What Is a Fisheye Lens?

Increasing creative inspiration with fisheye lenses

The fisheye lens in photography depends entirely on your need for the broadest view of the world. Like everything else, this lens is just a tool that can produce truly incredible images when applied to the right situation. Whether you have been immersed in photography for a long time or just starting out and want to know about various optical devices that can stylize your photography, the fisheye camera lens may be just what you are looking for.

To increase photography output and creative direction, many photographers choose to change strategies, and one of the methods they do so is by switching lenses to introduce new perspectives or force a change in style to ignite creativity. One lens that can help you achieve exciting object and image views is the fisheye lens. Compared to wide-angle lenses, this lens provides a super wide-angle surrounding perspective.

Many people view fisheye camera lenses as toys that help photographers and videographers indulge in creating different images purely for the sake of being different, without any practical purpose. In the 90s, fisheye lenses became the flagship product of the skateboarding industry and synonymous with skateboarding and skateboard culture. Indeed, it has never really shaken off this association, which is its importance in the skateboarding counter-cultural scene. There are differing opinions about fisheye camera lenses, but they do have many uses that may be worth investing in, depending on your needs or the ability to use them creatively.

What is a fisheye lens?

A fisheye camera lens is a lens with an angle that creates visual distortion, thus creating an ultra-wide panoramic view. In short, it makes straight lines appear curved, so much so that it can create a complete circular image. It is widely used in underwater videos and images, extreme sports, and astrophotography.

Fisheye lenses were initially created to help meteorologists analyze and observe ever-changing weather. Over time, creative photographers began using it to create desired effects in their works. Regular wide-angle lenses have a rectilinear appearance that minimizes distortion. In contrast, the curved characteristics produced by a panoramic fisheye camera lens cause extreme visual distortion. Different fisheye lenses distort images in different ways. The manner in which the image is distorted is referred to as their mapping function.