Review on Bower SLY1428C Canon Ultra Wide-Angle 14mm f/2.8 Fisheye Lens by Roxanne Medina

After much research I decided to try this lens. Looking at online reviews and reading articles, I found out that Bower, Rokinon and Samyang are the same company but have different names for branding purposes. However, this lens is structurally identical to the 14mm 2.8 lenses listed under these brands. So take the one you find the best deal for! I've been using this lens for a few months now and I have to say I love what it does for the money. It has a permanent place in my kit alongside the Nikon 24-70 2.8 and my 70-200 2.8. With these three lenses I can cover almost every situation. While I love this lens and it has its place alongside my higher end lenses, it is NOT of the same quality as my other lenses and has its drawbacks. PROS: AMAZING construction: This lens is built like a reservoir and almost full. metal construction. The focus ring is amazingly smooth and easy to use. Very sharp: This lens has manual focus, but if you get the focus right it will also be extremely sharp wide open (not the best in corners, but that's expected in even the most expensive ultra wide-angle lenses) A downside, but I like the aperture ring on manual lenses a lot, and especially on this lens. With this lens you can move the aperture ring between the marked apertures. This gives additional flexibility and control over the lighting. CONS: - Distortion: This lens has quite a bit of distortion. This becomes apparent when shooting objects that contain straight lines (e.g. brick walls). This can be corrected in post-processing. - Manual Focus: The focus on this lens is fully manual. Sometimes it's difficult to find the focus. The higher the quality of your viewfinder, the easier it is. I've also read that some use the "live view" feature to make it easier to find focus. However, with a little practice and time using the lens, it becomes easier to perfect it. VERDICT: This is an amazing piece of glass for the money. I've had amazing results with weddings, architecture and Milky Way photography. It has its downsides, so if you can't live with that, save an extra thousand dollars on a Nikon 14mm 2.8, or thousands of dollars on a Nikon 14-24 2.8. I mostly shoot with my Nikon 24-70 and 70-200 and most of the time I don't need anything wider. However, I would like that as an option. If you are looking for a quality lens at a great price then this is a great buy.