A fisheye lens is an extremely wide angle one with a short focal length that captures distorted, but visually fascinating photos. InFisheye is an app for the iPhone that simulates the effect.

A real fisheye lens can only be mounted to a traditional camera that accepts interchangeable lenses, but it is possible to create an effect just like it using software and that's what InFisheye does. It works both when taking photos using the iPhone's camera and with photos already take and stored in the Photos app albums.

According to Wikipedia, the name fisheye was first used over 100 years ago by Robert Wood and it is based on how a fish would see the world. Who knows how a fish sees things? We can only imagine it and with the ability to see all around you, it might look like the effect we see with InFisheye.

Related: Add lens flare and other effects to iPhone photos

A traditional 35mm camera with a lens of about 55mm takes photos that look normal, just as we see things with our eyes. As the focal length of the lens becomes shorter, the image becomes wider and taller as the angle of view increases.

When you get down to 10mm, you have a field of view of almost 180 degrees. In other words straight up, straight down, to the left and the right. The effect is a very distorted image that looks like you are viewing the world through a crystal ball. It is strange, but oddly fascinating.

InFisheye in an iPhone app that enables you to take photographs and using some clever software, it simulates the effect that a fisheye lens would have it it were attached to the iPhone's camera. It works with the back camera and the front selfie camera.

Choose the camera lens

There are five different lenses to choose from and each one produces a different effect. There is the crystal ball, Fisheye Nikor 10.5mm, LOMO Fisheye Lens 2 and 1, and INSTA Optical Lens.

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Apart from the fisheye effect, the app is like any other camera app. You can select the front or back cameras, take a photo or a video, and turn the flash on or off.

Add photo filters

As with many other photography apps, a collection of filters is provided and you can apply them to the photo. The button in the bottom left corner switches between camera lenses and filter effects.

There are several collections, such as black and white, film, instafx, vintage, tones, splash and others. Some filters are provided for free, but many of the have to be purchased. You can buy eight value packs of filters for $4.99, which is much cheaper than buying them individually at $0.99 each. There are dozens of special effects in these packs.

When a photo has been taken with the camera or loaded from your photo albums and modified, It can be saved back to the Photos app or shared on social media services or via email.

When sharing to social media, the resolution of the modified image is limited to 612 x 612, which is quite low. However, images saved back to the Photos app are 2048 x 2048 pixels. You could therefore save the photos and share from within the Photos app or social media ap. A 2048 x 2048 pixel image is fine for sharing on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Not all photos are suitable for the effect and it works best when there is a fairly small subject in the centre of the photo, like the one above, shown in normal mode on the left and one of the fisheye effects on the right.

Related: Edit photos with Snapseed

The app has been free on occasions, but who knows if or when it will be free again. However, even at full price, InFisheye isn’t expensive and it costs just US $1.99. There is also a free version, InFisheye Lite. I have not tried the Lite version, but presumably it is ad-supported. Filter packs are purchased separately.

The latest update to the InFisheye app adds support for the iPhone X and improved sharing features.

Don’t apply the fisheye to all your photos because too many special effects are tiresome, but it is great for occasional images. It is recommended.

Title: InstaFisheye
Price: $1.99 US
Developer: Lotogram
Version: 2.8.12
Size: 8.1 MB
iOS: 6.0 and up