Sigma 8mm f/3.5 EX DG

This lens is the one to pull out when things are slow and wouldn't normally attract interest. With this lens, almost every photo taken is in a perspective never seen by anybody, and thus looks very unique. It aids in photographing a large family, rooms in a house, architecture, whatever needs a wide shot with little working distance.

The lens, while quite expensive, is a very good lens for its price. The clarity you get and the angles and creativity it allows more than pay for the lens after a short while of owning it.

Sharp all around! It is crisp and very sharp up until its far far edges. F/5.6 and higher get you sharper shots up until F/16. After F/16, you're just compensating for an intense light source.

Versatility: The many uses it has can seem almost endless. This lens is good for whatever you throw at it, unless you want to take photos of distant objects, but thats obvious. Large family photos are no hassle, and the fish eye effect can be removed in photoshop or another post processing program at a later date. On an APS-C sensor, it achieves about a 175 degree viewing angle from left to right. Just a small portion is cut on the left and right sides. Top and bottom, not so large, but that is understandable. You're left with more like 165 degrees of view from top to bottom. That is a rough estimate. Photos of buildings, rooms in buildings, and anything else requiring little working space is where this lens shimmers. The wide angle can sometimes even get the photographers shoes in on the shot. An occasional person standing next to you will also sometimes appear in the photos. Very very wide.

Weight: Very light, easy to put on and take off the camera body. The lens is made of metal, yet it is very light. I believe it is made of magnesium, but I'm not certain.

Sharpness below F/5.6: Tends to be a bit soft on distant objects, but thats not what the lens is for. The F/3.5 aperture is perfect for objects with no depth, such as astro-photography, but thats not a common photo. Eyes tend to not focus too well at F/3.5.

Exposed lens: The lens is quite out there. While it is understandable, its too easily damaged and most likely will need extra precaution when using it. They include an adapter which allows the user to fit on a 72mm filter, but it cuts out about 10% of the image, around the edges.

Chromatic aberration, Blue tint: Around the edges of the circle, you can see a blue shade. While it can be fixed, its quite annoying. This is also understandable though because of the lens being used as the front element.

Canon 17-55mm wide-standard lens.

Haven't had to use it yet.

The quality of imagaes privided by this lens are excellent. Considering that the images are distorted so much, flaring and abberations are very well controlled.

High quality contruction, lightwheight

A bit expensive but it does what it does and it does it well!

Cheap adapters on eBay (stay away from these)

haven needed them