PERGEAR Fish-eye 10mm F5.6 review (fish-pancake for mirrorless crop cameras)

According provided by PERGEAR Fish-eye 10mm F5.6 lens many thanks official Pergear representative.

Navigation

1. In short
2. History
3. All Pergear Lenses
4. Main Specifications
5. Assembly
6. Focusing
7. Image quality
8. Sample Photos
9. My experience
10. All Sony APS-C E mirrorless cameras
11. All original lenses for Sony APS-C E
12. Price / where to buy
13. VIDEO REVIEW
14. Results
15. User Comments
16. Add your review or question on the lens

Please note that the PERGEAR Fish-eye 10mm F5.6 is available in different mounts. This review shows the PERGEAR Fish-eye 10mm F5.6 version for mirrorless cameras Sony E with APS-C sensor (for cropped cameras). At the same time, PERGEAR Fish-eye 10mm F5.6 is also available with mounts Fujifilm x, Canon EF-M, Nikon Z (although this mount is not listed on the official website) and Micro 4 / 3 (an overview under Micro 4/3 can be found on the website of Dmitry Evtifeev).

In this review, I will abbreviate the PERGEAR Fish-eye 10mm F5.6 lens Pergear 10 / 5.6.

In short

Pergear 10 / 5.6 is a modern manual fisheye (fisheye) for cropped mirrorless cameras with an APS-C or Micro 4/3 sensor. Fishye gives a distinctive and easily recognizable image with strong distortion. Due to its small size, Pergear 10 / 5.6 can be classified as pancake lenses... Although, in fairness, it is worth mentioning that the real "pancake" is his "younger" brother Pergear Fisheye 10mm F8.

Pergear 10 / 5.6 is interesting very low price, very compact size, light weight and all-metal body. In the center of the frame, the lens produces a very sharp image.

Unfortunately, the Pergear 10 / 5.6 has a fixed aperture that is always at f / 5.6. Usually similar lenses such as PERGEAR 7.5mm 1: 2.8 HD.MC Fish-eye, have a much wider maximum aperture and aperture control ring. Of the shortcomings, you can still highlight the strong chromatic aberration at the edges of the frame, and a drop in sharpness at the edges and corners of the frame, however, the vast majority of similar lenses suffer from the same.

History

Several fish are produced under the PERGEAR brand:

• January 22 2020 pancake lens was officially announced Pergear Fish-eye 10mm F8.
• July 16 2020 the classic fisheye lens was officially announced PERGEAR 7.5mm 1: 2.8 HD.MC Fish-eye.
• February 11 2021 pancake lens was officially announced Pergear Fish-eye 10mm F5.6.

All PERGEAR Lenses

The following lenses are sold under the Pergear brand:

For mirrorless cameras with APS-C sensor:

• PERGEAR 7.5mm 1: 2.8 HD.MC Fish-eye [announce] (E, X, Z, EF-M, MFT)
• PERGEAR 10mm 1: 8 Fisheye [announce] (E, X, Z, MFT)
• PERGEAR 10mm 1: 5.6 Fisheye [overview] (E, X, EF-M, MFT)
• PERGEAR 12mm 1: 2 HD.FMC [overview] (E, X, Z, MFT)
• PERGEAR 25mm 1: 1.8 HD.MC [overview] (E, X, MFT, black / silver)
• PERGEAR 25mm 1: 1.7 HD.MC [announcement] (E, X, Z, RF-S, MFT, black/silver)
• PERGEAR 35mm 1: 1.6 HD.MC  [overview] (E, X, Z, MFT, black/silver)
• PERGEAR 35mm 1:1.2 DH.MC [overview] (E, X, Z, MFT)
• PERGEAR 50mm 1: 1.8 HD.MC [overview] (E, X, MFT)
• PERGEAR 60mm 1: 2.8 Macro 2x [announce] (E, X, Z, MFT)

For mirrorless cameras with Full Frame sensor:

• PERGEAR 14mm 1:2.8FF [announcement] (FE, Z, RF, L)
• PERGEAR 14mm 1:2.8 FF II [announcement] (FE, Z, RF, L)
• PERGEAR 35mm 1:1.4 FF MULTI COATED [announcement] (FE, Z, RF, L)
• PERGEAR 60mm 1: 2.8 Macro 2x [announcement] (FE, Z, RF, L + X + MFT)

Easier just find Pergear lenses on Aliexpress.com.

