Review 1 of 18
Price Paid:
$250.00
from ebay Summary:
This is a discontinued lens, replaced with a 200-400mm zoom, but none-the-less one worth owning in the digital age for those who itching to give their cameras a long, long reach.
Imagine, before digital cameras, the knock on this supposedly "amateur" lens was its slow, f/5.6 aperture. But with noiseless ISOs of 800 and beyond that are possible with DSLRs, slow translates today as light weight. Suddenly, a lens like the Nikon f/2.8 becomes an unnecessary behemoth that tips the scale at almost 10 pounds. Same with Canon.
"It lacks contrast," "It lacks color saturation," yada, yada, yada. First, these raps are not true. Second, even if they were, once a digital file is in Photoshop, Aperture, iPhoto or virtually any other photo program, color and saturation can be increased with a couple of mouse clicks.
Sharpness - this lens not as sharp at f/5.6 as it is at f/8. If a photo made at this aperture isn't going to be cropped, then lack of sharpness probably isn't going to be noticeable. If it is, there's always the unsharp mask on Photoshop, or similar commands with other programs.
But wait, there's more. Because a sensor in the DSLR is smaller than a frame of 35mm film, digital cameras cut down the field of view of any lens, compared the field of view exhibited by a 35mm camera. In practice, this means the magnifying power of any lens designed for use on a film camera is increased by 1.6 times on a DSLR. A 400mm lens on a film camera therefore becomes a 640mm lens on a digital camera.
There is no need, with this lens, to stick to a full-frame photo. As with any photo made from any quality lens, it's easy to crop out enough from a digital photograph made with this lens, to make the Tokina the equivalent of a 1000mm telephoto.
Thus, this "slow" and "soft" 400mm lens becomes, in the digital era, a contradiction in terms: it's a super-telephoto that's both light weight and speedy, with color saturation and contrast that can be dialed in (and not just on the computer, most DSLRs allow this sort of control in-camera, too). Shoot fast enough and this is a lens that, if not hand holdable, can at least be steadied with a bean bag, atop a camera bag, held against a wall, etc., for sharp images.
This SD glass on this lens (usually marketed as an APO lens by other manufacturers) supposedly offers a reduction of chromatic aberration not possible with non-SD lenses. Is this true? Well, the optics I've purchased over the years, for my Nikon, Minolta, Rolleiflex and Pentax cameras, have never exhibited CA, at least not enough to catch my attention.
Tokina was apparently started by former employees of Nikon, and by and large, Tokina has a good reputation. With the departed, but not forgotten 400mm f/5.6, it's easy to see the reputation is deserved, and even more so in the digital age. Strengths:
Sharp, light weight, cost (this is only going to be purchased as a used lens, too, so it's impossible to pay a lot of money for this lens - I paid $163 from B and H for a manual version of the lens, and $255 for a mint close-focus, AF version), internal focus (lens doesn't extend when focusing), SD (APO) glass, close-focus. Weaknesses:
- Not as sharp at all apertures as a Canon or Nikon 400mm version? (Nikon doesn't offer a 400mm f/5.6 prime lens, the closest it comes is a 300mm f/4 lens w/ a teleconverter, the lens alone selling new as I write this for about $925 from B and H).
- Not as quiet as top of the line optics.
- Not as fast to focus as top of the line optics.
- This lens may not work with all digital cameras in AF mode. However, Tokina can "rechip" the lens to work with cameras like the Nikon D2x, one of the few cameras that reportedly don't work correctly with the lens. That's not the case with my D70 and apparently most other digital cameras. Cost of rechipping? Well under $100. Similar Products Used:
Mini-review/tips for the manual version of the lens, which I owned briefly:
On my D70, and most other digital Nikons, focus is confirmed in the viewfinder (green dot/beep). The trick to making correct exposures with this manual version of the lens is to make a best-guess manual exposure and auto bracket - one of the exposures will be close enough.
Note: the original version of the lens was so lightweight that Tokina dispensed with the tripod mount. Tokina changed its mind, subsequent versions all have the mount. Customer Service:
None needed.
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