Canon RF 5.2mm f/2.8 L Dual Fisheye 3D VR Lens

So far, my experience with this lens is nice. The Canon software is a bit frustrating. There are YouTube videos that by Canon as well as third parties that help a great deal in understanding how to use the lens and how to process the footage afterwards. I wish it was simpler to add a ND filter but it isn't too hard to get a gel filter and cut it to size.

After reading the other reviews I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the Canon EOS Utility was better than I imagined. Beyond the 90 days you still can create for free any 2 minute videos without having to purchase the subcription. And, although many of the reviews said the utility didn't work with Raw pictures, it does work with Raw 8K videos. There are Raw adjustments like sharpening and noise reduction as well as applying the correct Lut for Clog3 for each video. The lens is very sharp and the Parallax adjustment straightened up the curves very nicely. There is also an horizontal correction. The lens is not heavy and easy to use. Although the still pictures use Jpeg for the utility, the camera does take the Raw image also. There is no IS so using a tripod or a very steady hand works best. If I want a Raw image to project to 3D I just take a 1 second video at 8K Raw and the utility will create a short adjusted video/image that can be uploaded to my phone or to any Web based video streaming service. Since your phone can loop the video you can either use a side-by-side 180-3D-vr projection or using software like adobe premiere pro or other software like VideoSolo converter to make a Red/Blue 3D projection. To get the sharpest 3D videos always use the higher resolution like 8K when capturing with your R5. You can use Google's Cardboard 3D viewers or other cell phone adapters to view the side by side or just use the 3D glasses if you convert the video to Red/Blue.

Love this lens and what it can do. Very disappointed its so difficult to get a great result out of the Canon VR software - and you have TO PAY FOR A SUBSCRIPTION TO USE IT! Crazy. Software will only work with .jpeg and .mp4 files, crippling the ability to use this lens with 8k RAW footage or RAW images on the R5C.

As a serious amateur with a focus on still images, I decided to be an early adopter to explore the creative and expressive ways to use this unique lens. While build and image quality are at the expected L level, learning how/when to use this lens along with the very different approach to composing pictures has been a challenging yet fascinating journey in the 3 weeks since this lens arrived. The perspective of pictures generated with this lens is truly immersive and incredibly realistic. Viewing the images in 180 degree 3D VR is just fascinating, but you have to get the composition (subject, surrounding), and exposure right - not as easy as I expected it to be. I continue to explore adding this lens to my trilogy of lenses to see how its unique perspective adds to my craft. A couple of key pointers for taking/processing/viewing pictures: Just as going from a 50mm to a 16mm lens requires a different approach to taking pictures, going to a 5.2mm lens which generates 180 3D VR pictures requires its own unique approach. Second, the software Canon provides is not at the L level. A €2k lens should not require a subscription for converting pictures (and movies) to the format viewable (equirectangular projection) on a VR headset. Canon's EOS VR utility only converts JPEG images (not RAW images) and only when taken directly out of the camera. Modifying the original JPEG image or processing the RAW imaging and exporting it as a JPEG alters something and prevents importing into the Canon software. Converting the original JPEG with the Canon software and then modifying the picture is a workaround but being able to work on a RAW file before exporting as a JPEG is definitely the preferred method to process pictures. More robust Canon VR Software or preferably a Lightroom Classic plug-in to output a corrected JPEG image for VR viewing (and a plug in for video for Final Cut Pro) is needed and limits generating still images on par with the cost/professional characteristics of this lens. I do believe Canon needs to significantly step up its support for still image use to make this more widely desired by photographers and include the cost of software as part of the lens purchase price. VR headsets are still undergoing their maturation phase - I found additional viewing software better than that from the VR headset manufacturer worked best for viewing my images. I can promise you that if you do purchase this lens it will open your perspective to taking pictures in a new and immersive way.

I bought this lens to pair up with a Canon R5C so that I could record glorious 8K VR videos at 60fps. Unfortunately, you can only record 8K 60fps videos in raw, and the required EOS VR Utility can't handle raw files (for stills or video), so I am out of luck. And to be clear, your VR images and video are unviewable (no matter what capture device you use) unless you run them through Canon's paid VR utility. The fact that they charge for the VR utility is a joke. All the utility does is perform simple image transformations, so that the two circular images recorded on the image sensor get stretched to the full frame, such that they are then easily viewable on VR headsets as a stereoscopic image (it also filps the left and right eye). Now, if Canon would be so kind as to share the specs behind those transformations (probably less than a dozen parameters), one would be able to just do the transformation themselves (e.g., when working with the raw video files in Resolve). But I'm guessing Canon won't do that, because they are eager for the measly €5 extra per month. Seriously Canon, if someone pays €2,000 for a lens, and €4,500 for a camera, maybe don't lock them out using their equipment for chump change? At the very least, you should be able to use the VR Utility to transform other MP4 files. At least that way you could work with the raw video files in an NLE, render as an MP4, and then let the utility make the necessary transforms as the last step. But no, the VR utility only works with the MP4 files right out of the camera. Nevertheless, since the utility provided by the EOS VR utility software is so simple, I'm guessing it won't take long to figure out how to sidestep it completely. All that aside, the lens itself seems to be great. The still images (even when being forced to work in JPEG), are amazing. The amount of distortion you get towards the edges is best in class. i.e., if you look 90 degrees left or right there is very little distortion to the VR image. If Canon fixed their VR Utility, I may come back and increase the grade.

Only supports jpg/mo4 and costs 5 per month. No RAW/DLOG support so quality is limited by the software. Optics are great.

I have been shooting with the Insta360 OneX 2 for a while now and it's generally fine. It provides okay content that looks fine in VR. When I saw this lens I pre-ordered immediately. It arrived today and I have already shot some stills and video on my R5 that completely surpass in quality any other VR content I have created before. It is sharp. And because the R5 knows it has this lens installed it has extra features that makes using it very easy. It technically mounts to my R6 and C70, but in both cases a warning pops up that says the firmware is not compatible. I am able to take stills / video with the R6 and video with the C70, but the VR utility will not process anything if using those bodies. I suspect there will be third-party software that will enable shooting on other bodies / brands. It's a compact lens, and it's easy to pack in with your other gear. The lens cap is a little difficult to attach. You can use gel ND filters in the rear-slot, but I would not know why it would be necessary since this lens has such massive depth of field even at f/2.8 so using ND filters to be able to use it wide open for video use seems unnecessary. Overall, the best VR lens on any system. I anticipate seeing a ton of content made with this one. Obviously, if you are just wanting wide angle and not VR, probably better off waiting for them to release the RF version of the 11-24.