Bayonets: E: Sony E || FE: Sony FE || X: Fujifilm x || Z: Nikon Z || Ef-m: Canon EF-M || L: Leica l || RF: Canon RF || MFT: Micro 4 / 3

Main technical characteristics of PERGEAR Fish-eye 10mm F5.6:

Review Instance Name	On the body: PERGEAR Fish-eye 10mm F5.6 E: Mount Side The serial number is shown on the box only
Basic properties	FISH-EYE - fisheye lens with uncorrected distortion and wide viewing angle The lens uses a Sony E mount and is suitable for Sony mirrorless cameras with an APS-C sensor Manual focus only Metal mount, metal body Enlightened Optics Built-in metal hood
Front Filter Diameter	do not support
Focal length	10 mm EGF for cameras Sony E, Nikon Z, Fujifilm x with APS-C sensor is 15 mm, viewing angle 172 degrees (diagonal of the frame) EGF for cameras Canon EF-M with APS-C sensor is 16 mm EGF for system cameras Micro 4 / 3 is 20 mm
Zoom ratio	1 X (this is a fixed lens, it does not have a zoom)
Designed by	Option from the review for cropped mirrorless Sony cameras. This lens exists with mounts: Sony E Nikon Z Canon EF-M Fujifilm x Micro 4 / 3
Number of aperture blades	zero (lens does not have a petal diaphragm)
Tags	bayonet mount mark (red dot on the bayonet side) focusing distance scale (meters only)
Diaphragm	1: 5.6, fixed, unchangeable
MDF	0.15 meters, maximum magnification ratio of approximately 1: 10 (measured)
The weight	120 grams (according to official figures) 119 grams (lens only, version for Sony E, measured) 132 grams (lens + front cap, Sony E version, measured) 143 grams (lens + 2 caps, Sony E version, measured)
Optical design	6 elements in 5 groups Optical design PERGEAR Fish-eye 10mm F5.6
Lens hood	metal, built-in
Manufacturer country	Made in China (there is no country of origin on the lens itself). The 'Made in China' lettering is on the box only.
Period	Announced on February 11, 2021
Price	Look at the official seller on Aliexpress

Fisheye is a rather unusual lens. During your life, you must definitely try it in business.

It's important: most likely the Pergear 10 / 5.6 lens is sold under other names in a slightly different body, for example, in the version Brightin Star 10mm 1: 5.6 Fish-eye.

Assembly

The lens came to the review completely new. The delivery box contains a lens with front and back covers, as well as a soft pouch for transportation. The bag has drawstrings.

In general, the lens well assembled.

It's important: the lens does not come with an instruction manual, a warranty card, or a QC certificate. There is no mention of the manufacturer on the box in which the lens is supplied, as well as on its front and back covers. Apparently these are universal covers that fit different lenses and are supplied immediately for different brands. The same goes for the shipping box, which simply states that there is a lens for mirrorless cameras in the middle. Maximum unification allows you to save on little things and make a low price tag for such lenses.

Pergear 10 / 5.6 has bayonet mount metal and the lens body itself is completely made of metal, anodized aluminum is used. The Pergear 10 / 5.6 has a fixed, rigid-mounted metal hood.

The weight of the Pergear 10 / 5.6 lens itself is only 120 grams. In the hands, the lens feels like a small but solid thing.

The Pergear 10 / 5.6 itself is very compact, well suited for small Sony APS-C cameras.

The front cover is metal, without latches. The lid is just tightly attached on the lens barrel (on the hood). On the inside, the lid has fabric seal. The lid does not spontaneously slide, pleasant to handle.

Important: the lens does not support classic filters, which are screwed into the thread near the front lens.

