AstrHori 6mm f/2.8 Fisheye Review: 220° of Creative Insanity for Under $300

I am a confessed glass hound. Lenses in my kit range from a vintage 1981 Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 AIS to funky and fantastic, off brand lenses, like the Helios 44-2 58 mm f/2 Russian lens. To wit, this new one in my bag, the AstrHori 6mm f/2.8 fisheye lens. This full-frame lens has a whopping 220 degree field of view. I have the Nikkor 8-15mm f/3.5 fisheye lens which is a sharp, lots-o-fun lens, but that clocks in at a mere 180 degrees.

The AstrHori 6mm f/2.8 is offered in the Nikon Z, Canon RF, Sony E, and Leica/Panasonic mounts. I purchased my Nikon Z version of the lens on Amazon and this is my assessment and experience with it.

Out of the Box

This lens is built old-school style. It is solid, made of metal, built like a tank, and is about the size of an SLR 50 mm lens. It’s a manual focus lens, which I like, because 3rd party manual lenses don’t bite the dust if you upgrade your camera or firmware, like the auto-focus in 3rd party lenses often does in those lenses that don’t have an option to update the lens firmware. The lack of auto focus also keeps the lens footprint small.

It has a bulbous front element and the compression type lens cap is made of metal. Nice touch to protect it.

It has a click-stop aperture ring and the knurled focus ring is tight and smooth rotating. The minimum focusing distance is 0.08 m (3.15 inches)! It is rated to work with cameras with sensors up to 61MB.

Image Quality

Image quality truly stands out with this tiny, inexpensive lens. The lens excels at close focusing, capturing subjects as close as 3.15 inches from the front element with crisp detail. Bright light can introduce flare and halos, especially when a light source is near the center. This factor can be put to use creatively, so I don’t consider it a negative feature. At the center of the frame, sharpness remains impressive even at f/2.8—a remarkable feat for such a wide-angle lens. However, the corners suffer from noticeable color fringing and softness when shooting wide open. Stopping down to f/4 significantly improves edge performance, though some fringing persists. By f/8, sharpness is consistent across the entire frame, and its definitely the sweet spot for this lens. Diffraction, however, becomes apparent by f/11 and f/16, softening the overall image.

Its diminutive size makes it ideal to keep in your bag at all times. When the itch for a fisheye view hits, you’re ready.

AstrHori 6mm f/2.8 in Action: Sample Photos

Here are examples shot on a Nikon Z6iii (24.5MP). I have used it on my Nikon Z9 (45.7MP) as well, with equally good results. The lens is very sharp and works well in both photo and video modes. Shooting a video is a blast! You get the Hawaii Five-O airplane effect from the series intro. Can you hear the music? I can…

Yes, it has no auto-focus, but a video can still be shot with it. Given the super-wide angle, it has a very shallow depth of field. If your camera has it, enable focus peaking to help you focus.

Here’s a short video shot with the Nikon Z6iii and manual focus AstrHori 6mm f/2.8.

With an aperture of f/2.8, it captures a lot of light. Thanks to its super wide-angle, the edge softness can be mitigated by stopping down the aperture further than you normally would with a standard astrolandscape lens when shooting starry landscapes.

Below, an unedited frame, zoomed.

Here’s a closer look at f/2.8, zoomed in at 200% fringing is noticeable.

Star trails. Nikon Z6iii | ISO 2500 | f/2.8 | 8 seconds | 298 frames stacked.

Things to be Aware Of

Due to the 220 degree view, your knuckles may appear in your shots. Hold your camera differently to avoid including them in your frames. Use a tripod, monopod or a hand grip for solid control of your camera without the intrusion of your digits.

Here are my knuckles (red arrow) on display in the shot as I held the camera. The colors are rich and vibrant and a nice starburst is rendered on the Sun. No edits were done yet. Shot with a Nikon Z6iii. ISO 125 | f/16 | 1/1000 sec

Watch your toes. If you are pointing the camera in the usual fashion, your toes, feet and legs will be in the shot. This lens forces you to aim differently and frame the shot outside of your usual modes of looking at things. The beauty of a lens like this, is it pushes you to work outside your established boundaries. Interesting and habit cracking images are the result.

Thanks to the extreme 220 degree view, images can include what is behind you too. Mighty trippy!

In a Nutshell

Given the quality of build, fast aperture, impressive sharpness and elevated fun factor, the $299 USD makes it a great deal for any photographer looking to get creative with a fisheye lens.

This sucker is FUN!

Learn about Focus Peaking