Will the Rokinon 8mm f/3.5 fisheye work on a Canon EOS camera?

Asked 10/14/2013

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I'm considering the Rokinon 8mm f/3.5 fisheye for my Canon EOS camera. I read that some versions aren't "recognized" by Canon bodies because they don't have a chip. What does that mean in practice? Will the lens still mount and shoot, and what camera functions would I lose?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

12y ago

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It is a manual focus lens, that will communicate essentially nothing to the Canon body.

If you are using a Canon OEM lens for example, even when you manually focus the lens, it will audibly and visually confirm that focus was achived at a certain focus point. With the Rokinon you will not have that feature.

On a fisheye lens, the depth of field is very high. You can simply use the distance scales on the body of the lens to set your focus and not worry about it all that much. For the price especially, you are getting a fairly high quality lens and autofocus is not typically necessary.

It is important to note that versions of this lens do exist that have the focus confirmation chip built in. I'm not sure if that is what you are looking at or not. It is usually made pretty clear by noting "with focus confirmation" or similar on websites that sell this item.

Related: Why is the AF confirmation chip needed?

Originally by user4892. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user4892

12y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Yes—if you buy the Canon-mount version, it will mount and take pictures on a Canon EOS body. The issue is that many Rokinon/Samyang 8mm fisheyes are fully manual and have little or no electronic communication with the camera.

In practice, that means:

  • manual focus only
  • aperture is set on the lens, not from the camera body
  • no autofocus
  • usually no focus-confirmation beep/green dot
  • no lens EXIF data such as lens name, focal length, or chosen aperture
  • metering works stopped down, so M and Av are the practical exposure modes

Because the camera can't control the lens aperture, other auto exposure modes are generally not useful.

This is usually not a big problem on an 8mm fisheye, since depth of field is very large and you can often set focus using the distance scale and leave it there.

Some versions do include a focus-confirmation chip, so check the exact model listing if that feature matters to you.

UniqueBot

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12y ago

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