The Pergear brand is a distributor of various photographic equipment. Most likely a third-party company is manufacturing lenses, and Pergear just sells them under its own brand.

Focusing

The focusing ring is narrow, metal, with fine notched ribs. The ring spins on 135 degrees (about 3/8 of a full turn). Focusing is smooth and pleasant.

During focusing, the lens trunk is slightly rides forward. During focusing, the entire lens block moves.

It's important: Despite the fact that the hyperfocal distance starts from about one meter with such ultra-wide-angle lenses, with the Pergear 10 / 5.6 you need to be careful and focus on focus-picking or by zooming in on the selected area of ​​the image for maximum sharp shots at medium focusing distances.

At the lens have a hard stop (hard infinity mechanical stop) for fast and accurate aiming at infinity under any temperature operating conditions. On the copy from the review, the hard stop works as expected, without a flight.

There is a scale with a focusing distance on the ring, but only in meters.

The minimum focusing distance is only 15 centimeters and the maximum zoom ratio is approximately 1:10 (measured).

Pergear 10 / 5.6 has a small 'Focus Breathing' effect (changes in viewing angle during focusing). During focusing towards the MDF, the viewing angle decreases.

Important: focus-picking with Pergear 10 / 5.6 on cameras Sony Alpha ILCE 3500 и Sony Alpha NEX6 works good.

Image quality

The weakest side of the Pergear 10 / 5.6 is the strong enough chromatic aberration around the edges and corners of the image. The optical disadvantages of the lens are on a par with other similar inexpensive solutions. I was very pleased that the lens is very sharp in the center of the frame and the sharpness does not walk much across the field of the frame. Even in the far edges and corners of the image, details are still significantly better than similar inexpensive lenses, such as 7Artisans 7.5 / 2.8 Fish-Eye at F / 2.8.

Sharpness

1. the lens easily copes with the 20MP APS-C EXMOR CMOS sensor Sony a3500, the resolution can be called high
2. there is a drop in sharpness in the far corners of the frame, but still, even the far corners remain at an acceptable level

Distortion

1. this is a fisheye, uncorrected strong barrel distortion is the main feature of the lens here

Vignetting

1. vignetting is fixed well
2. vignetting decreases slightly when focusing towards MDF

Aberration

1. strong chromatic aberration
2. the strongest chromatic aberration visible around the periphery of the frame
3. color contrasting elements in bluish / violet and yellow-green shades

Rest

1. from bright light sources in the frame in some situations, you can get reflections (example), highlights and 'iridescent layering'. Overall, the lens copes well with bright light sources in the frame.
   
2. the effect of the rays of the star is practically impossible to obtain
3. it is usually not customary to talk about bokeh in such lenses

Important: at the time of the creation of this review, there was no Pergear 10 / 5.6 profile for popular RAW converters. You can create a profile yourself or wait for its release.

Sample Photos

All photos in the review are shown without processing. Camera used Sony α3500 (Sony ILCE-3500) based on EXMOR APS-C CMOS 20 MP sensor. All photos are JPEG straight from the camera.

Original images in JPEG ('.JPG') can be downloaded and / or look at this linke (GOOGLE DRIVE, 50 photos, 400 MB).

Original images in RAW (Sony '.ARW') can be downloaded and / or look at this link (GOOGLE DRIVE, 20 files, 400 MB).

My experience

Pergear 10 / 5.6 is quite unusual. Similar alternatives have a wider maximum aperture (around f / 2.8) and a shorter focal length (around 8mm). The small aperture makes the Pergear 10 / 5.6 very compact and lightweight. And the difference in viewing angle between the 7.5 mm fish and the 10 mm fish is practically not felt. Pergear 10 / 5.6 gives a classic, very wide, fisheye distorizing picture with a viewing angle of about 170 degrees diagonally.

While shooting with Pergear 10 / 5.6, when you hold the lens, your own hands (fingers) may accidentally get into the frame. You just have to be careful.

The high resolution in the center of the frame is most likely due to forced aperture down to f / 5.6. In the light, you can see that the lens has a fixed circle that serves as a limiting diaphragm. This practice is used in many inexpensive Chinese lenses.

