Nikon 16mm f/2.8D Fisheye: A Hands-On Review

A fisheye lens can cram a lot of visual information into a single frame and, in the right situations, it can do things that other ultra-wide-angle lenses can’t.

There are two types of fisheye lenses:

• A circular fisheye lens creates a circular image with a lot of blank space around it and is typically highly distorted (here are some examples). It’s a distinctive look, but it’s really a niche lens that’s only useful in a fairly limited range of situations.
• A full-frame fisheye lens is much more useful for general photography. Their images fill the entire frame, and you don’t get the black corners or borders that you do with a circular fisheye lens.

A full-frame fisheye will still have strong barrel distortion, but it’s essentially an ultra-wide-angle lens. They cram an awful lot of view into a single frame, and they have a very wide depth-of-field. They’re therefore ideal for tight spaces, and while it’s not much good for traditional architectural photography because of all the bendy lines it creates, it is a very handy lens to have on hand if you’re shooting indoor spaces and are after a dramatic look.

Their field of view is generally rated as a maximum range across the longest dimension of the frame, which is diagonal. So if a fisheye lens is rated for 180 degrees, it means that it captures 180 degrees diagonally across the frame, not from one side to the other.

At the time I originally wrote this, Nikon had two fisheye lenses in its range: a 16mm designed for full-frame (FX) cameras and a 10.5mm designed for (DX) cameras. After that, Nikon released a third model, a zoom lens that can be used as either a circular or full-frame fisheye on FX bodies or as full-frame on both DX and FX bodies. Its model number is Nikon AF-S 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED.

All of these F-mount lenses are now discontinued. And I originally wrote this review based on shooting with the 16mm fisheye on Nikon F-mount DSLRs.

If you’re shooting with a Nikon Z-mount mirrorless camera, this lens will work but with a crucial caveat: you’ll lose the autofocus functionality. I have a newer, separate post specifically on shooting with this lens on a Nikon Z camera where I go into much more detail on the combination.

Nikon 16mm f/2.8D fisheye lens

The Nikon AF Fisheye-Nikkor 16mm f/2.8D has a field of view of 180° diagonally on a full-frame camera, with the image filling the entire frame without any black corners.

It has autofocus that works with Nikon’s FX DSLRs (see below). And it’s a prime lens, meaning there’s no zoom.

It has a small metal lens hood built-in that doesn’t do much to block light but does help protect the front element, an aperture ring, and a focus ring. Its largest aperture is f/2.8, and its smallest is f/22. Its closest focus is a little under 10 inches, and it has close-range correction (CRC). The lens is coated to minimize flaring and ghosting.

So far as DSLR lenses go, this is a tiny lens. It weighs just over 10oz and is only 2.2 inches long. Here it is side-by-side with some other Nikon lenses. From left to right: Nikon 50mm f/1.4G, Nikon 16mm f/2.8D, and Nikon 35mm f/1.4G.

The lens comes with a lens cover, a rear lens cap, and four filters.

The lens had a long production run — Nikon introduced it in 1993 — and it works as well on FX DSLRs from the D750, D850, and D5 era as it did on film cameras. It’s now out of production, like the rest of Nikon’s F-mount lineup, but it remains easy to find used and continues to be a capable option for anyone shooting an FX DSLR or, with an adapter, a Z-mount body.¹

There’s an earlier manual-focus version of this lens that’s easy to confuse with it when you’re shopping used: the AI-S Fisheye-Nikkor 16mm f/2.8. It covers the same 180° diagonal on full frame and uses the same rear bayonet filters, but it has no autofocus and no CPU contacts, so on a DSLR you focus by hand and enter the lens details manually if you want full metering. Everything below refers to the AF-D version.

It will also work on the Nikon Z cameras with two important caveats: it requires the FTZ/FTZ II adapter, and you lose the autofocus functionality.

Performance & handling

The autofocus is quick and true. Most of the lens stays still, with the focus ring moving and the very front of the lens moving in and out slightly.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised with how sharp this lens is across the whole frame. It’s not going to rival something like a sharp 50mm in sharpness tests, but it captures a lot of detail and stays sharp even at the edges. As per usual, the sharpest apertures tend to be a few stops above wide open. And because it has a very wide depth-of-field, it’s fairly rare to run into out-of-focus images.

And perhaps my favorite aspect of the lens is its performance in low-light situations. The large f/2.8 aperture combines well with the very wide focal length, meaning that it can be hand-held in surprisingly low lighting and still get sharp photos. That makes it especially useful in dimly lit interiors where hand-holding a longer lens would be a challenge.

Sample images

Here’s a handful of sample shots I’ve taken with the 16mm during my travels. I have many more in a separate post here.

