It's A Round, Round World - Sigma 4.5mm Circular Fisheye

You are probably not hearing it here first because I found references to it all over the Internet, but here is the story about Sigma's just introduced 4.5mm Circular Fisheye over at DPreview. I wanted to chime in about Circular Fisheye Lens.

Back in my Hasselblad days, I owned their 30mm Fisheye lens - about a $6000 pop! I loved that lens for a different wedding day perspective. No one else in my area had one, so I was producing some really cool images that perspective clients weren't seeing and no one else could touch. As I write this, I am looking at a 30x30 print in my studio that catches my client's attention every time they visit.

It was also great for some cool reception candids as well. I had owned Sigma'' 8mm Fisheye for my early Nikon D1X, and after switching to Canon, picked up one for it too. Now Sigma is the first lens manufacturer to introduce the circular Fisheye for the digital half frame cameras. No price has been set yet, but I did find a post in one of the forums that suggests it will be about $1000.

I have found that Sigma's price drops a bit after the lens has been out a while. I purchased my Fisheye for my Canon at about $100 less than the same perspective lens for the Nikon. But why wait?? It's always the difference that makes the difference - so you might want to check it out. I'll plan to do a "Technique Tuesday" piece on Fisheye images down the road.