How's the Tokina 10-17 fisheye? Is the 17 end redundant if I already have a UWA zoom?

[jdong217]

I already own the Tokina 11-16mm but I am specifically looking for a fisheye lens. The way I understand it, the 10mm end is true fisheye while the 17 end is more just wide angle with less fisheye. I understand there'sa huge difference between fisheye and wide angle, but from what I've read it seems like the 17 end is really just a wide angle with a bit of distortion

I'm trying to decide between this and the Nikon 10.5mm. They're pretty similar in price so I'm just going for which is the better fisheye

 

[Big Mike]

As far as I know, the Tokina 10-17mm is not a fish eye lens...it's a rectilinear lens. That means that it tries to counteract the distortion that comes with such a wide angle/short focal length. Like any lens that wide, it will still show plenty of distortion...especially at the wide end.

A fish eye lens, on the other hand, does not try to counteract the distortion and you get the fish eye effect.

So really, you should decide whether you would be happy with the amount of distortion you'd get with the 10-17mm....or if you would rather have a full fish eye lens. Fish eye lenses can be fun & cool....but most people find that it gets old pretty fast. You may find that you end up using it very rarely...which makes it hard to justify the big price tag. But who knows...you may find that you use it all the time.

 

[DiskoJoe]

Fisheyes do rock but it is a lot to pay for a specialty lens if you want to get something decent. There are some manual focus options that are cheaper.