[Leica] Was Sign of the times..First impressions Tokina 12-24.

[douglas.sharp at gmx.de (Douglas Sharp)]

HelloDavid,
Of course this is nothing to do with Leica, unless I say it's Leica's 
fault for being so slow on the uptake that I (and many others) now have 
a Canon 20D or similar. Anyway for lack of a "real" wide-angle lens for 
it ( until now the Super-Angulon 4/21 had to suffice) I took a look at 
some of the offerings in the range starting at 10 to 12mm. After sifting 
through advertising blurb and what may, or may not, have been 
independent tests I ended up with a lens with much praised excellent 
quality at a comparitively reasonable price (just below 450 euros incl. 
16% tax and delivery to my door).
A Tokina AT-X  12-24 f4 Aspherical (IF) Pro DX AF : In spite of all the 
letters and numbers, it's a straight forward WA-zoom made in Canon and 
Nikon mount (there may be other mounts , I didn't bother looking). 
Tokina say it was developed solely for APS-C sensors and that it won't 
be much use on film SLRs, although it will fit (Canon EF-S lenses don't).
Opening the box is a surprise - The quality of the lens at a first 
glance is something I haven't seen for a while, and, second surprise, 
the shade on the end is not an optional (Canon's word for expensive) 
extra.Taking it out reveals a nice , chunky very robust feel - in looks 
it is vaguely reminiscent of  the finish of Novoflex, Kilfitt and Co. 
Heavy duty grippy rubber rings, a smooth motion with no obvious play 
(still new, we shall see) and what appears to be crackle finish
metal bodywork, though I'm assured it's polyacrylate it just doesn't 
look or feel like plastic.The big end has a 77mm filter thread (non 
rotating) and one of those
colossal shades that look like a minimalists idea of a water-lily. Back 
to the camera end, surprise number 3, a very nicely machined metal 
mount. The lens is, of course, AF but look in vain for the MF/AF slider 
or switch, Tokina has built the clutch into the focussing ring, just 
pull it back and you can focus manually.
AF focussing noise is typical, but a lower frequency than Canon lenses 
(eg EF 28-135 IS), and very fast, much less than a second for 30cm to 
infinity.
A first couple of "point and shoot just to see if it works" shots in the 
garden against the light showed 1) no flare 2) by heck! it really is 
wide 3) very easy to hold and handle. The critical bit of the first 
shots at 12 mm and wide open showed something I've seen on just about 
every other lens, quite independent of the manufacturer- bright blue 
fringes on twigs against a light grey sky, this seems to be chromatic 
aberration until you look into it with PS CS2 or PTLens, it's blue
but without the corresponding yellow component you ould expect to find. 
As far as I can tell so far it only really starts becoming a problem at 
f4 and 5,6, and only when your looking at enlargements (200%) of the 
image, and it's only at the edges of the frame.
Distortion is negligable (slight at 12mm), vignetting too. As to 
sharpness and contrast, it was getting near dusk when it arrived, so I 
need some bright weather to check these out.
So, as soon as it stops raining and blowing it's off into town to find 
some nice buildings, Christmas Markets and such - more when I've got 
some pictures.
Cheers
Douglas
Technical stuff : FL range 12-24 (18 to 36mm equivalent)
                        Metal construction with polycarbonate outer barrel
                         Metal mount  
                        13 lenses in 11 groups (2 aspherical elements)
                        Max.Aperture: f4 (constant)  Min aperture f22
                        Closest focus setting: 30cm (hyperfocal down to 
12cm minimum)
                        Length: 89.5mm  Max. diameter: 84mm
                        Filter size: 77mm (non rotating mount)
                        Aperture blades: 9
                        Angle of view: 99 - 61  degrees
                        Weight :  570g (just over a pound)

                     
                     
David Young wrote:

> Douglas Sharp wrote:
>
>> Hello David,
>> Nice to hear you're making good use of PTlens, I had thought of 
>> getting a Canon WA zoom for the 20D until I read a few reviews, now
>> I'm looking forward to getting a Tokina 12-24mm some time tomorrow.
>> From what I've read about it it beats just about everything in this 
>> FL range into a cocked hat, and at a reasonable price too - more when 
>> I've tried it out.
>> Douglas
>
>
> Good Evenin' Douglas!
>
> I look forward to hearing your report on the Tokina.  I've heard good 
> things about it.  Rather sad, though, when the so-called "Third tier" 
> makers are producing lenses better than the first rank firms!
>
> For myself, I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that there is a DM-R 
> in my future... though not likely for 6 months or so.  It may have 
> fewer pixels than the 5D, but I like what I see for results. I also 
> like the idea of using the R8's finder... the finder on my 20D is no 
> better than on my old R3!
>
> Besides, the 20D, at 8mp, makes fine 8x12 prints and very good 12x18" 
> prints.  I can count the prints I've made bigger than that, on the 
> fingers of one hand... and that's in 40+ years!  So, I'm confident 
> that the 10mpixels of the DM-R will be quiet sufficient.
>
> Cheers!
>