On 4 Oct 1998 07:57:56 GMT, arrfilms@aol.com (ArrFilms) wrote:

>Has anyone used the ATX-17mm F/3.5 Tokina lens? How is it? I would be using
>the EOS version.

Ah - I know what you want to use it for....! ;-)
I don't know how suitable for use on a Canon XL-1
mini-DV camcorder it would be, but on a 35mm camera,
it was not particularly good (poor edges/corners
until well stopped down [where they were barely
acceptable], OK center, but not really crisp - a
Nikkor 20mm f2.8 easily wiped it out at all stops).
But lenses and attachments that are so-so or poor
on 35mm still gear can often look good on video
gear (I use several .42X fisheye converters and
.5-.6X sorta-rectangular converters on my VX-1000's
that can produce sharp video images to the frame
corners, but which look TERRIBLE when tried on 35mm
gear), so the Tokina may work in combination with
a compatible front converter to produce a lens
combination for the XL-1 that has a real footage
scale, and a short enough resultant FL to be
useful... I can't think of an alternative EOS-mount
short FL lens that is better (and which also has a
front thread) except the Canon 17, which may (or
may not...;-) be better in the center, but is
cheaper - or maybe the 20mm is more practical and
not much longer... Hmmm, another possibility is
the old .12X Spiratone (or similar) fisheye
converter - this would work on longer FL lenses,
but there would be some possibly-troublesome
aperture-control problems with this, since the
lens it is used on must be used wide open...