But I'm still an adherent of the “classic” adjustable aperture lenses. At about the same cost, you can find some RISESPRAY 7.5 / 2.8 FISH-EYE... When choosing a fish, I would look towards the following mirrorless alternatives:

1. PERGEAR 7.5 / 2.8
2. 7Artisans 7.5 / 2.8
3. 7Artisans 7.5 / 2.8 II
4. Viltrox 7.5 / 2.8
5. Brighin Star 7.5 / 2.8
6. ANDOER 7.5 / 2.8
7. RISESPRAY 7.5 / 2.8
8. Newyi 7.5 / 2.8
9. Lightdow 7.5 / 2.8
10. TTArtisan 7.5 /2.0
11. Samyang 8 / 2.8 II
12. Samyang 8 / 2.8
13. Kam Lan 8/3

First of all, Pergear 10 / 5.6 will be of interest to connoisseurs of lightness and compactness, as well as to those users who do not plan to shoot in low / bad light.

Overall, I was pleased with the performance of Pergear 10 / 5.6. I didn’t notice anything bad during the whole time of working with the lens.

Pergear 10 / 5.6 is simple, straightforward and easy to use.

All Sony E-mount cameras with APS-C sensor

• NEX-3, NEX-C3, NEX-F3, NEX-3Women
• NEX-5, NEX-5N, NEX-5R, NEX-5T [fifth series on AliExpress.com]
• NEX-6, NEX-7
• a3000, a3500
• a5000, a5100
• a6000, a6100, a6300, a6400, a6500, a6600, a6700 [6000 series on Ali]
• ZV-E10
• FX30
• QX1
• Hasselblad lunar

All Sony E lenses for APS-C

Fix Lenses:

1. Sony 11 mm f/1.8 (announcement) [2022, black, AliExpress price]
2. Sony 15 mm f / 1.4 G (announcement) [2022, black, AliExpress price]
3. Sony 16 mm f/2.8 (overview) [2010, silver, AliExpress price]
4. Sony 20 mm f/2.8 (announcement) [2013, silver, AliExpress price]
5. Sony 24 mm f / 1.8 ZEISS ZA (overview) [2011, black]
6. Sony 30 mm f / 3.5 MACRO (overview) [2011, silver, AliExpress price]
7. Sony 35 mm f / 1.8 OSS (announcement) [2012, black, AliExpress price]
   
8. Sony 50 mm f / 1.8 OSS (announcement) [2011, black/silver, AliExpress price]

Zoom Lenses:

1. Sony 10-18 mm f / 4 OSS (announcement) [2012, black, AliExpress price]
   
2. Sony 10-20 mm f / 4 G PZ (announcement) [2022, black, AliExpress price]
3. Sony 16-50 mm f / 3.5-5.6 PZ OSS (overview) [2012, black/silver, AliExpress price]
4. Sony 16-55 mm f / 2.8 G (overview) [2019, black, AliExpress price]
5. Sony 16-70 mm f / 4 OSS ZEISS ZA (overview) [2013, black, AliExpress price]
   
6. Sony 18-50 mm f/4-5.6 (overview) [2014, black]
7. Sony 18-55 mm f / 3.5-5.6 OSS (overview) [2010, black/silver]
8. Sony 18-105 mm f / 4 G PZ OSS (announcement) [2013, black, AliExpress price]
   
9. Sony 18-110 mm f / 4 G PZ OSS (announcement) [2016, black]
   
10. Sony 18-135 mm f / 3.5-5.6 OSS (overview) [2018, black, AliExpress price]
    
11. Sony 18-200 mm f / 3.5-6.3 OSS (overview) [2010, silver, AliExpress price]
12. Sony 18-200 mm f / 3.5-6.3 OSS LE (overview) [2012, black, AliExpress price]
    
13. Sony 18-200 mm f / 3.5-6.3 PZ OSS (announcement) [2012, black]
    
14. Sony 55-210 mm f / 4.5-6.3 OSS (announcement) [2011, black/silver, AliExpress price]
15. Sony 70-350 mm f/4.5–6.3 G OSS (announcement) [2019, black, AliExpress price]

