Photography News 03

Lens review

27

Tokina SD 11-16mm f/2.8 (IF) DX II This Mark II Tokina 11-16mm was launched last year and is made to a very high standard. It weighs a little more than other APS-C super-wides, and while the zoom ring is smooth, it’s quite heavily damped – not easy to turn with just one finger, but it won’t move accidentally. Filter size is a non-rotating 77mm, and a fairly large petal type lens hood comes as standard. Relatively speaking, this lens’s optical design doesn’t seem overly ambitious – 13 elements in 11 groups, with two SLD elements and two with aspherical surfaces. This reflects the shorter focal length range, but being f/2.8, every element is larger and heavier. Sharpness is impressively good for an APS-C lens, that we test at a higher resolution than full-frame, to reflect the crop factor, ie. at 36 lines-per-mm, versus full frame at 24 lines-per-mm. This is the main reason for the image quality advantage enjoyed by

SPECS

full-frame, as APS-C lenses have to work that much harder to reach the same standard. At f/2.8, sharpness rates as Excellent in the centre, at all focal lengths. The edges lag behind a little, but are still comfortably within the Very Good zone. Stopping down to f/4 sees a significant improvement, particularly at the edges that are now almost on a par with the centre and delivering very high quality. This standard is held pretty much to f/11, when diffraction starts to bite, and gives a very broad spread of usable performance. Resolution peaked at 123 lines-per-mm in the MTF 20% test, the highest here. Verdict The Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 is a high-grade lens but it comes at a price. At £600 it’s not competing with the other independents, Sigma and Tamron, but going head to head with Canon and Nikon.

PRICE £600 CONTACT daymen.co.uk FORMATS

SPECS APS-C 1.5x and 1.6x OPTICALDESIGN 13 elements in 11 groups GLASSTYPES 2x SLD, 2x aspherical APERTURERANGE Constant f/2.8 to f/22 DIAPHRAGM APS-C 1.6x 102° to 80°; APS-C 1.5x 105° to 84° MINIMUMFOCUS 0.24m (from sensor) MAXREPRODUCTION RATIO 1:11.6 AUTOFOCUS Silent-drive micro-motor MANUALFOCUS Clutch-type FILTERSIZE 77mm non-rotating WEATHERSEALED Mount gasket DoFSCALE No DIMENSIONS (DxL) 84x89mm WEIGHT 560g ACCESSORIES Hood supplied FITTINGS Canon, Nikon PRICE £700 CONTACT daymen.co.uk FORMATS Full-frame and APS-C OPTICALDESIGN 15 elements in 13 groups GLASSTYPES 3x SD, 3x aspherical APERTURERANGE Constant f/2.8 to f/22 DIAPHRAGM MINIMUMFOCUS 0.28m (from sensor) MAXREPRODUCTION RATIO 1:5.3 AUTOFOCUS Silent-drive micro-motor MANUALFOCUS Clutch-type FILTERSIZE Via third-party adaptor WEATHERSEALED No DoFSCALE No DIMENSIONS (DxL) 90x133mm WEIGHT 950g ACCESSORIES Hood built-in FITTINGS Canon, Nikon 9 rounded blades ANGLEOFVIEW Full-frame 107° to 76°, APS-C 1.6x 80° to 52° 9 rounded blades ANGLEOFVIEW

%MTFat36lines-per-mm(APS-C) 100 090 080 070 060 050 040 030 020 010 000 72+ 61+ 79+ 74+ 79+ 73+ 75+ 70+ 67+ 63+ 56+ 51 f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8 f/11 f/16 Sharpness11mm

Centre 100 090 080 070 060 050 040 030 020 010 000 72+ 47+ 77+ 65+ 77+ 73+ 75+ 71+ 69+ 66+ 58+ 58 f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8 f/11 f/16 Edge

100 090 080 070 060 050 040 030 020 010 000 65+ 58+ 80+ 73+ 77+ 74+ 73+ + 66+ 64+ 56+ 53 f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8 f/11 f/16

13mm

16mm

Howitrates

FEATURES

22/25

No other APS-C super-wide does f/2.8, but 1.4x zoom ratio is limited HANDLING Excellent build quality and everything works as it should. No complaints at all PERFORMANCE High sharpness at all apertures and across focal range. Aberrations control typical VALUE FOR MONEY No direct competition. It’s good, but the price is high. OVERALL

25/25

24/25

23/25

ABOVE A glance shows one of the main reasons why the Tokina rates so highly. Sharpness is high, mostly Excellent, even towards the edges at max to mid apertures, and at the long end. It dips at the highest f/numbers, due to diffraction, but the only notable weakness is edge sharpness at 16mm f/2.8.

94/100

Tokina SD 16-28mm f/2.8 (IF) FXAspherical

In the peak resolution test at MTF 20%, the Tokina scored 105 lines-per-mm, in the centre of the frame at 16mm f/4. There is a caveat with this lens though, and that’s flare. The big front element can be susceptible to strong side lighting, inevitably really. It’s greatly reduced on stopping down though, and simply shading the lens with your hand is also reasonably effective, but to be fair, that’s the only fly in the ointment. Verdict The obvious reason to buy this lens is cost, compared with the much more expensive f/2.8 options from Canon and Nikon. And it’s great value, saving hundreds of pounds, yet the Tokina gives nothing away in terms of sharpness. In fact it’s exceptionally good, with better than average aberrations control for this class as well.

The Tokina 16-28mm is designed for full-frame cameras but it will function perfectly well on APS-C too of course. The AF is powered by silent-drive micro-motor and while it’s not quite as fast or silent as ultrasonic AF, it’s more than adequate for the purpose. The built-in lens hood is fixed, provided for protection as much as anything else, and conventional filters cannot be used. Sharpness is very high, at all focal lengths, at all apertures, and pretty much right across the image – very impressive. Tested on full frame, sharpness in the centre is never out of the Excellent zone, even at f/2.8. It gets better at f/4, and then declines gradually in line with the increasing influence of diffraction towards f/16. Edge sharpness lags a little at f/2.8, but still rates as Very Good, then at f/4 it jumps up to Excellent, where it sits more or less alongside the centre performance. This is high-grade stuff, and it’s hard to see Canon and Nikon beating it by much.

%MTFat24lines-per-mm(full-frame)

f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8 f/11 f/16 88+ 61+ 87+ 71+ 83+ 74+ 82+ 74+ 75+ 72+ 68+ 65

f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8 f/11 f/16 79+ 50+ 85+ 74+ 85+ 80+ 82+ 79+ 77+ 75+ 73+ 68

Centre f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8 f/11 f/16 75+ 61+ 86+ 69+ 85+ 72+ 83+ 71+ 80+ 70+ 69+ 66 Edge

Sharpness16mm

22mm

28mm

Howitrates

100 090 080 070 060 050 040 030 020 010 000

100 090 080 070 060 050 040 030 020 010 000

100 090 080 070 060 050 040 030 020 010 000

FEATURES

22/25

Spec is more than adequate, though a bit lower all round than Canon and Nikon rivals HANDLING Heavy, and doesn’t take normal filters, but very well made and finished PERFORMANCE Excellent sharpness, with high levels of performance at all f/stops and focal lengths VALUE FOR MONEY

24/25

24/25

23/25

ABOVE In the centre, sharpness is high, not falling below Excellent when tested at full-frame. From f/2.8 it’s around 80%, gets higher at mid range, before declining in line with diffraction effects. Edges lag somewhat at f/2.8 and f/4, but from f/5.6 they’re Excellent. Overall a very high standard.

Brilliant value, no question OVERALL

93/100

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