Well, yes and no. There are various tools in Photoshop CSx (and Photoshop Elements) that will let you create the distortion similar to a fisheye lens. You can Spherize, Distort, and 3D Transform all you want, but you’ll be missing one key element of a fisheye lens. Angle of view.

A true fisheye lens has an angle of view of at least 180 degrees. Stretch your arms straight out to each side, as if you are describing that huge fish that you caught last summer. That’s how much picture area a fisheye lens covers. Impressive!

One lens I know of, and perhaps there’s more, has a wider angle of view. The Nikkor 8mm fisheye lens covers 220 degrees. It can actually see behind itself!

People buy fisheye lenses for the super wide view and inherent perspective distortion. There’s definitely a look and feel to images shot with these lenses. Unfortunately, most Digital SLR owners can’t get the full effect due to the magnification factor of their sensors.

Canon and Nikon users who have invested in a full frame Digital SLR like the EOS 5D and the Nikon D3 will get every bit of what the fisheye sees. The rest of us have to live with the crop factor an APS size sensor imparts. It’s just part of the game.

However, both Canon and Sigma make full frame fisheye lenses so we’re not totally left out. These lenses give the 180 degree view, not the circular image some folks associate with a fisheye lens.