I came across a post from Brett Lobwein on Instagram, with a bunch of pics taken around Sydney:

https://www.instagram.com/brett.lobwein/p/DdDCCiNjz1V/

small pics because they are on Instagram but should be of interest.

Thanks Chris.

They look nice, but we need to know if they are uncropped, aperture, and ext / adap / dome used.

Plus advice on shade or no shade helps those of us who like to protect the dome...!

Queue the discussions around ports. Zen 100mm, n100-n85+n85 140mm dome, 35.5+n120 140mm dome. Lots of new and exciting work for everyone.

I read this as a native solution for creation of VR180 2D underwater content. Much more compact than adapted Canon 8-15. With the absence of 8k60 on any Sony camera this is a moot point though. And without TC its use case is kind of limited I think. Especially for those such as myself who must travel to dive. So I dunno. 🤷‍♂️

Quite interesting for Sony users!

Tokina paved the way decades ago, the Canon follow and the rest is history!

Damn, I bought the zoom gear for my 16-35 GM II and the 180 mm dome a few weeks ago 😁

On 9/8/2026 at 4:28 PM, Simon Pierce said:

I'm a Sony Digital Imaging Advocate, working with Sony New Zealand. I've been lucky enough to have access to a pre-release FE 8-14 mm F3.5 Fisheye G, so I hope it'll be helpful to share some initial information on the lens here.

A fisheye is my favourite lens underwater. For me, that's meant shooting with the Canon 8-15mm fisheye on a Metabones V since 2018. I've been using that with Nauticam's recommended port configuration: the 35.5 mm N100-N120 adapter, 30 mm extension ring, and the 140 dome port (18810/18811) with removable shade.







New Sony 8-14 mm (left) in comparison to the Canon 8-15 mm (right). Top: Sony vs Canon + Metabones V. Middle: Sony vs Canon lenses. Bottom: Sony vs Canon + Metabones, with lens hoods attached.

I was asked to try to get some underwater photos with this new lens. It's still wintry here in the South Island of New Zealand – 10ºC in the water – and the weather has been generally rubbish, so (a) the dive shop is closed, and (b) no sane tourists want to snorkel. That's limited my opportunity to actually use the lens to two – one, fortunately, rather good – snorkelling sessions with dusky dolphins. These dolphins are (extremely friendly) speedsters, and I'm not fully dialled in on settings / AF struggles with them, so hopefully the shots look nice – but don't read much into them in terms of actual lens capability.

All dolphin shots are at f/10 and 1/500 or 1/640 sec (auto ISO)





Anyway, some relevant information and stats on the new lens:

• Price in Australian dollars: AU$2,099 (I wasn't provided with other prices, but they should be out now or available shortly).

• Autofocus: capable of 120 fps tracking. Two linear focus motors.

• Min. focusing distance is 15 cm, for a 0.22x magnification ratio.

• Aperture is f/3.5 – f/22.

• Relies on in-camera stabilisation.

• Lightweight (314 g).

• It has a manual zoom ring. Zoom is internal. There's a 3-position zoom lock on the lens for full-frame circular fisheye (8 mm), full-frame diagonal fisheye (14 mm), and an intermediate lock position for APS-C diagonal fisheye.

• It has a rear filter holder (same size as the 12-24 mm GM and 14 mm GM lenses).

• It has an excellent new lens hood design that minimises the in-bag diameter of the lens, which I'm a big fan of.

• Sony teleconverters don't work with this lens.

The Sony 8-14 mm is 82.8 mm long, compared to the Canon 8-15 mm (without Metabones V) at 83 mm. My understanding is that the Metabones V adds about 26 mm to the Canon's length. To use the Sony underwater, I simply removed the 30 mm extension ring and... thought positive thoughts. Hopefully some of you can do proper pool test shots soon, and I'm confident (= extremely hopeful) that Nauticam will produce a proper N100-optimised dome port for this lens.

In the interim, I can at least say that the N100-N120 adapter -> 140 mm does work for large animals in the blue (i.e. not thinking about corner sharpness, which I haven't looked at). The Sony's diameter is 63.1 mm, compared to the Canon's 78.5 mm. I don't know enough about optics to surmise how that affects things.

I took a fascinating comparison shot of the side of our garage with the Canon 8-15 mm (at 15 mm) and the Sony (at 14 mm) to show the field of view for each.

Above: Canon 8-15 mm at 15 mm
Below: Sony 8-14 mm at 14 mm



I then took a few photos with the Sony at different apertures in case anyone wants to take a look. The raw test files are on Dropbox here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/n3h4zkyvnq0ngs2tjsw4l/AI88gajXJDUTGs0uuk7IwPw?rlkey=pf2farxnrnxgkvnqthktfffa0&dl=0.

I have no doubt this will be a popular lens with underwater photographers, and a really important addition to the Sony lineup for many of us here. I am very happy that my pleas have been answered :)

Simon.

Cheers @Simon Pierce ! You and I (and my wife) met (and Andrea) and dived in Moçambique some 20 years ago (G we were young) when we were doing a piece on Tofo. Great fun and exciting. And can Nikon do something similar now, please!

