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Abbreviations

Model history (3)

Specification

Source of data

• Manufacturer's technical data.

Typical characteristics of fisheye lenses

• Extreme angle of view (at least 180° diagonally);
• Circular types (the image circle of the lens is inscribed in the image frame) or diagonal types (cover the entire image frame);
• Usually of equidistant projection type, with the distance from the picture center to any given point always proportional to the angle from the optical axis to that point;
• Huge barrel distortion;
• Short closest focusing distance (0.20 - 0.30m with 35mm full-frame prime lenses);
• Very large depth of field, eliminating the need for autofocus or precise manual focusing;
• Due to the extreme angle of view and convex front element, front filters cannot be used;
• Often equipped with a filter turret with swivel-mounted filters;
• Often come with a small, built-in petal-shaped lens hood.

From the editor

The successor of the Fisheye-Nikkor 16mm f3.5. A completely revised optical configuration improved the evenness of light distribution and corner sharpness as well as the overall lens speed. In addition to the improved speed the angle of view increased to 180 degrees, and it accepts 39mm filter on a bayonet mount at the rear of the lens. The filter is actually part of the lens design computation and if removed the close focus ability of the lens can be reduced below its normal 30cm, however, it will no longer focus to infinity.

The lens has a narrow flange that extends from above and below the front edge of the lens barrel to act as a lens hood, however, due to the enormous coverage of the lens they are best considered as offering limited protection, rather than effective shading, to the front element.

Notes

• This AI lens was designed for Nikon F3, EL2, EM, FE, FE2, FE10, FG-20, FM, FM2, FM10, FM3A, Nikkormat FT3 AI cameras and Nikon FA, FG, N2000, N6000 AI-S cameras.
• AI and AI-S lenses are backward compatible with Nikon F, F2, Nikkormat FS, FT, FT2, FTN, EL, ELW cameras.
• On Nikon digital SLR cameras, the automatic exposure metering with AI and AI-S lenses will not be available on D40, D40X, D60, D70, D70s, D80, D3000-D3500, D5000-D5600 series.

Other fisheye lenses in the Nikon F system

Lenses with similar focal length