Lens

Fisheye lenses extend the creative options available in infrared photography. The Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II is an APS-C lens available for Canon EF-M, Fujifilm X, Samsung NX, and Sony E mounts. This lens is compact and lightweight for a fisheye, which pairs well with small APS-C mirrorless cameras.

The Rokinon 8mm is a manual focus lens. Due to the vast depth of field, focus to infinity unless shooting at extremely close distances. Enable focus peaking in your camera to validate focus.

Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II on Fujifilm X-T20 Silver Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II on Fujifilm X-T20 Silver
Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II APS-C lens

The front element of this lens features a convex design. There are no filter threads for circular filters. Since you cannot use external filters, this lens is best suited for cameras converted to a specific filter, such as 590 or 720 nm, instead of full-spectrum conversions. It could also work well with clip-in filters placed in the flange between the lens and camera, but I have yet to test this.

There are no electronic contacts. Images will not contain EXIF data. I tend to shoot with a consistent f-stop, such as f/4 or f/5.6, and update the metadata after shooting.

Infrared Hot Spots

From f/2.8 to f/5.6, hots spots are barely perceptible. At f/8 and higher f-numbers, a small hot spot with a faint halo is visible. Since fisheye lenses have more depth of field than normal lenses, you have plenty of depth, even at lower f-numbers.

f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8 f/11 f/16 f/22
Infrared hot spots tests with 590 nm filter

Infrared Images

Infrared images shot on a 590nm-converted Fujifilm X-T20 with the Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II.

Fujifilm X-T20 590nm-converted, Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II Fujifilm X-T20 590nm-converted, Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II Fujifilm X-T20 590nm-converted, Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II Fujifilm X-T20 590nm-converted, Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II Fujifilm X-T20 590nm-converted, Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II Fujifilm X-T20 590nm-converted, Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II Fujifilm X-T20 590nm-converted, Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II Fujifilm X-T20 590nm-converted, Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II Fujifilm X-T20 590nm-converted, Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II
Fujifilm X-T20 590nm-converted, Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II

Visible Light Images

Visible light images shot on a Fujifilm X-T2 (unconverted) with the Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II.

Fujifilm X-T2, Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fisheye II