Curved distortion on the edges of a photograph is typical when using a fisheye lens.
When it comes to photography, different lenses serve entirely different purposes and the lens you choose determines many factors of your photo. Wide-angle and fisheye lenses might seem similar if you're not familiar with camera lenses, but they actually serve two very different purposes. The visual difference between a wide-angle lens and a fisheye lens depends on the focal length.
Focal Length and Lenses
The focal length for a lens determines its angle of view. The longer the focal length, the narrower the angle of view. The shorter the focal length, the wider the angle of view. Both wide-angle and fisheye lenses have a short focal length and wide angle of view. Depending on the focal length, wide-angle and fisheye lenses can have a similar angle of view.
Wide Angle Vs. Fisheye
The most significant difference between a wide-angle lens and a fish-eye lens is that fisheye lenses have a shorter focal length and therefore a wider angle of view. Focal length for fisheye lenses can range from 16 mm -- which is extremely wide to begin with -- all the way down to 12 mm, which actually creates a fully circular angle of view. A common focal length for wide-angle lenses is around 28 mm, but they can be found as wide as 17 mm.
Distortion
Both wide-angle and fisheye lenses create a certain amount of image distortion, but not to the same degree. The extremely wide focal length of fisheye lenses creates a curved effect around the sides of the image. If you shoot people in particular, you will notice that they are curved, bent and distorted with your fisheye lens. Wide-angle lenses can also create this distortion, but usually when you get extremely close to your subject. If you are taking a group portrait with a wide-angle lens from several feet away, you shouldn't have any distortion.
Uses
Wide-angle lenses have a variety of uses, including landscape photography, architecture photography and group portraits. People also use wide-angle lenses for photographing interiors because they help give the illusion of more space. You can pretty much use a wide-angle lens in any situation where you want to have a significant amount of the surrounding space in view. Fisheye lenses, however, are far less common and frequently used for specific sports photography such as skateboarding and snowboarding.
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