A fellow photographer brought me a Nikon 10.5 f/2.8G DX Fisheye Lens to use  on my Nikon D7100 Digital SLR camera at last Saturday’s Syracuse Crunch Calder Cup Playoff game against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.  I had never used a Fisheye lens before.  I was excited to put it to the test in a venue I knew well, the Onondaga County War Memorial where the Crunch play their home games.

Syracuse Crunch players Andrej Sustr (2), Vladislav Namestnikov (18), Tyler Johnson (9), Ondrej Palat (12), Philippe Paradis (63) and Cedric Paquette (17) watch from the bench during a Crunch power play against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in American Hockey League (AHL) Calder Cup Playoff action at the Onondaga County War Memorial on Saturday, June 1, 2013.
Nikon D7100/10.5mm, 1/320s, f/8, ISO 4000, EV +1.0.

Notice the extreme distortion of the Fisheye lens.  You have to be very careful when using it so the distortion works in the composition and not against it.

Syracuse Crunch fans fill the Onondaga County War Memorial on Saturday, June 1, 2013.
Nikon D7100/10.5mm, 1/160s, f/8, ISO 4000, EV +1.0.

The War Memorial has a curved ceiling which helped in the above photo of the fans seating around the ice hockey rink.  Since the seating curved round the end of the ice surface, the fisheye distortion worked very well.

Syracuse Crunch fans react to a second period Crunch goal against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Nikon D7100/10.5mm, 1/50s, f/8, ISO 4000, EV +1.0.

The above photo I thought would work if the Crunch would oblige with a goal.  Five minutes later, they did and I got the shot.

Could this lens be used for portraits?  To find out I enlisted the help of the Crunch’s team mascot, Crunchman (on the right), and super fan, Bolt.

Team mascot Crunchman with super fan, Bolt, at the Onondaga County War Memorial.
Nikon D7100/10.5mm, 1/60s, f/8, ISO 4000, EV +1.0.

I kept them in the center of the composition and let the background wrap around. There was some distracting elements on the edges which I cropped out.  I was looking for an In-Your-Face kind of photo. What do you think?

The Fisheye lens was a fun change up and nice way to add excitement to the game photos. The game itself was won easily by the Crunch, 7-0, who will move on to the Calder Cup Finals starting next weekend.