Rather than jump in with the Canon or Sigma Fisheyes, I'm wondering if you good folk have opinions on lower cost models such as the Zenitar 16mm or the Peleng 8mm. Bear in mind I'm on the crop range of EOS (30D, 400D) and know not to expect full Fisheye views from these cameras.

I've searched about and opinions vary quite a lot. I'm only looking for this as an effect look and want to decide how useful it is, before making the jump to a more expensive version.

Photozone.de has a review of the Peleng 8mm fisheye.

That seems like a positive review!

The Peleng has quite a lot of flare with bright highlights, in my opinion it costs too much for the quality. The Zenitar is ok, but you need a fullframe DSLR like the 5D

Thanks
I still shoot film too, so it's not all bad. I did gather from the review that the flaring was the worst thing about the Peleng. The Zenitar is quite cheap, I've noticed. It's not really an expense at less than €100..

What camera is this going on? I saw something in the Photo.net canon eos forums about a problem of the mirror hitting the zenitar on the 5d. Then some vagueness about whether or not the lens supported cameras other than EF-S. Might want to look over there.

Edit: Nevermind. I see you call this out in your original post.