect for my X-M1) and it looks very classy. Having owned the 8mm f3.5 and the 85mm f1.4, this new lens comes in a nicer modern looking box. Inside, there is even a little pouch for the lens which was not available in the previous lenses I bought. One of the thing I liked the most about the lens is actually the back lens cap, which has the Fujifilm "X" symbol molded on it. Nice!

I don't know how they managed to shrink that lens AND made it faster AND optically superior! It seems to defy all common sense but miracles do happen!

Pretty new box. The red band matches my X-M1 case perfectly.

Really robust built. The focus ring is tight but it's good since I don't have to fear changing the focus when I keep my lens in the bag.

The Optics

Optically, it is nothing short of fantastic. When compared to the Samyang 8mm f3.5, it is:

1. Half stop faster (f2.8 vs f3.5)
2. Much, much sharper wide open
3. Colors are very good, and I find it better than the Samyang 8mm f3.5 and the Samyang 85mm f1.4 that I own as well. Possibly newer coating technology.
4. Chromatic Aberrations (CA) levels amazingly low. CA was a real issue with the Samyang 8mm f3.5, but not so with the f2.8 version.
5. The f2.8 version seem to be able to focus closer than the f3.5 version, even though both have the same minimum focusing distance of 30cm.
6. Vignetting however is quite bad on the f2.8 version when used at wider apertures, though a simple fix with post-processing

Below are a few sample photos SOOC JPEG.

How to get 11 people on around table into a picture? The fisheye does it the best.

Christmas time is my favorite time to shoot in the malls with the fisheye.

Taken at f4. Mr. Gurmit Singh himself! A slight hint of stardust from the few lights right above.

Feeling claustrophobic? Nothing a little fisheye won't help! Taken at f2.8 inside the new Hyundai i40!

Check out my other article HERE with more photos from this great lens.

Fishy Focus

Focusing on the lens is very easy, but do be careful when using it wide open. With focus peaking on my X-M1, I see a lot of false positives at the borders of objects. It seems like everything is in focus but in reality it is not. Focus zoom will help make sure you get it right. This is important if you want to shoot a particular subject in the foreground or you may get some blurring.

However, if you are just shooting landscape or just want to capture everything on sight, then use the hyper focal length and you can set and forget. Here's a cheat sheet I created to remind myself when using these popular apertures:

Aperture	Set your focus to	What is in focus?
f2.8	1.20m	60cm to infinity
f4.0	0.80m	40cm to infinity
f5.6	0.60m	30cm to infinity
f8.0	0.40m	20cm to infinity

Taken at minimum focusing range (30cm) at f2.8

Trying to get that funny fisheye effect? You still can on the Samyang, but expect some softness. This was taken at f2.8 a little closer to the subject.

Narrowing the aperture to f8 made the subject much sharper, but still not ideal if you have to pixel peep.

The big picture (shot using the 35mm). Can you find the two ballerinas?

What about Defishing?

In case you are wonder about how well it can work as a rectilinear lens, it actually works very well! Read all about it in my other article HERE.

Where I Bought It

Normally, there's nothing to tell, but the irony of this story is that I got my new lens from my old friend William at Pentax2u.com online web store. Apart from Pentax gears, they also sell Samyang lenses in all mounts, and because I know his service and trust him, I decided to buy from him. Just drop him an enquiry and ask for a good price! :) Shipment came a day after payment. If you buy from  them, you also get a two years local warranty for your lens. The price is about the same as what I would get from B&H (Bower which is a rebranded version of the lens, same as Rokinon, seem cheaper than Samyang branded ones) with the shipping cost to Malaysia.

Summary

If you have a Fujifilm X-mount camera, this to me is a must buy lens. Why? Because it hardly takes up any space in your camera bag AND it's incredibly fun.

The Three Amigos which follows me everywhere now! The Fast, The Fun and The Standard.

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