Canon Fisheye EF 15mm f/2.8 Lens

The Canon Fisheye EF 15mm f/2.8 Lens is a full-frame fisheye prime designed for Canon EF-mount cameras, offering a dramatic 180-degree angle of view that opens up creative, distortion-heavy perspectives not achievable with conventional ultra-wide lenses. Produced from 1987 to 2011, it’s well suited to photographers who want to experiment with the exaggerated curvature and heightened sense of depth that fisheye optics bring to a scene.

Optically, the lens offers a 15mm focal length with a maximum aperture of f/2.8, built from 8 elements in 7 groups. Its wide depth of field adds further interest to fisheye compositions, and a fixed petal-type hood is built directly into the lens barrel, along with a rear gelatin filter holder that accepts up to three pre-cut gel filters, since the front of the lens cannot accept standard screw-on filters due to its bulbous front element.

Autofocus is driven by a micromotor-based AFD (arc-form drive) system, with Canon optimizing the motor specifically for this lens to maximize its focus performance, along with a switch to disengage AF for manual focusing. A standout feature is the lens’s close-focusing capability, with a minimum focusing distance of just 0.2m (0.7 ft.) from the imaging plane, yielding a maximum magnification of 0.14x, giving new meaning to close-up shots given the lens’s extreme wide-angle coverage.

Build quality uses a plastic body construction, with a 5-blade diaphragm and a distance scale and depth-of-field scale on the barrel. The lens measures approximately 73 x 62.2mm and weighs approximately 330g (11.6 oz.). It does not include image stabilization, and does not support full-time manual focus override.

As a full-frame-compatible lens, the EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye is designed for use on full-frame Canon EF-mount bodies, where its fisheye effect is most pronounced; the effect is considerably less dramatic when used on an APS-C (cropped-sensor) camera, since the lens’s outer image circle is cropped away. Canon replaced this lens in 2010 with the EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM, a zoom lens covering both full-frame and circular fisheye effects.

Key Features
– 15mm f/2.8 full-frame fisheye prime lens for Canon EF mount
– 180° diagonal angle of view
– 8 elements in 7 groups optical construction
– Fixed, built-in petal-type lens hood
– Rear gelatin filter holder (accepts up to 3 pre-cut gel filters; no front filter thread)
– Micromotor (AFD) autofocus with AF/MF switch
– 5-blade diaphragm
– Distance scale and depth-of-field scale
– Minimum focusing distance of 0.2m (0.7 ft.); 0.14x maximum magnification
– No image stabilization; no full-time manual focus override
– Plastic body construction
– Approximate weight: 330g (11.6 oz.)
– Compatible with full-frame Canon EF-mount cameras (reduced fisheye effect on APS-C bodies)