Tokina 20-35 f3.5-4.5

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Geir Eivind Mork - 07 Dec 2006 00:07 GMT

I'm looking at this particular lense and I find the reviews to tell of
great sharpness and fairly good handling of disortion (but some should
be expected at that wide angle)

So I'm wondering how the group feel about it, and what I should pay for
it? (and ofcourse, anything else to consider in that range - or tad wider)

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Toby - 07 Dec 2006 01:46 GMT

I used to use it with film and found it quite good. If you are doing digital
it might be better to consider a DX lens, as 20mm is not terribly wide with
a 1.5x sensor (equivalent to ~30-52mm with film). Something like the Sigma
17-70 might be interesting for you.

Toby

> I'm looking at this particular lense and I find the reviews to tell of
> great sharpness and fairly good handling of disortion (but some should be
> expected at that wide angle)
>
> So I'm wondering how the group feel about it, and what I should pay for
> it? (and ofcourse, anything else to consider in that range - or tad wider)

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Tony Polson - 07 Dec 2006 09:18 GMT

>I'm looking at this particular lense and I find the reviews to tell of
>great sharpness and fairly good handling of disortion (but some should
>be expected at that wide angle)
>
>So I'm wondering how the group feel about it, and what I should pay for
>it? (and ofcourse, anything else to consider in that range - or tad wider)

It is a delightful lens, with excellent sharpness and very low
distortion for a consumer grade lens. It is extremely well made with
a metal barrel. Its performance is far superior to the Nikon 18-35mm.
I owned one in Nikon AF mount, then bought another in Pentax AF mount
when I changed brand from Nikon to Pentax several years ago. It
performs well on both film and digital bodies.

The later Tokina 19-35mm f/3.5-4.5 (Model AF193) is also a very good
lens, but it has a polycarbonate barrel.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure that you avoid the 19-35mm
Cosina/Phoenix/Soligor version, which has extremely poor build
quality, extreme sample variation and very bad distortion. Tokina
sold this under their own brand before introducing the 20-35mm to
replace it in the range, but very few of these remain. There is also
a Tamron that is based on the Cosina design. I haven't tested one but
I suspect it is also best avoided.

Another option to consider is the Tokina AT-X Pro 20-35mm f/2.8, which
is a very good performer except for softness at f/2.8. They obviously
cost more used than the f/3.5-4.5 version but still sell at relatively
low prices bearing in mind their pro quality.

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