Samyang 7.5mm f/3.5 Fisheye for MFT

The largest mirrorless system in the market today, the Micro Four Thirds (MFT) system has grown rapidly over the past few years. Most telling of its market strength is the fact that independent lens manufacturers are starting to offer MFT-mount lenses as well. Samyang's the latest entry into the MFT lens market, with its 7.5mm f/3.5 Fisheye.

Specifications



Constructions: 9 elements in 7 groups (1 aspherical and 3 ED)
Field of view: 180 degrees
Max. aperture: f/3.5
Minimum focusing distance: 0.09m
Filter size: -
Dimensions: 48.3mm (L) x 60.0mm (Diameter)
Weight: 197g

Build Quality



The 7.5mm Fisheye is very well constructed and feels well-built in hand. The metal lens mount shows Samyang's seriousness in its entry into the MFT lens market. Focus and aperture rings are well damped though a tad close together, making it easy to accidentally rotate both rings at the same time. These are small issues that should go away with extensive experience with the lens.

The lens is well-balanced with even the smaller MFT cameras (pictured above mounted on the Olympus PEN E-PM1), and should feel great mounted on the top-of-the-line models such as the PEN E-P3.

Manual Focusing on MFT



One would think that manual focusing on a MFT camera would be a difficult exercise, what with trying to turn a tiny ring while staring at a small lcd screen. However, the huge depth-of-field afforded by a fisheye lens means that this is essentially a non-issue. For example, focusing (using the distance scale) at 1.1m gives you a depth-of-field from 0.55m to infinity - and this is wide open at f/3.5!

Conclusion



The Samyang 7.5mm f/3.5 Fisheye is small, well-built, and perfectly balanced on MFT cameras. If you need a fisheye lens for your MFT system camera, there is no better option. Available in both black or white to suit your camera's colour, this lens comes highly recommended indeed. Check out the sample gallery below for some examples of this full-180-degree fisheye!

Samples

All sample images were shot using the Olympus PEN E-PM1, and are JPEGs straight out of camera. Only minor cropping and resizing have been applied for web upload.

Aperture values are missing from the EXIF as the Samyang 7.5mm f/3.5 Fisheye does not have any electronic contact with the camera.