Canon has at last added a fisheye lens to its RF mount line-up, and it’s a zoom lens not a prime. The RF 7-14mm f/2.8-3.5 L Fisheye STM offers both a fully circular fisheye image that fits entirely within the sensor area and a full width diagonal fisheye effect that fills the frame. It’s kind of like getting two fisheye effects in one, depending on the focal length you use.
Camera makers have released fisheye zoom before, and this design is purely to control the frame coverage and not really for changing the magnification. The 7-14mm focal range makes this lens sound like a 2x zoom, but with fisheye lenses the relationship between focal length and angle of view is more complicated by the variable frame coverage. In fact, the new RF 7-14mm offers a 190-degree angle of view at 7mm but an almost-as-wide 180 degrees at 14mm.
Canon is pitching its new lens as perfect for unique perspectives on sports and action photography, but fisheyes have also been used for landscapes, astrophotography, interiors, creative cinematic effects and more.
You can also use the new RF 7-14mm f/2.8-3.5 L Fisheye STM on Canon’s APS-C models, but here the angle of view is reduced by the smaller sensor area, and it doesn’t quite achieve a full circular fisheye effect even at the minimum focal length on cameras like the EOS R7.
It’s a pretty extreme lens and the optical construction reflects this, with five ultra-low dispersion elements and two aspherical elements – though the fact the lens doesn’t have to correct for rectilinear distortion simplifies things and helps achieve its compact dimensions. It also has a very short minimum focus distance of just 0.15m, so you can get some really dramatic perspective effects with foreground subjects.
All this sounds very expensive, especially as this is a prestigious L-series optic. In fact, it’s not that bad compared to Canon’s regular lenses. Check out the prices and links below.
- Canon RF 7-14mm f/2.8-3.5 L Fisheye STM prices: $1,899 at B&H | £1,719 at Wex