Nikon 10.5mm f/2.8G ED DX Fisheye Interchangeable Lens Review

Handling and features
Performance
Verdict
Specification


This diagonal fisheye lens for DX format SLRs offers a 180 degree angle of view from corner to corner, a bright f/2.8 maximum aperture, a minimum focus distance of 14cm and costs around £525. It doesn't sport the silent wave focusing motor found on more recent Nikon lenses and so won't auto-focus on entry-level camera bodies such as the D3100 or D5100.

Sigma's 10mm f/2.8 EX DC HSM is a little cheaper at around £430 and has a silent focusing motor, so it is fully compatible with all Nikon's DX format SLRs.

Nikon 10.5mm f/2.8G ED DX Fisheye Nikkor Handling and features

For a such a compact lens, the Nikon 10.5mm fisheye feels quite weighty, although it could never be classed as heavy. Much of the lens barrel is constructed from tough plastics, with a permanent hood in place to protect the front element. At only 460g, it balances perfectly on the Nikon D300 used for testing.

Focusing is not performed internally and the front element can be seen to move back and forth by around two millimetres. Due to the extreme wide angle of the lens, filters cannot be attached to the front. A filter gel holder is provided on the rear, which very few owners of this lens will actually use. Manual focusing is aided by the smooth action of the focusing ring and a useful hyperfocal scale, which makes taking advantage of the expansive depth of field a fisheye provides, a straightforward affair.

The minimum focus distance of 14cm makes this lens suitable for shooting in claustrophobic environments, with distances becoming more distorted as you get closer to your subject.

Nikon 10.5mm f/2.8G ED DX Fisheye Nikkor Performance

Sharpness at f/2.8 is excellent across the frame, with peak quality being achieved at f/4. Diffraction reduces sharpness as the lens is stopped down further, but clarity is still good across the frame down to f/11.

Resolution at 10.5mm

How to read our charts The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column. The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple. For this review, the lens was tested on a Nikon D300 using Imatest.

Fisheye lenses often suffer with chromatic aberrations towards the edges of the frame, and the Nikon 10.5mm is no exception. Fringing approaching to pixel widths can bee seen along high contrast edges towards the edges of the frame, which may need correcting in image editing software afterwards.

Chromatic aberration at 10.5mm

How to read our charts Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software. Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more. For this review, the lens was tested on a Nikon D300 using Imatest.

Falloff of illumination towards the corners of the frame is quite prominent at f/2.8 with the corners being 2.88 stops darker than the centre. Visually uniform illumination is achieved at f/5.6.

Nikon DX Fisheye 10.5mm f/2.8G Sample Photos

When shooting into the light, contrast levels hold up very well, and this optic's resistance to flare is very high.

Nikon 10.5mm f/2.8G ED DX Fisheye Nikkor Verdict

Even though this lens was one of the first diagonal fisheye lenses made available for DSLRs with a sensor smaller than 35mm film, it still holds up well against the competition, despite being more expensive. The sharpness across the frame is excellent from maximum aperture, making this lens suitable for low light shooting, as well as for landscapes and interiors, where the extra-wide field of view may come in handy, so long as the wild fisheye distortions can be lived with. Build quality is great too.

It is a shame that this lens doesn't include a silent-wave motor, although with Nikon slowly re-vamping their lens line-up at the moment, I wouldn't be too surprised to see an updated version. Owners of entry-level Nikon cameras may still get plenty of use out of this lens, as the extensive depth of field provided by a fisheye lens makes manual focusing pretty straightforward.

Nikon 10.5mm f/2.8G ED DX Fisheye Nikkor Pros

Excellent sharpness from maximum aperture
Very good build quality
Hyperfocal scale
Smooth manual focusing action
Compact and reasonably lightweight

Nikon 10.5mm f/2.8G ED DX Fisheye Nikkor Cons

Chromatic aberrations towards the edges of the frame
Falloff of illumination towards the edges at maximum aperture
No silent wave motor means no AF on entry-level bodies

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Nikon DX Fisheye 10.5mm f/2.8G Specifications

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