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Hey guys. Well I received my new lens today, thanks Birdy. I've put up some crops from 100% view to show how sharp the lens is - I'm pretty impressed. What I also found impressive is the lack of distortion in this image, check out how straight the horizon is.



I have taken images with my kit lens where the horizon is about in the same location and it is really curved!

Crops are located here, http://www.ausphotos.com/Tokina/ and generally are from the centre of the image. The corners are noticably softer, but these aren't the normal situations I'll be using the lens so I'll have to test it out a bit more.

It is a solid little lens, and as reviews state the ring to pull for manual focus is quite stiff, but easy to put back into AF. I will post more images as I take them.

Cheers,
Owen.

***Please note that the crop images are fairly big, 2 are around 550kb and 1 around 300kb.

Nothing wrong with those, good sharp images.

Bob.

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Yeah seems pretty good from my uneducated eye.

Seems the "other" companies are getting their acts togeather.

Not sure if I would use one though, but I am envious non the less.

MATT

Am I missing something, or do the crops come from a different photo than the one you posted in your main message???
Also, what aperture did you take these at?

I've just bought the Tokina 12-24 as well and haven't had a chance to try it out yet, so I'm genuinely interested...

Sorry I didn't make it clear enough. The crops are all from different images, the full image is just one I like to demonstrate the straight horizon.

The aperture were as follows:
Bridge1.jpg f8.0 1/80 sec iso 200
pier1.jpg f9.0 1/80 iso 200
pier2.jpg f5.0 1/30 iso 200

The full image was f9.0 1/60sec iso 200.

No tripod or anything, I was just testing it out.

Cheers,
Owen.

I was reading the instruction sheet last night and if you set the focus at 30 cm, then everything from about 15cm - infinity will be in focus @f22.... that's an incredible DOF

The example you've posted seems sharp as a tack. Enjoy the wide angle mate, they're great fun and seem to open up another style of composition to play with...

owen wrote:I was reading the instruction sheet last night and if you set the focus at 30 cm, then everything from about 15cm - infinity will be in focus @f22.... that's an incredible DOF

They must have also quoted an applicable focal length for this too ....

FWIW, this is nothing new, and the technique works on all lenses.

It's called hyperfocal distance, and basically (this is for Nikkor F lenses, that have additional Dof/aperture markings on the lens barrels) you set your infinity mark on the lens at the point that marks the aperture that you're setting, and everything from infinity back to the corresponding close distance mark for that aperture will be in focus.

Yeah, this was at 12mm. I'm aware of hyperfocal focussing, but always had to guess roughly with the kit lens, I guess having the extra wide angle makes the DOF larger... anyway I'm looking forward to some good weather to get out and try all this out.

Do you know why they don't use those markings on the newer lenses?

owen wrote:Do you know why they don't use those markings on the newer lenses?

My guess is because most people choose to use autofocus, or are too lazy, or can't figure out how to turn it off.

Under AF, hyperfocal distance becomes irrelevant, and it then becomes a cost cutting measure to stop supporting a feature that most people can't or don't use, and - seriously - most don't even know exists.

Can you put filters on the Tokina?

Yes you can. I have a nice big 77mm Hoya UV filter on it at the moment.

owen wrote:Yes you can. I have a nice big 77mm Hoya UV filter on it at the moment.

Hmmm.. I can feel my lust level rising then..

I will try to get some more examples posted soon. Anything you'd like to be tested with this lens?

owen wrote:Do you know why they don't use those markings on the newer lenses?

The problem with marking depth of field scales zoom lenses is that they change as the focal length changes. Some of the better lenses are supplied with a chart that lets you calculate the DOF for a given focal length (and therefore determining the hyperfocal) however standing around in a landscpe with two pieces of paper held on top of each other trying to line things up is not appealing when you are trying to get a quick image as the light is changing.

Worth noting is that Hyperfocal gets easier to use the wider the lens and so with the 12-24 you could set it to f16 at 2 metres (at any focal length) and get everything in focus from 1 metre to infinity. Chimp to confirm the setting is ok, adjust and have another go if you have to however you will be in the ball park.

