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With the new Sony fisheye, I could easily create an environmental portrait of this Port Jackson shark (Sony A1 Mark II, Sony FE 8–14mm f/3.5 Fisheye G at 13mm, Isotta housing, natural light (f/5, 1/200s, ISO 320)
 

From an underwater shooter’s perspective, a fisheye lens is much more than a specialist piece of glass: It is the ultimate tool for getting close to marine life subjects and for fitting the largest possible scenes into the frame. Thus, Sony’s first full-frame E-mount fisheye zoom lens—the Sony FE 8–14mm f/3.5 Fisheye G—arrives with plenty to prove.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a pre-release version of Sony’s new full-frame fisheye, and I wasted no time getting it in the water at my local dive site in Kurnell, Sydney, Australia. I shot the lens on my Sony A1 Mark II in Isotta housing, initially behind an Isotta 9-inch glass dome but later also an Isotta 4.5-inch glass dome as well as a Matty Smith 12-inch dome for split shots.
 

A Port Jackson shark cruises the seabed, dramatically distorted by the new Sony fisheye lens (Sony A1 Mark II, Sony FE 8–14mm f/3.5 Fisheye G at 13mm, Isotta housing, natural light (f/5.6, 1/125s, ISO 160)
 

A Port Jackson shark surrounded by boulders: Shot with the new Sony fisheye lens, this scene looks huge! (Sony A1 Mark II, Sony FE 8–14mm f/3.5 Fisheye G at 13mm, Isotta housing, natural light (f/6.3, 1/125s, ISO 160)

The World’s Smallest-in-Class Fisheye for Mirrorless

Sony touts the Sony FE 8–14mm f/3.5 Fisheye G as featuring the world’s most compact design for its class of full-frame mirrorless fisheye zoom lenses. With a body that is just 3.3 inches (83mm) long and 2.5 inches (63mm) in diameter, it certainly feels very small, but it’s the weight—only 11 ounces or 314 grams—that is the real surprise. That is two-thirds the weight of the Canon RF 7–14mm f/2.8–3.5 or Nikon AF-S 8–15mm f/3.5–4.5 fisheye offerings. With this lightweight lens in their bag, traveling underwater photographers might now be able to pack more than one pair of underwear!
 

The Sony FE 8–14mm f/3.5 Fisheye has an impressively compact footprint
 

Like its Nikon and Canon counterparts, the Sony FE 8–14mm f/3.5 Fisheye is essentially two lenses in one on a full-frame mirrorless body. At the 14mm end, you get a diagonal fisheye perspective that fills the whole frame, while at the 8mm end, you get a full circular fisheye, a unique perspective that can be used—sparingly—to dramatic effect. It’s worth noting, historically, videographers wouldn’t get a full circular image due to the wider 16:9 aspect ratio; however, pairing the Sony full-frame fisheye with my new Sony FX5 cinema camera recording open gate, I am able to get a full circular image.

Since a fairly small movement of the zoom ring makes a very noticeable difference to the image, the lens includes a zoom lock that can hold the lens at three useful positions. The first is for the full-frame circular fisheye image at 8mm, the second is for the full-frame diagonal fisheye image at 14mm, and the third is an intermediate position that produces a frame-filling fisheye image on a camera with a cropped (APS-C) sensor.

Keep in mind that your dome port should have a removable shade. With a fixed shade, the 180° angle of view of the Sony fisheye means you will likely see vignetting throughout most of the focal length range.
 

A weedy seadragon captured at 13mm fills the frame (Sony A1 Mark II, Sony FE 8–14mm f/3.5 Fisheye G at 13mm, Isotta housing, Kraken Sports KR-S160 strobes (f/16, 1/160s, ISO 640)
 

An over-under scene captured at 8mm produces a circular image (Sony A1 Mark II, Sony FE 8–14mm f/3.5 Fisheye G at 8mm, Isotta housing, Kraken Sports KR-S160 strobes (f/22, 1/250s, ISO 320)

Why Fisheye?

