Samyang 7.5mm f/3.5 UMC Fisheye Lens Review

Samyang 7.5mm f/3.5 UMC Fisheye Handling and Features

The build quality of this 7.5mm fisheye lens from Samyang is excellent. It feels very solid, despite only weighing 197g. The lens mount is metal and the lens is also extremely compact, only protruding by 48.3mm from the camera body. This makes the lens a perfect companion for more compact Micro Four Thirds bodies and it is just about the perfect companion for the Olympus PEN EP-2 used for testing. However, the compact size does have one drawback. Due to the extreme angle of view, it can be very easy to accidentally have your fingers in the edges of the frame, so extra care needs to be taken to prevent this.

Aperture control and focusing are both completely manual, as the lens has no electronic interface with the camera. The aperture ring is divided into half stop intervals, and clicks firmly into place for each. The focusing ring is very, very well damped, and could almost be considered a little stiff to operate.

Focus distances from infinity to the closest focus distance of 9cm are marked on the ring, but no hyperfocal scale is provided. That 9cm closest focusing distance allows you to get the lens right on top of your subject, which can help with exploiting the distorted perspective that can be had when shooting from so close.

Taking images of anything over a metre or two away is straightforward, as the lens can simply be left set to infinity. For closer distances it is recommended to use the magnification feature of your camera to ensure sharp focus.

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