I'd love to see a comparison between the Nikkor, and Tokina lens. But I assume that won't be possible unless you have both.

It will be good to compare the two at the minimeet on Saturday though.

gleff wrote:I'd love to see a comparison between the Nikkor, and Tokina lens. But I assume that won't be possible unless you have both.

It will be good to compare the two at the minimeet on Saturday though.

How can you compare them at the mini meet in picture quality and other?

You can only shoot with both of them, bring your takes home and DIY.

owen wrote:I will try to get some more examples posted soon. Anything you'd like to be tested with this lens?

Owen... I suggest that a useful test would include shots to test CA traits of this lens... when I last tested one it performed quite poorly in this respect, however I was quite hard on it and also did not reproduce the same test with a nikon or sigma for comparison.

Another useful test would be a check of barrelling at the wide-end... maybe the ole brick wall might come in handy here!!!

Finally I seem to recall seeing some sample shots that suggest the contrast characteristics were not the best with the tonkina.

It would be of great interest to many here to see some objective tests in this range of lens.

I've seen lot of bad CA with this Tokina vs Nikkor, perhaps I got the bad sample (A testing unit), but few other forums seems to report the same CA problems.

Hi MJ.

One of the test shots, http://www.ausphotos.com/Tokina/bridge1.jpg, has dark branches with a white cloudy sky behind it. I believe that this would be a good test for CA? If so, check it out because I can't see any colour fringing at all. Is CA worse at the corners?

I will try to find a photogenic brick wall

Cheers,
Owen.

Antsl wrote:The problem with marking depth of field scales zoom lenses is that they change as the focal length changes.

Nikon used to address this problem with curved markers on the lens barrel. As the lens extended, the markers were curved on the inner barrel which exposed a different position for these markers.

I'm certain that my old 70-210 has those markers on it, so I may grab it and take a photo of it for y'all to see.

Mj wrote: not the best with the tonkina.

Mick,

That's because you were using the lens made by that well known NZ toy company.

owen wrote:I will try to find a photogenic brick wall

Not hard to find... they're everywhere !!!

gstark wrote:That's because you were using the lens made by that well known NZ toy company.

Was wondering why it squeaked when squeezed firmly...

Mj wrote:Was wondering why it squeaked when squeezed firmly...

No no no no no ....


That was the cat!

No wonder it had such good low light performance !!!

Birddog114 wrote:

gleff wrote:I'd love to see a comparison between the Nikkor, and Tokina lens. But I assume that won't be possible unless you have both.

It will be good to compare the two at the minimeet on Saturday though.

How can you compare them at the mini meet in picture quality and other?

You can only shoot with both of them, bring your takes home and DIY.

Exactly that way.. put both lenses on, and take a picture of the same thing at the minimeet.. then compare the shots at home.

I was just doing some more testing guys and it looks like the Tokina is quite soft at f22. Will do some more testing but havent found a willing brick wall just yet.

Cheers,
Owen.

Owen,

grab a newspaper, and shoot that.

owen wrote:I was just doing some more testing guys and it looks like the Tokina is quite soft at f22. Will do some more testing but havent found a willing brick wall just yet.

Cheers,
Owen.

Due to the fact that it is wide angle, f/22 would be soft.

Hi guys. Again sorry no photos of newspapers or brickwalls, but here are some flowers...

Owen could you provide a small 100% crop from these two shots ?
Thanks for posting these.

Here are a couple of crops from the first image.

The first is from the bottom corner, and the second is from the middle of the image.

Exif: f11 1/40sec ISO200

Both taken from the tif file converted from the RAW image - unprocessed.




I know the images are rather soft. I will have to do some more testing to determine the best situations to shoot in.

Cheers,
Owen.

Thanks Owen.

After using Stubbsy 12-24, and seeing his latest shots I'm very keen for a lens in this range, but if I can save some $$$ and get similar result I'd consider this one.... (shame the sigma doesn't take lens).

No worries mate. I will post further impressions of the lens after more playing. It is quite hard to get used to, as I learned my trade on the kit lens with regards to composition etc, now I'm finding it quite difficult to get a well composed image out of the wider angle. Have a good night

Cheers,
Owen.