Chromatic aberration

In high-contrast scenes, you can get both green and purple fringe on the edges and corners at all apertures. But for a lens this wide the chromatic aberration is surprisingly light and is easily fixed in Lightroom.

Ghosting and flare

Ghosting and flare are basically non-existent. Even having the sun in the frame works just fine (which is lucky for outdoor shots).

Using filters

Because the front element of the lens is so curved, there’s no way to attach screw-in filters to the front of the lens. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use filters at all. There’s a built-in filter system on the opposite end of the barrel, on the rear bayonet.

The lens comes with four filters, most of which are more useful for film shooting than digital:

• L37c UV filter to cut out haze and reduce the effects of UV light.
• O56 Orange, mostly useful for black and white photography.
• A2 Amber, mostly useful for correcting under some lighting conditions with daylight or tungsten films.
• B2 Blue, mostly useful for color correcting with daylight films.

One filter must be in place at all times — the filter glass is part of the optical formula, and without one in the slot the lens can’t focus to infinity. In general shooting, the L37c is the best choice to leave on.

Nikon 16mm f/2.8D fisheye vs Nikon 10.5mm f/2.8G fisheye

Nikon’s 16mm fisheye is designed for full-frame sensors (FX). While there’s nothing stopping you from putting it on a camera will a DX sensor, there’s not really a lot of point. The smaller sensor will make the lens an equivalent of a 24mm lens with a much narrower field of view (107° vs. 180°), and you’ll still have the strong barrel distortion. If you’re looking for a fisheye for a Nikon DX camera, you’re better off with the Nikon 10.5mm f/2.8G Fisheye.

If you’re just looking for a very wide-angle for a DX camera, something like the Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 might be a better fit.

Nikon 16mm f/2.8D for spherical panoramas

The Nikon 16mmm is especially good for creating spherical panoramas with a dedicated panorama head like the Manfrotto 303SPH or Nodal Ninja Ultimate Mini Package. You can capture 360° with only 6 shots with the camera held vertically, then another two for the zenith and nadir. Most of the popular stitching software does a very good job of stitching the images made with this lens. There’s good reason it’s one of the most popular options for creating virtual tours and for the Google Trusted Photographers program.

But because of the heavy barrel distortion, it’s very difficult to create spherical panoramas from images shot with this lens hand-held. Even the most aggressive shift compensation in panorama software is likely to give you disappointing results.

Nikon 16mm f/2.8D fisheye vs Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G wide-angle

The Nikon 16mm fisheye and the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G wide-angle zoom lens are not really in the same category and are certainly not in the same price range. But there is some overlap in their focal lengths. (I have a separate post with sample images from the 14-24mm here.)

And, more importantly, I’ve found that in practice, there’s some overlap in the scenarios I might use them that involves a choice about taking one or the other. The 14-24mm takes fantastic photos, but it’s a big, heavy lens. So if I put it in my bag for the day’s shooting, I want to be confident I’m going to be using it. The 16mm is much, much smaller and lighter, and there are times I can use it in place of the 14-24mm.

That said, it’s certainly not a direct replacement. The same focal length can look quite different on different lenses. The fisheye does have a distinctive look that sets it apart from a more traditional wide-angle lens. The Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G, for example, is constructed with aspherical lens elements that go a long way toward correcting for lens distortions. So that even though it has a minimum focal length that’s smaller (14mm), its maximum diagonal field of view is significantly narrower (114° vs. 180°). That’s especially noticeable in the way that an aspherical lens flattens out the corners of the frames rather than curling them as a fisheye lens does.

Here’s an example. This first shot, taken in the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, was shot with the Nikon 16mm fisheye. As you can see, the columns at either side are noticeably curled, and the bottom horizon isn’t at all flat, so that people standing around me show up in the frame (which is something of a hazard if you’re using it for travel photography).

This second shot was taken on the same camera from the same spot at 16mm on a Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8. The result has a narrower field of view, but you can also see the lens design’s correction at work to minimize the lens distortion. It looks much more natural but also doesn’t capture as much of the scene.

