Tokina AF20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 HLD Glass

My earlier review only gave this lens 2/5 overall marks - this was a mistake. The lens continues to produce great images.

This review is for the Tokina 20-35mm f3.4-4.5 Mk I.. It is very difficult to fault this lens. I used it in Spring 2002 in the Pyrenees, hanging off the top of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and inside the Casa Gaudi Museum at Fermes. All locations provided a challenge, from snowy mountains and wild flowers to detailed architectural photography and dim interior shots. The lens performed far, far better than I expected for the price (£115/$180) I paid for a mint used lens.

Very well made with metal body and smooth action. Optics are perfectly sharp at f4 onwards, both centrally and at edges: corners are a little softer until f8. Contrast is good to very good but can be improved by underexposing a little. Distortions at 20mm are quite acceptable, even in architectural photos provided that you do not need a perfectly rectilinear image. At 35mm, similarly distortions are quite acceptable. Flare is not a problem, and there is very little light fall-off into corners at any aperture. The lens also does not vignette with a regular-sized filter fitted. The hood is useful sometimes. Tests and evaluations at http://www.photozone.de/ and on photodo.com indicate that this is a quality optic. [My opinion on Photodo tests: Photodo’s MTF charts may lead you to put undue emphasis on corner performance of a lens. Eg. many lenses show poor performance at 15, 18 and 21mm from the lens centre-point. But remember that for 35mm format lenses a point 18mm from the centre will be at the left/right edge of the image and actually lie outside the image area vertically: only a tiny part of the corner of the frame exists beyond this distance, measuring just 3mm deep in each corner. The 21mm MTF point lies at the actual corner and is therefore pretty irrelevant for practical purposes.. However, these tests indicate a lens’s performance under low contrast conditions].

Problems with the lens are restricted to metering issues: it is easy to over-compensate for the angle of view. On a Nikon F801 I find it best to leave the metering to the camera’s matrix evaluation, rather than attempt any manual adjustment. Selective metering for key areas (using a handheld meter) is just as good but takes time. The lens also works well on manual cameras: the lack of damping in manual focus feels odd, but it hardly matters because the focus range is very narrow.

Tokina 28-70 ATX - Mk I - excellent Nikkor 20mm f3.5 (manual) - excellent Tokina 17mm f3.5 (manual)- good-very good

Not needed

Incredible lens for the money. Bright Colors, minor barrel distokrtion at 20mm, sharp at full aperature. If you don't want to invest $600+ it is a superb compromise.

Sharpness, color correction, minimal distortion

size, minor barrel distortion

Canon 20-35mm

n/a

An excellent lens for the money. My photos have been sharp with contrast and color. Definitely buy the Tokina lens hood for this lens - a must. The IF focussing is great using a polarizer but make sure you get a thin one or don't go below 22mm on the zoom.

This review is for the new Tokina 19-35 HLD glass lens. I found that the lens to be very sharp and contrasty and quick focussing on my Pentax ZX-7. The test report in 8/2000 issue of shutterbug that sharpness rivalled many single focal lengths and I concur. The lens is fairly lightweight and has a good feel to it.

There is vignetting with a regular polarizer wider than 22mm. 77mm filters are expensive.

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