Third-party autofocus lenses for Sony E APS-C:

• Sigma: Sigma C 16 / 1.4 | Sigma A 19 / 2.8 | Sigma EX 19 / 2.8 | Sigma C 30 / 1.4 | Sigma EX 30 / 2.8 | Sigma A 30 / 2.8 | Sigma C 56 / 1.4 | Sigma A 60 / 2.8 | Sigma C 10-18 / 2.8 | Sigma C 18-50 / 2.8
• felttrox: Viltrox 13 / 1.4 | Viltrox 23 / 1.4 | felttrox 27/1.2 | Viltrox 33 / 1.4 | Viltrox 56 / 1.4 | felttrox 75/1.2
• Tamron: Tamron 11-20 / 2.8 | Tamron 17-70 / 2.8 VC | Tamron 18-200 / 3.5-6.3 VC | Tamron 18-300 / 3.5-6.3 VC
• tokina: Tokina 23 / 1.4 | Tokina 33 / 1.4 | Tokina 56 / 1.4 | Tokina 11-18 / 2.8
• Zeiss: Zeiss Touit Distagon 12/2.8 | Zeiss Touit Planar 32/1.8 | Zeiss Touit Makro Planar 50/2.8M
• Hasselblad: Hasselblad E 3.5-5.6 / 18-55 OSS LF | Hasselblad E 3.5-6.3 / 18-200 OSS LF | Hasselblad E 2.8 / 16 LF
• yongnuo: Yongnuo 11 / 1.8 | Yongnuo 16 / 1.8 | Yongnuo 50 / 1.8
• TTArtisan: TTArtisan 27 / 2.8 | TTArtisan 35 / 1.8 | TTArtisan 56 / 1.8
• Brightin star: Brightin Star 50 / 1.4
• Meike: Meike 55 / 1.4
• 7Artisans: 7Artisans 27 / 2.8
• Samyang: Samyang 12 / 2

Many interesting manual solutions are provided by Chinese manufacturers and brands. 7Artisans, TTartisan, Meike, Neewer, PerGear, Kamlan, Brightin star, Mitakon Zhongyi, Venus laowa, Fujian, ARTRALAB, AstrHori other. Autofocus Speed ​​Boosters are also interesting Viltrox Canon EF -> Sony E 0.71X и Metabones Canon EF -> Sony E 0.71X... List of full-frame cameras and lenses Sony FE (Full Frame E) here

Price

Pergear 10 / 5.6 costs around $ 90. The easiest way is to buy Pergear 10 / 5.6 from the official seller Pergear on Aliexpress by this link.

Video about the lens

Results

Pergear 10 / 5.6 is a modern very cheap fisheye for mirrorless crop cameras of various systems. Low aperturebut compact size. Good resolution in the center of the frame.

10 main advantages

1. low price tag (only about 90 dollars)
2. the lens barrel is completely made of metal, including a metal bayonet mount and a metal front cap
3. compact size (pancake lens)
4. light weight (only 120 grams)
5. small MDF
6. hard stop for fast aiming at infinity
7. smooth focusing ring
8. lens available for most popular cropped mirrorless systems
9. soft case included
10. good sharpness in the center of the frame

10 main disadvantages

1. focal length of only 10 mm (similar analogs usually use 7.5 or 8 mm)
2. no CPU pins to form the correct EXIF
3. no aperture control ring, no aperture adjustment
4. weak aperture (aperture is always f / 5.6)
5. non-removable lens hood (inconvenient for use on full-frame cameras as a circular fisheye)
6. there is no lens profile for popular RAW converters, the lens is not 'hardwired' into modern cameras
7. still a very meager delivery set (no instructions, no warranty card, etc.)
8. caps and box with no lettering or 'Pergear' logo, which causes some distrust of the lens
9. tangible chromatic aberration in the corners of the frame
10. drop in sharpness at the edges and corners of the image (not critical)

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Material prepared Arkady Shapoval. Training/Consultations | Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Telegram