Tokina 14-20mm f/2

[480sparky]

The images are pretty damn sharp and there is no trace of chromatic aberration as opposed to my old 11-16. This lens has become interesting. But then scrolling down a bit there is a picture of a building covered in that climbing vine thingies. Now that image is wide open at 14mm, it is pretty soft when compared to the image of the typewriter.

You'll be hard-pressed to find a 'perfect' ultra-wide. Optical designers have to employe a few 'tricks' in order to make a lens with a focal length that's less than the flange-to-focal plane distance. Without these tricks, the lens would need to protrude into the camera's mirror chamber. This would prevent the mirror from raising up as needed to uncolver the shutter & sensor.

And employing these tricks brings on a whole new set of issues. How to control coma, chromatic abberation, vignetting, astigmatism, distortion etc. Sure, it can be done, but at a cost. Both in terms of money, as well as size & weight of the lens.

So the manufacturer is forced to balance the ability to produce a 'perfect' lens that no one can afford to buy, and letting some of the imperfections into the design so they can actually have a product that can sell.

 

[hamlet]

The images are pretty damn sharp and there is no trace of chromatic aberration as opposed to my old 11-16. This lens has become interesting. But then scrolling down a bit there is a picture of a building covered in that climbing vine thingies. Now that image is wide open at 14mm, it is pretty soft when compared to the image of the typewriter.

You'll be hard-pressed to find a 'perfect' ultra-wide. Optical designers have to employe a few 'tricks' in order to make a lens with a focal length that's less than the flange-to-focal plane distance. Without these tricks, the lens would need to protrude into the camera's mirror chamber. This would prevent the mirror from raising up as needed to uncolver the shutter & sensor.

And employing these tricks brings on a whole new set of issues. How to control coma, chromatic abberation, vignetting, astigmatism, distortion etc. Sure, it can be done, but at a cost. Both in terms of money, as well as size & weight of the lens.

So the manufacturer is forced to balance the ability to produce a 'perfect' lens that no one can afford to buy, and letting some of the imperfections into the design so they can actually have a product that can sell.

It's not so much that i wan't a perfect lens, it's more that this lens seems to produce inconsistent results even on their Official page. Dont get me wrong, this lens has got my interest and you guys know me and apertures, soon we'll phase out the focus plane and have nothing but bokeh.

 

[480sparky]

It's not so much that i wan't a perfect lens, it's more that this lens seems to produce inconsistent results even on their Official page. Dont get me wrong, this lens has got my interest and you guys know me and apertures, soon we'll phase out the focus plane and have nothing but bokeh.

It may not be a result of the lens. It may be due to several other factors:

1. Variations of each lens. It's common for lenses, even during the same production run, to have slight variances between copies.
2. Multiple shooters. Different users have different styles, techniques and methods.
3. Post Processing. Maybe some have been jazzed up in post, while others haven't. Any maybe some of that jazzing up is better than other.

 

[hamlet]

All valid points and hence why i'm waiting for real-real world examples. This is the best time to be a aps-c user. Just like all the other lenses, it's only a matter of time before the others follow up with their own versions of this lens. Though a lot of it depends on the success of this lens i suppose.

 

[480sparky]

Try some of the lens rental outfits.... see if they have one. If so, rent it for a weekend.

 

[hamlet]

Try some of the lens rental outfits.... see if they have one. If so, rent it for a weekend.

Sorry sparky , my quota for lenses is all filled up for this lifetime. Waiting for the other two tamzookas that are not made by tamron. I'll be dual-wielding those two badboys.

 

[D-B-J]

Probabaly a kind of niche lens. Huge apertures aren't generally as important at such wide angles but nice to see something different and you can be sure this lens is exactly what some one was asking for

Huge apertures at wide angles are great for astrophotography...

 

[Solarflare]

Do you go to all threads where the subject is of no interest to you

You know, this REALLY starts to qualify as WHINING on your part.

He asked WHY NOBODY STARTED A THREAD ABOUT IT. And I explained why I did not.

Doesnt mean I'm not curious about what people think about it. Just dont have much of an opinion about it myself.

 

[DB_Cro]

Probabaly a kind of niche lens. Huge apertures aren't generally as important at such wide angles but nice to see something different and you can be sure this lens is exactly what some one was asking for

Huge apertures at wide angles are great for astrophotography...

Same for low-light nightclub photography and some of the journalistic stuff I do when/where I don't want to use the flash
and want to capture a lot of people in the same shot. People seem to think wide lenses are only for landscapes.

More light is ALWAYS welcome.

 

[jaomul]

Probabaly a kind of niche lens. Huge apertures aren't generally as important at such wide angles but nice to see something different and you can be sure this lens is exactly what some one was asking for

Huge apertures at wide angles are great for astrophotography...

Same for low-light nightclub photography and some of the journalistic stuff I do when/where I don't want to use the flash
and want to capture a lot of people in the same shot. People seem to think wide lenses are only for landscapes.

More light is ALWAYS welcome.

That's why I said "generally"

 

[hamlet]

They just announced the price and it comes in at $900. This is about the price for the high end aps-c lenses.