Edited September 10Sep 10 by Christian K

Can anyone please check whether the Viltrox 2x TC is compatible with this new fisheye lens (I heared the prodrudingf element of the Viltrox TC is smaller compared to tjhe Sony TC)?

Thanks, Wolfgang

9 hours ago, Architeuthis said:

Can anyone please check whether the Viltrox 2x TC is compatible with this new fisheye lens (I heared the prodrudingf element of the Viltrox TC is smaller compared to tjhe Sony TC)?

Thanks, Wolfgang

It appear to be slightly smaller diameter but close to the same length. this video has some footage ahowing the protruding nose of both in the same frame.

Another review can be found here along with the article linked:

https://waterpixels.net/articles/articles_news/pre-release-breakdown-of-the-new-sony-fe-8-14mm-f35-fisheye-g-r201/#findComment-561

Arrived today for testing from Sony Italy... I’ll use it underwater over the next few days.

First thoughts:

Incredibly small and light.

Just slightly less magnification than the Canon 8–15 at minimum focus distance, which is also a bit longer than the Canon’s.

On my Marelux setup, I’ll use it by removing the 20mm extension ring from my Canon configuration, which is the best I can do since I don’t have smaller extensions (the difference in length between the two setups is 26mm).

So, a 20mm extension instead of 40mm with the 230 dome, and the same with the mini dome.

Let’s see how it performs underwater...

55 minutes ago, Pietro said:

Arrived today for testing from Sony Italy... I’ll use it underwater over the next few days.

First thoughts:

Incredibly small and light.

Just slightly less magnification than the Canon 8–15 at minimum focus distance, which is also a bit longer than the Canon’s.

On my Marelux setup, I’ll use it by removing the 20mm extension ring from my Canon configuration, which is the best I can do since I don’t have smaller extensions (the difference in length between the two setups is 26mm).

So, a 20mm extension instead of 40mm with the 230 dome, and the same with the mini dome.

Let’s see how it performs underwater...

For Marelux users… I’ve just got confirmation from Marelux engineers that they recommend a 30 mm extension instead of the 40 mm behind the 140, 210, and 230 mm domes.

Looking forward to see some cracking image.

Thanks.

44 minutes ago, Pietro said:

For Marelux users… I’ve just got confirmation from Marelux engineers that they recommend a 30 mm extension instead of the 40 mm behind the 140, 210, and 230 mm domes.

Never mind... I tried the 30mm extension and, with the 230 dome, you can see the sunshade vignetting. It's better with the 20mm extension.

I wonder how it is on N100 with the 35.5mm adapter and 230mm dome. And damn Laowa not getting theirs out yet.

Someone needs to measure / estimate the lens EP (distance to mounting flange) then we will all have a base to work from.

11 hours ago, Sokrates said:

I wonder how it is on N100 with the 35.5mm adapter and 230mm dome. And damn Laowa not getting theirs out yet.

I will be at a Sony event in a bit over a week where they have Laowa exhibiting as well so I can ask them about it.

1 hour ago, CCRphoto said:

I will be at a Sony event in a bit over a week where they have Laowa exhibiting as well so I can ask them about it.

The laowa fisheye has been hands on at event in China last weekend but still no news. Please annoy the s*it out of them :)

But ill probably buy the Sony one in November if no news from laowa (and significantly cheaper/better/TC/ect).

Edited September 25Sep 25 by Sokrates

3 hours ago, Sokrates said:

The laowa fisheye has been hands on at event in China last weekend but still no news. Please annoy the s*it out of them :)

But ill probably buy the Sony one in November if no news from laowa (and significantly cheaper/better/TC/ect).

OK well if it was hands on in China last weekend then it can't be far away hopefully!

Christopher Frost's review for the new Sony FE 8-14mm F/3.5 has just been posted. on YouTube. Frost has reviewed over 1000 lenses and is widely respected in the land photography industry.

Among many other points Frost makes a comparisons between the Sony fisheye and the Laowa 8-15mm F/2.8 manual focus fisheye which he has also reviewed. Price not withstanding the Sony is the Highly Recommended lens between the two with several advantages. Both reviews are worth watching.

Laowa has the advantage of being made for L, RF, EF and Z mounts in the manual version and likely will arrive in L-mount, Nikon and Sony full frame mounts when the AF version arrives.

Edited September 25Sep 25 by Phil Rudin

Nauticam is also launching a new fisheye dome (37188) with a removable sunshade. (N100)

This means no extension rings or adapters are required. Pretty exciting stuff, especially for traveling.

Edited October 2Oct 2 by Assist91

10 hours ago, Assist91 said:

This means no extension rings or adapters are required.

Sure, perhaps no adapters if you have a N100 housing.

But it remains to be seen what, if any, extensions are required.

Plus the Nauticam range of extensions for N100 (and N85) is miserable cf N120 extensions.

Let's hope they increase their selection.

I talked to reef photo today and the extension is built into this dome, so no additional equipment is needed.

3 hours ago, DriftC said:

the extension is built into this dome, so no additional equipment is needed.

Ask them where the optical centre of the dome is then (in relation to the port mounting flange).

I have an idea: could this lens be used with a 4.33 Nauticam acrylic lens hood? If it can be used with the support of an extension ring of a certain length, it would make for a very lightweight setup with my A6700.