The simple answer is to be able to get closer and wider, while maintaining a sharp image, corner to corner. Fisheye lenses work much better behind a dome port and suffer far fewer optical problems than rectilinear wide-angle lenses. This advantage allows you to use much smaller domes with fisheyes than with rectilinear lenses. I managed to do some limited shooting with a 4.5-inch glass dome. Fisheye lenses also have a very short minimum focus distance, generally making them much better than rectilinear lenses for close-focus wide-angle work.

On land, curved fisheye horizons look rather unnatural (although they can be interesting when done right). Underwater, the fluid nature really helps conceal the barrel distortion, really only becoming noticeable when you shoot man-made subjects like wrecks or around man-made structures like a pier.
 

A weedy seadragon and Port Jackson shark share the frame: The fisheye’s extreme barrel distortion goes unnoticed underwater (Sony A1 Mark II, Sony FE 8–14mm f/3.5 Fisheye G at 13mm, Isotta housing, Kraken Sports KR-S160 strobes (f/16, 1/160s, ISO 640)

Sony’s Full-Frame Fisheye in Use

My first impression of the Sony FE 8–14mm f/3.5 Fisheye G is that the wait was definitely worth it. Don’t let the size and weight fool you, this is a little pocket rocket! Here are my key takeaways after a few dives with the new Sony fisheye:

• The lens is optically excellent, producing images with impressive detail and contrast. Circular fisheye images are extremely sharp across the frame and at all apertures. Frame-filling fisheye images are very sharp in the center, where it matters most. The expected softening in the corners when shooting at wide apertures can easily be minimized by stopping down.

• Autofocus is fast and smooth, as we’ve come to expect from Sony optics.

• Close-up performance is extremely good. The 6-inch (15cm) minimum focus distance allows you to get super-close to your subjects.

• I got very pleasing results using a small (4.5-inch) glass dome—this is an ideal lens for travel.

• Behind a dome, the lens produces clear images with very minimal chromatic aberration. Naturally, when using a smaller dome, chromatic aberration becomes a little more noticeable.

• Suppressed focus breathing will really please underwater videographers, making this lens a great choice for hybrid shooters. 

At a relatively open aperture of f/6.3, there is a little softening in the corners as expected (top), but the center of the frame (bottom) is exceptionally sharp and detailed (100% crop) (Sony A1 Mark II, Sony FE 8–14mm f/3.5 Fisheye G at 13mm, Isotta housing, Kraken Sports KR-S160 strobes (f/6.3, 1/160s, ISO 160)
 

Stopping down to f/16 produces excellent sharpness and detail across the frame (top), as seen in a 100% crop of the lower-left corner (bottom) (Sony A1 Mark II, Sony FE 8–14mm f/3.5 Fisheye G at 13mm, Isotta housing, Kraken Sports KR-S160 strobes (f/16, 1/160s, ISO 640)

Final Thoughts

It is fantastic to finally have a native mirrorless fisheye lens. The Sony FE 8–14mm f/3.5 Fisheye G focuses very fast, produces very sharp and detailed images (and video), and works well with my 4.5-inch mini-dome for close-focus wide-angle shots. This is also an amazingly compact and lightweight lens. I have a trip coming up to Lord Howe Island, and the baggage allowance is a real challenge, so I will be packing just the Sony fisheye and my 4.5-inch dome. I will look at doing a long-term review of this lens over the coming months, but I have no doubt that the new Sony full-frame fisheye is going to be my go-to lens for wide angle.
 

My Port Jackson shark model bids farewell… until I return with my Sony fisheye! (Sony A1 Mark II, Sony FE 8–14mm f/3.5 Fisheye G at 13mm, Isotta housing, Kraken Sports KR-S160 strobes (f/16, 1/160s, ISO 400)
 

Brett Lobwein is a professional underwater photographer and videographer based out of Sydney, Australia. A Sony Digital Imaging Advocate and an Isotta Ambassador, he is also one of the co-founders of the Underwater Awards Australasia.
 

Sony FE 8–14mm f/3.5 Fisheye

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