I had been pondering, if I should get this Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro Android phone. Or if I should get other Android phone. My main concern was the functions which I had been enjoying with my previous phone – Sony Ericsson C902.

Sony Ericsson C902 was a fantastic phone – 5Mbyte camera, slim design, functionality as a modem for my laptop etc. The reasons for replacing this phone were to a faulty button and I needed even more functions. An Android phone seemed to fit in.

I usually used a mobile over 2 years before changing new one, so I would wish to check carefully first. Before buying, I had been comparing the phones’ features.

I knew Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro had these advantage over most other Android phones of the same price:
- 5 Mega pixel Camera
- A QWERTY Keypad
- Built in radio

At the same time, Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro was using Android OS 1.6 compared to most other Android phones using Android OS 2.0 and above. That means that I cannot share my Internet Connection with other devices. As far as I knew, Sony Ericsson would be releasing a firmware upgrade soon.

Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro also has a smaller screen size compared to most other touch screen phone. But I think I can live with it.

Jumping from C902 into an Android phone would mean, I would gain much more functions. There would be tons of Applications available in the Android Market. I would need to explore what were available. I can also make use of the available Wi-Fi to connect to the Internet, rather than just the 3G Mobile data only.

At the same time, I would lose out in term of using my phone as a modem for my laptop.

Further much considering, I finally made the jump and got my Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro.

Tokina AT-X 10-17mm f3.5-4.5 Fisheye Effect

Finally, I have the opportunity to try out Tokina ATX107PRODXC 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 Fish Eye ATX Pro DX over a weekend.

I had been thinking of buying this Tokina ATX107PRODXC 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 Fish Eye ATX Pro DX for quite sometime, because there was a few occasions when I wished I had an ultra wide angle or fisheye lens. When I was covering events, I wish my lens was wide enough to cover the crowds. Or when I was capturing a beautiful scenery, I wish my lens was wide enough so that I would not have to use photo stitching software to get the panorama effect.

The first impression when I mount this Tokina ATX107PRODXC 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 Fish Eye ATX Pro DX on my Canon DSLR camera, was the zoom rotation. I am used to rotating anti-clockwise for telephoto on my Canon and Sigma lens. However, I had to rotate clockwise for Tokina lens. It took me quite some time to get used to it. I believe Nikon users would have no problem on this.

The beauties of Fisheye lens are the barrel distortion and the ultrawide angle. At the widest angle with focus length of 10mm, Tokina ATX107PRODXC 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 Fish Eye ATX Pro DX produced both the diagonal fisheye effect and the wide angle coverage. Now I had to learn how to frame my pictures at this angle. Many occasions, I even captured the railing or the windows frame.

Tokina AT-X 10-17mm f3.5-4.5 Fisheye DX at 10mm

At 17mm, the distortion was hardly noticable. In fact, I could not tell the photo was taken using the Tokina ATX107PRODXC 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 Fish Eye ATX Pro DX or my Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC IF Macro Lens at 17mm.

Tokina AT-X 10-17mm f3.5-4.5 Fisheye DX at 17mm

Because of the ultrawide angle, I did not have much problem taking photos at night without using a tripod. The f3.5 aperture was not a concern. And most of the pictures came up clear and sharp.

Night shot with Tokina AT-X 10-17mm f3.5-4.5 Fisheye DX

Close shot using Tokina AT-X 10-17mm f3.5-4.5 Fisheye DX

During my few days of playing this Tokina ATX107PRODXC 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 Fish Eye ATX Pro DX, I usually took pictures either at 10mm or 17mm. I hardly made use of any focus length in-between. So, I do wondered, which would be a better choice, a dedicated prime fisheye lens with wider aperture or this zoom fisheye lens. Maybe, the zoom feature would be useful for tighter framing during event coverage.

The fisheye lens could be a very fun lens to have because of its extreme barrel distortion. I took a few portrait pictures with this lens very closed to the face. The outcome was the extremely big nose, distorted face and triangular body.

After the weekend, I wished I did not have to return this lens. I had so much fun with this lens. I just wonder, how does this Tokina ATX107PRODXC 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 Fish Eye ATX Pro DX compared to the recent announced Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM zoom lens. Anyway, till I got a choice to try the new Canon lens, Tokina ATX107PRODXC 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 Fish Eye ATX Pro DX shall remain in my wish list.

I, too, took out my camera and snapped many pictures. As I was carrying quite a number of items, so some of the shots were a bit motion blur.

When I was leaving the place, I saw two ambulances rushing across. Later, then I read the news on the acid throwing incident. Wow, I was fortunate that I was not one of the victims.

No related posts.

At idea came to me as I open my eyes. Why not, I set my lens to manual mode, switch on the flash, set the shutter speed to be very fast and shoot at the rain? Maybe I could get some shots of the rain drops.

I quickly got out of the bed and tried it out.

100mm, 1/200s, f/2.8 ISO 400

Shooting straight - 17mm, 1/200s, ISO 400

Shooting Downwards - 17mm, 1/200s, f/2.8, ISO 400

The effect look very snowy and artistic to me.

After the a few rounds, I concluded the following:

• It does not matter, if I set to manual or automatic focus. The best is the distance subject is in focus. It provides some form of background. Even if the subject is out of focus, it could be artistic in some form.
• I set the highest shutter speed. I don’t know why, when I switch on the flash unit, the camera only around 1/200s as fastest shutter speed. I think I need to read up on this.

I had some fun using my camera.