Tokina AT-X Pro 17 mm f/3.5

Yesterday morning, on April 23, 2003, I had a pleasant surprise: the Tokina 17/3.5 that I had ordered arrived. I took some quick test shots and made some stupid mistakes, and wrote a hasty post on Digital Photography Review. Now I've had the chance to get better acquainted with this beast. Since the choice of wide-angle lenses for the 1.6x field of view crop isn't huge, I thought this article may be of interest for others in the same situation as myself.

It's been a while since I've shot with a wide-angle prime. I've missed it. The Tokina certainly qualifies -- the perspective is very respectably wide, even with the field of view crop.

I'm using the lens on my EOS-10D, where it's the approximate equivalent of a 28 mm, so these comments don't apply to anything that may or may not be going on around the edges of the frame. I intend to have a party with it on my wife's film EOS, but as you'll see below, I don't expect miracles for this purpose.

Here's the beast on the camera. Not tiny, but not a heavyweight either.