What a great joy to own and use this lens every day!
I almost ordered this lens last year when I saw it first listed on B&W website for pre-ordering. But I was hesitant at that time, wondering how useful this specialty novelty lens can be on daily shooting. After some time-consuming research, I finally went for it... It was in a pizzeria store in Las Vegas while I was waiting for my pizza that I first opened the Amazon package containing my brand new copy of the lens... Wow! As soon as I put it on my camera (5D3) and started to shoot with it, I was awed! I tried to shoot nearly everything and everybody with it, a lot of photos and videos. And it stayed on my camera for the rest of my Las Vegas trip (2+ days).
Here, I'm not writing a full review or anything close. I just want to point out a few things about the lens (or my copy of the lens).
== On my 7D ==
It won't give me a full circle image, not even something close. Instead, it becomes a super wide zoom lens with fisheye distortion. To me, the distortion is not more annoying than that from a regular super wide lens, and is typically as acceptable (or similarly unacceptable in the case I don't like the wide angle distortion).
== On my 5D ==
It offers a full circle image at 8mm, and a very interesting (somewhat bizarre) image at 15mm. I have almost only used this lens on my 5D, and typically at 15mm only. On my 5D, the lens is
1) super sharp: I think it's sharper than my 16-35mm/f2.8L, 24-105mm/f4L, and 70-200mm/f2.8L. And it looks like even sharper than my 24mm/f1.4L II.
2) it focuses super fast: nearly every time, instantly. Even in a dark environment, as soon as it can see a bit light, it can focus lock on it.
== Two things I don't like ==
One is the lens cover repeatedly falling off the hood. Yet, to prevent the lens from hitting any hard object while it's hanging on my shoulder, I still have to somehow protect the front glass that protrudes from the lens barrel. The coating on the lens glass seems very special that I can easily wipe dusts, water drops, or fingerprints off from it. But it's much easier to get hit, even with its hood on, than all other lenses I have.
The other is the color distortion on the circular edge of its circular image. But I think this is unavoidable. It's not much of a concern to me, though, for I don't shoot many circular images.
== My conclusion ==
This is a great walk around lens (to me), especially for shooting indoors or on busy streets. When and where I typically would go for my 16-35mm, I now would rather use this lens, except when I only want (relatively) distortion-free images.
In places where space is super tight, this is the about only go-to lens that can capture a most usable widest wide shot with a Canon DSLR camera.
This is a great lens for expressing an uplifting sense of humor. A great lens of choice for shooting active kids, playful pets, funny players, or for covering certain dancing or sports, or for capturing just about everything or anybody that you want to look happy, exciting, exaggerating, and so on.
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Hopefully my experience is helpful to someone who's considering the lens. Happy shooting!
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