Fish Eye lens Comparison tests

"Shaved" Tokina 10-17 mm zoom @ 10.5 mm (f/3.5)

Vs "

Shaved" Nikkor ex-DX 10.5 mm (f/2.8)

"Shaved" Tokina 10-17 mm zoom @ 15 mm (f/4)

Vs

Canon EF 15 mm (f/2.8)

Mounted on EOS Canon 5D

Preliminary overview of the results......

Object:

I have decided to put the sensor diagonally aligned on the horizontal: As all "four" lenses have near or more than 180 degrees of angle of view it is then possible to compare the image center area, image at a medium incident angle (e.g. about 45 deg from the optical axis) and the extreme incident angle (e.g. 90 deg from the optical axis) while preserving the ability to assess the overall background image quality in every case.

The comparison shall be done for every "main" stop setting from fully open to minimum aperture.

Recall:

• the Tokina lens opens only at f/3.5 while the Nikkor can be opened at f/2.8 max (both @ 10.5mm of focal length)

and

• the Tokina lens opens only at f/4 while the Canon EF can be opened at f/2.8 max (both @ 15 mm of focal length)

Test set-up:

The camera was about 1,2 meter from a set of text chart and B&W drawing vertically stuck on the wall as on a board.

The scene was lit by a 500W halogen lamp beamed at 45 deg to the board.

One shot at very stop from f/4 to f/22 for every lens and additional max/min aperture when technically feasible.

Five shots orientation: -90, -45, 0, +45, +90 degrees and this for every stop value step.

Auto focus on the board center (i.e. Zero degree of yaw) 1,2 m away then manually tapped/fixed this setting on the lens barrel.

Auto exposure (spot metering on board center) then aperture manually fixed fin the camera or the rest of the run.

=> Total number is 31 sets of 5 images each = i.e. 155 photographs.

Tests results preview (only)

There are 14 match cases suited for comparison.

I am a little busy for the moment and cannot prepare the overall result presentation. Sorry.

I shall thus present hereafter only 2 amongst 14.

1) Tokina 10-17 mm @ 15 mm f/11 Vs Canon 15 mm f/11

and

2) Tokina 10-17 mm @ 10.5 mm f/4 Vs Nikkor 10.5 mm f/4

I have selected these two examples because the first may be representative of "architectural" photography (f/11, longer exposure time) as the second may be more for instant photography at widest stop setting.

Important note:

All RAW images have been processed with ACR4 and with the same setting for correction (CA and Vignette incl.) for all lens brands (!). The Tif 16-bits files were further processed in JPEG (level 3 of PS CS3) for presentation here after.

First example:

Tokina 10-17 mm @ 15 mm and f/11

-90°	-45°	0°	+45°	+90°
-
Click on pict to enlarge	Click on pict to enlarge	Click on pict to enlarge	Click on pict to enlarge	Click on pict to enlarge

Canon 15 mm f/11

-90°	-45°	0°	+45°	+90°
-
Click on pict to enlarge	Click on pict to enlarge	Click on pict to enlarge	Click on pict to enlarge	Click on pict to enlarge

Second example

Tokina 10-17 mm @ 10.5 mm and f/4

-90°	-45°	0°	+45°	+90°
-
Click on pict to enlarge	Click on pict to enlarge	Click on pict to enlarge	Click on pict to enlarge	Click on pict to enlarge

Nikkor 10.5 mm f/4

-90°	-45°	0°	+45°	+90°
-
Click on pict to enlarge	Click on pict to enlarge	Click on pict to enlarge	Click on pict to enlarge	Click on pict to enlarge

Test performed 11 and 12 February 2007

Article written 19 february 2007

Michel Thoby