Things to watch out for

• I don’t consider the distortion either good or bad, but it’s definitely very present. You can correct for it to some extent, if you wish, in Lightroom or DXO PhotoLab. And the distortion can also be put to creative use. But it also means that you’re probably not going to want to have it as your only lens on hand — it’s not a one-size-fits-all walking-around lens.
• The lens cap is especially important to protect the lens from scratches because of the way the front element of glass protrudes out. It’s not the usual snap-on lens cap that comes with most standard Nikon lenses. It’s a slip-on cover that cups over the front of the lens. It can also pretty easily slide off in a camera bag. I’ve put a bit of gaffer tape on the inside rim of mine to add a little more grip so that it doesn’t accidentally come off quite so easily. You can get spares, but they’re ridiculously overpriced for a small piece of plastic.
• If you’re used to G lenses that don’t include an aperture ring, it’s worth being aware that putting a D-series lens on one of the current Nikon cameras requires a small setting to enable the camera to control the lens’s aperture. If you attach your D-series lens to the camera body and end up with a blinking FEE on your camera’s display, the rather cryptic-looking message translates to f/error and is trying to tell you that there’s a communication breakdown between the camera and the lens about the aperture setting. The most common culprit is the aperture ring becoming unlocked. Turn your camera off. Rotate the ring to f/22 and then slide down the small lock that’s directly above the 2.8 markings. That locks it in place. When you turn your camera on, hopefully, the blinking FEE message should have disappeared and be replaced with the usual aperture setting information.
• I sometimes use this for capturing fun family moments, but in general, it’s not a great lens for shooting photos of people. The distortion does all sorts of wacky things to how people look depending on where they are in the frame, from stretched legs to squashed faces. If that’s what you’re going for, great. But if people are going to be in the frame, the safest place for them is closer to the center of the frame.
• The autofocus will not work with Nikon DSLRs that do not have a built-in autofocus motor. So the autofocus will not work on cameras like the D40, D40x, D60, D3000, D3100, D3200, D3300, D5000, D5100, D5200, D5300. It’s not really designed for any of those DX cameras anyway, but if you must, you can focus manually.

It’s worth knowing what that correction costs you. Straightening the lines in software means stretching the outer part of the image, so the corners get softer and you either crop in or are left with empty wedges at the edges. Either way you give up a good chunk of that 180° view, which is the main reason to be using this lens in the first place.

Key specs

• Maximum Aperture: f/2.8
• Minimum Aperture: f/22
• Maximum Angle of View (FX-format): 180°
• Maximum Angle of View (DX-format): 107°
• Lens Elements: 8
• Lens Groups: 5
• Diaphragm Blades: 7
• Minimum Focus Distance: 0.85 ft. (0.25m)
• Approx. Dimensions (Diameter x Length): 2.5 in. (63 mm) x 2.2 in. (57 mm)
• Approx. Weight: 10.12 oz. (290 g)
• Made in Japan

Wrap-up

The fisheye look isn’t great for everything, and it’s certainly something that can be overused. Having used other fisheyes in the past — including Nikon’s own 10.5mm, Sigma’s 15mm, and the Laowa 8-15mm zoom fisheye — I’ve been surprised how versatile Nikon’s 16mm version is.

It’s fast enough to work well in low-light interiors. And it’s a lot smaller and lighter than something like the Nikon 14-24mm — so much so that it can make a real difference in putting together a lightweight travel kit. It’s small enough just to throw in the bag without having to displace something else. Overall, it’s a very appealing package, and I’ve been very pleasantly surprised at how useful I’ve found it.

Price & availability of the Nikon 16mm f/2.8D fisheye lens

Nikon discontinued this lens along with the rest of the F-mount lineup, so it’s a used-market buy now. It turns up regularly at the big used dealers and in the usual private listings. Two things are worth checking before you hand over money: that a rear bayonet filter is included, since the lens needs one in place to reach infinity focus, and that the slip-on front cap is there, because replacements cost far more than they should.

Accessories for the Nikon 16mm fisheye lens

Filters. Because of the curved front element, this lens doesn’t take traditional screw-in filters. Instead, it uses dedicated drop-in filters at the rear bayonet. It comes with four filters included: L37c, O56 Orange, A2 Amber, B2 Blue. In practice, the colored filters are really only relevant when using it on a film SLR.

One of those must be attached at all times because the filter’s glass thickness is part of the optical formula, and removing it alters the focus plane to make infinity focus impossible.

Lens Hood. The petal-shaped lens hood is permanently attached to this lens. It’s really too small to help much with blocking stray light. It helps more as protrusions from the lens barrel that provide some physical protection to the front glass element.

Case. It comes with a soft pouch. You can order a replacement part, if you like; it’s model number CL-0715. But there’s nothing particularly unique about that case that requires that you use it; you can use pretty much any small lens pouch or case.

Front Lens Cap. The front lens cap is a slip-on cover rather than a more common snap-on filter. It’s a 61mm slip-on front lens cover.

Rear Lens Cap. It uses a standard Nikon F-mount rear lens cap (model LF-4).

Notes & References:

1. A non-D AF version was released in 1989, and a manual focus 16mm f/2.8 dates back to the late 1970s. [↩︎]