Bower SLY358AE Ultra-Wide 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens for Nikon AE Digital Cameras

I originally bought this lens to use for wide panorama shots and for making star-trail photos, but WOW, it has blown away all expectations, and become my standard go-to lens! The fisheye is nice, as it provides 180-degree views, without too much distortion, allowing you to take photos of singular shots, crop them out in post-editing, and still have them look amazing without hardly any distortion. I have uploaded a few photos of fireworks and stars that I have taken with this lens.The ease of this lens couldn't be any better, and it's quality is superb! The first thing I noticed was how heavy it is - it's constructed very well, and made to last. I also like that it comes with it's own lens bag (standard for all Bower lens) - that makes it just that much easier to keep clean and maintained.In my excitement to try the lens, I accidentally touched the lens ever so slightly as I was putting it on my camera. The smudge wiped right off, and the coating wasn't harmed at all, and picture quality is just as good as ever. I have gotten more compliments using this lens than any other lens to date, and I absolutely could not be happier with it.I was apprehensive at first to shell out the money, but looking back, it is, without any doubt, worth every penny, and then some! This is an amazing lens, and it won't steer you wrong. If you're thinking about buying it, let me help you by saying stop reading reviews, and add it to your cart already - it won't let you down!

I've had this lens about 2 months and made 100s of exposures. It's performed flawlessly. Gives a great fish eye perspective. But you can also control the lens distortion, so everything doesn't have to look the same. I've already shot some commercial work with it. You can put the camera very close to the subject, move it around slightly while firing away. Great for sunsets. Hold it just above the spot where the water meets sand and take several exposures, tilting or panning the camera slightly between each shot. This is best done on a calm sea - use caution. you will be mere inches from salt water. But you will get a great perspective. It's great for landscapes & architecture. It's not automatic, but so what? Us old timers know that these lenses focus just fine on infinity. The sweet spot for aperture seems to be about midway or maybe a stop beyond. My Nikon D5100 plays well with this lens. Flash requires changing the settings on the flash mode from TTL to Manual - no big deal. It's a great lens for the money and every serious photographer needs to have one like this in his or her camera bag.

If you're looking for a high end glass this is not it. But if you are looking for a inexpensive, quality pictures and a fun fisheye lens i would recommend this glass. For full frame users of this lens you will get significant vigetting. You will loose at least 1/3rd of your shot if not more. This is a non auto focusing type lens where you estimate your distance before taking the shot. By moving the aperture ring you will see its effect through the lens.

This is a shockingly good lens. I just got it for my D90, and I am blown away by it. This is probably the smartest buy for Nikon DX camera owners. I was skeptical because of the price but gave it go because of a very good review on KenRockwell.com. It is quite sharp all the way to the edges and has much less distortion than the few other fisheyes I have had a chance to use. The "bubble effect" is much smaller than on other lenses. For comparison shots and the like I suggest heading over to Ken Rockwell's site. Here are my own observations:Pros:* Amazing performance for the price.* Solid build quality--it feels a lot like my Nikkor Prime lenses.* Smooth focus and aperture controls (which is important since this is manual only)Things to consider:* It is fully manual. There is no autofocus. The aperture must be manually set. I don't find this as much of a negative. With regards to the autofocus, fisheyes go to infinity so fast that you only ever need to focus when there is something right in front of the camera. When your subject is up close, the focus ring is smooth and it is easy to use. Exposure and aperture are both pretty quick to dial in manually. A couple of quick trial shots and a glance at the LCD and you'll probably be there. I read that on some of the nicer DSLRs you can manually program in the metering. I have the D90 and you cannot do so on it--'tis a pitty.* This is for a DX camera. If you own a full-frame camera and mount this lens you will have a big black edge ringing your pictures--though if you own a full frame camera you are almost certainly aware of this.* No filters. You cannot mount filters on this lens. This also means that you will need to be careful when shooting objects close up--which is a lot of what you do with a fisheye. The depth of field on wide angle lenses makes things appear much farther away than they actually are. Without a protective filter, it is easy to nick the glass.Cons:* The Lens cap. It is really cheap, and the latching mechanism does not inspire a lot of confidence. If I find a better cap that I can put on this lens I will update this review with the name/link.* The supplied lens bag. Again, cheap beyond measure. While I appreciate what an absolute steal this lens is, I wish they had added 7 dollars to the price tag and supplied a nicer lens bag and a decent lens cap.All in all, this is a very nice lens and well worth the money--I would be happy if I bought a used lens for this price with this image quality. I also find the lack of automatic controls and metering little more than a minor nuisance. Wide lenses simply don't need as soft a touch as most others.

We bought the Canon version of this lens to use on our Canon T3i. It works very well. As noted by many other reviewers, NOTHING is automatic on this lens. Manual aperture/f-stop and manual focusing. However, this lens is extremely forgiving in the focus department.Know that you will get a strong "fisheye" effect, but "Fisheye" is right there in the name of the product, so if that surprises you, then you did not read the listing very carefully.This lens is so fun to use and really makes some close quarters shots possible that just would not be with the next-widest angle lens we have (Canon 18-55mm).The only thing I wish is that it came with a nicer or padded case, but it does have a nice drawstring bag to protect it from dust and scuffs.Really, really happy with this purchase, especially for the price. Picked this up during a lightning deal for 175. Amazing value!. :)