When I saw the Petapixel article on the 18mm Funleader cap lens review, I just couldn’t resist. I had to get one just to have another creative constraint to play with and to force a shift in my photographic attention away from sharpness and pixel peeping to moment and framing. Of course, some of the reviews I read were very critical of the falloff at the edges of the photo and the way the lens was prone to harsh lens flares, but that was actually part of the draw. The fact that it was a constant f8 with no focus options were the draw for me. I like creative constraints.

It took 16 days to arrive and I got my first chance to take it for a spin yesterday afternoon. The photo above is the first shot taken. You can see the falloff at the edges, but it’s much sharper than I expected it to be. It has the feel of Lomography, which I’ve always been drawn to and the fact I didn’t have to focus at all did exactly what I hoped it would do. It shifted my own focus toward simply framing the shot at hand. You’ll see the sun flares in the photos below, sure, but I kinda like having to work around them. And ultimately, the lens is doesn’t intimidate, so it will be perfect for street photos, especially after black and white conversion, like the image just below. I’m about to head out with it on my long Saturday morning hike and I’m looking forward to sharing more from this lens. In the meantime, enjoy these first efforts. 🙂

Jeff Turner

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