Tokina 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 fisheye

Tokina 10-17mm

Fisheye lenses are a rather peculiar lot, they are not a lens you are going to use day in, day out for most people. They also come in and out of fashion and are fraught with the danger of shooting improperly. They can be exceptionally useful though once you’ve learned to use their abilities properly. An important

distinction to know about if thinking of buying a fisheye lens is that they come in two varieties, there are circular and diagonal fisheye lenses. Circular fisheye lenses behave exactly how you’d expect from their name, in that they give you a circular image with black filling the rest of the frame and can be used to great creative effect once mastered. This Tokina 10-17mm is a diagonal fisheye which means it fills the entire frame with an almost 180 degree field of view which can be brilliant if used creatively and sparingly.

The two times I tend to use a fisheye is when the couple are signing the register and if its something like a christening, focus on the baby whilst being held by the mother or priest so long as there is an appropriate background. Fisheye lenses are all about distortion of course, but the challenging part is learning how to use that and the exceptionally large field of view creatively without making people look like they are at a fun-fair horror show. Sure, you can make your mother-in-law have a huge nose and look terribly unflattering, but after having the satisfaction of doing it the first time, you’ll never be given another chance if she sees it so its best to find something more to shoot as that is not what these lenses are good for.

This Tokina 10-17mm, like every Tokina really, is made to a very high build quality. They manage to charge a lot less and still produce lenses that put the OEM’s to shame for all but their pro designs. The focus ring is very smooth, as is the zoom ring. An important thing to mention is the fact that you only get the 180 degree full fisheye effect when zoomed all the way out to 10mm. The closer you get to 17mm, the less the effect and if used carefully can almost substitute a regular wide angle lens by 17mm - certainly with the help of software after the fact. The auto-focus relies on the screw driven camera body type, which means its not silent of course and if you have one of the newer digital bodies without a built-in camera body motor like the D40/60 then I’m afraid its all manual focus for you. That being said, its really not much of a sacrifice here as it gets to hyperfocal distance almost immediately and is very easy to focus manually so even if I had one of those bodies, manual focus certainly wouldn’t put me off in this case.

Tokina are also known for something else, and this time its not a good thing like their build quality. Their optical glass technology they’ve chosen to use, or the coatings they are currently using have a very hard time dealing with chromatic aberrations. This is something that effects all their lenses which is unfortunate and something they really need to fix as quickly as possible. This is by far the worst lens I have as far as CA goes, but as I’ve said before CA is something that can be dealt with so its not a deal breaker on its own as this lens has a lot going for it besides, but it is something you need to be aware of especially in scene’s that are difficult like bright white clouds next to a shinny metal lamp post running up a brick building for instance. Or in my case, shooting two rings with light coming through the window or a snoot on my speedlight whilst they are on a wooden table. Scene’s like this are going to show CA and it will need to be fixed once you’ve downloaded the images to the computer.

Sharpness isn’t a prime concern in this type of lens of course, but with the Tokina 10-17mm fisheye I’ve got no complaints as far as sharpness goes. Distortions, well what’s the point of talking about that, its meant to be distorted so its no bad thing this time. I really like this little lens, its well made and lets me take unusual shots that can be highly appreciated by the couple. Its not a lens that should be added to your bag when first starting out as there are probably several others you’ll need before getting to unusual lenses that will not be used often like this. If you are looking for a fisheye though, I think this Tokina 10-17mm is a great, unique piece and well worth a look.