Author: | | Site Supporter Registered: July, 2011 Posts: 3,335 | Review Date: May 21, 2017 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 9 |
Pros: | Sharp, contrasty, colors, stars, build | Cons: | AF bangs stops at end of focus extremes | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 7
Value: 10
Camera Used: K1
| | I bough this specifically for my K1, never tried on apsc.
My first outing was a car show. It blew my mind with the sharpness and color saturation, and then the highlight stars, wow!
This has to be the best bargain out there for the K1. There was no way I could swing the price of the DFA 15-30, and I read a lot of reviews and did as much research as I could on ultra wide FF primes and zooms. I finally settled on this, a close second to the old Pentax FA 20-35 on my shopping list, but I just couldnt find one those anyone would let go of reasonably.
The hood saga: If you find one, it may not come with a hood. Mine did not. I searched and searched for a BH771 and they just dont exist anymore, or rarely used on ebay.
The good news is, I recently gambled on a BH-774 hood from Adorama, it is for another Tokina, similar ultra wide model. At first it didnt rotate fully square to the frame on the bayonet and the petals showed in two corners of the field of view.
On closer inspection there were two little bump stops in the bayonet groove in the hood, I carved the little bumps off with a razor blade, took just a couple of seconds, and now the hood rotates fully into place and works great. Definitely well worth the $21 I paid for the hood.
With the hood, the lens reaches its full potential. Before the hood I was just using my free hand as a flag to shield the lens, not convenient. I added a generic 77mm pinch type lens cap, and I am now very happy with the over all handling of this lens.
About sharpness: Very sharp in the center and both ends of zoom. At the extreme corners, there is a little light fall off and its not as sharp as the center, but nothing out of line for this kind of ultra wide, and still very very good for a lens even 5 times its price. It is good wide open, and very good stopped down.
Aberrations: It can give a little CA wide open under ideal situations, twigs against blue sky kind of thing, typical but not bad at all. It can flare when shooting into the sun, you'll get the aperture octagons in multi colors repeated across the frame, but not the white fog kind of flare other lens can give. I only get it in extreme situations when I am intentionally trying to provoke a sun star highlight in the pic.
Noise: The one Con I listed is about noise, this lens has a jarring bang at the hard stops at the end of the AF if it hunts and hits those stops, you'll know it. Under normal focusing, it no noisier than a normal screw drive. This is why I gave handling a 7.
I plan to update this review with pictures later.
Highly recommended.
UPDATE: Adding some pictures. One unfortunate side bar issue worth mentioning. Adobe CS5 and ACR recognize the lens wrong, at least mine keeps saying it is an smc PENTAX-F 35-70mm F3.5-4.5
Pentax K-1 Tokina ATX II 20-35mm F3.5-4.5 ƒ/16.0 28.0 mm 1/90 ISO100
Pentax K-1 Tokina ATX II 20-35mm F3.5-4.5 ƒ/16.0 35.0 mm 1/90 ISO100
Some PP correction done in CS5, but still gives a good idea of capabilities:
Pentax K-1 Tokina ATX II 20-35mm F3.5-4.5 ƒ/7.1 20.0 mm 1/400 ISO100
Pentax K-1 Tokina ATX II 20-35mm F3.5-4.5 ƒ/7.1 20.0 mm 1/640 125 | | | | | Forum Member Registered: December, 2009 Location: Sherbrooke, QC Posts: 89 | Review Date: July 11, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $175.00
| Rating: 8 |
Pros: | Range on film, sharpness, good contrast | Cons: | Not light, range on digital (for some), a little CA | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 9
Camera Used: K-5, ME Super
| | Very good colors and contrast. Very nice range on film, from 20mm, which is quite wide, to normal 35mm. It is also nice and sharp on digital, but 20mm on digital might not be wide enough for some. One good thing about this lens, is that it is full frame ready!
Focus is fast and precise. Lens construction is very, very nice. Typical Tokina, all metal with very nice feel to zoom and focus ring.
In my opinion, a very good buy!
| | | | New Member Registered: November, 2013 Posts: 14 | Review Date: September 2, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $80.00
| Rating: 8 |
Pros: | very good sharpness | Cons: | some CA's unfortunately | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 9
| | Inspite of some CA's, which must be eliminated by Photoshop, this is a very nice lens with high contrast and good colors.
| | | | New Member Registered: January, 2010 Posts: 23 | Review Date: December 2, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $159.00
| Rating: 9 |
Pros: | sharp at wide open, well built, unrotated front element | Cons: | A bit heavy, CA, lack of full-time focus | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 6
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 9
| | The sharpness is quite acceptable at wide open (20mm @ f3.5). Edge could be much improved at stopping down. CA is an issue but could be improved by stopping down as well. Focus ring is quite smooth and good for manual focusing. The lens is well built although on a bit heavy side. An economical full-frame alternative to very expensive 20mm prime or modern fast lenses in that focal range.
(wide open 20mm @ f3.5)
(close focusing test shot, wide open 20mm @ f3.5) | | | | | Junior Member Registered: October, 2007 Location: Bangalore, KA, India Posts: 30 | Review Date: November 22, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $125.00
| Rating: 9 |
Pros: | Decent sharpness, great build, does not extend on zooming, filter ring does not rotate on AF | Cons: | Slow | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
| | After waiting forever for the Pentax 20-35/4, I bought this from KEH. I have been surprised at how underrated this lens is. I can't praise this lens enough. The focal length is perfect for street candids, and focuses fast. A minor nitpicking I can do is that it is slow at 35mm, but at the price, this is expected. I don't have the 20-35/2.8 to compare to. For now, this lens adequately covers an approx. 30-50mm equivalent for me.
Please note that you cannot compare the rendering (3D-like) of Pentax limited primes or the DA* lenses with this one. I don't find that 3D rendering quality with this lens, which is why I gave it a 7/10 for aberrations..
PS: The aperture ring is a bonus. I can use this lens on my MZ-S too.
| | | | Senior Member Registered: October, 2008 Location: Great Plain, Hungary Posts: 204 3 users found this helpful | | |