I have had my eye on a rectilinear ultra-wide lens to add to my kit, but such a proposition has been cost prohibitive. I own a camera that I purchased for $500 that is now worth $200. I own 5 lenses, none of which have I spent more than $350. I am ‘invested’ in a system that was just divested from its parent company and has a questionable future. To spend $550 for new glass seems foolish, especially considering the limited utility of an ultra-wide lens.
But even still, I would love to take some night-sky images this year, but I don’t have any glass that is wide or fast enough. I have tried to capture the milky way in the past with my 17mm f1.8, but it isn’t wide enough. The 14mm on my walk-around (14-150m) lens is barely wide enough, but too slow at f4.0. Meanwhile, the Laowa ultra-wide is 7.5mm and f2.0, and is the ideal micro-four thirds lens for what I want it for. The problem is this: I don’t think I’ll do enough of what I want it for to make it a worthwhile purchase.
Enter the 7Artisans MFT fish-eye lens. It is wider than my walk-around at f2.8. It is extra wide at 7.5 mm. It is also an all manual lens – aperature and focus are adjusted exclusively on the lens itself. It is nearly twice as heavy as my other primes. But it is cheap … $130 cheap.
With some generous post-Christmas funding, it was a no-brainer. It allows me to play with the night-sky as I hope and – heck – even if I only use it once in a while, it is a guilt free acquisition. And while I expect to be able to capture the night sky without the need to de-fish, I have (just in case) already developed some settings on day-one that should meet my needs.
It should also provide a few opportunities for some (albeit limited) creative adventures as well. I get it: it is a toy-lens, has limited utility, and will likely find its place at the bottom of my bag in short order. All that is okay … it should be fun enough when I do use it.