Best Tokina SD 24-70mm f / 2.8 IF DX Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020:

The Tokina 24-70 mm f / 2.8 IF DX covers the field of a 24 x 36 mm sensor; its minimum focusing distance is 38 cm and its diaphragm has 9 blades. It has no stabilization, but we could see from the grip that despite its great brightness, and although bulky, it was quite compact.

The correction of the aberrations and the precision are ensured by the presence of 3 aspherical lenses as well as 3 elements in glass with low dispersion. As for flare and ghost images, they are limited by the multilayer processing of the lenses.

The autofocus has an SDM ( Silent Drive Module ) motorization which we can assume is silent, fast and stable. It is nevertheless possible to disengage it directly from the barrel to switch to manual focusing.

Let’s read our article about Best Tokina SD 24-70mm f / 2.8 IF DX Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020

Best Tokina SD 24-70mm f / 2.8 IF DX Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020

1. Tokina ATXAF247FXC 24-70mm f/2.8 Pro FX Lens for Canon EF

2. Tokina AT-X PRO DX for digital SLR 11-20mm f/2.8 Pro DX Lens for Nikon F

3. TOKINA ATX-i 11-16mm F2.8 Canon EF

4. Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X116 Pro DX II Digital Zoom Lens (AF-S Motor) (for Nikon)

5. Tokina AT-X 116 PRO DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8 Lens for Canon Mount

Getting started

This Tokina SD 24-70mm f / 2.8 IF DX zoom is a beautiful and big lens. His measurements are quite impressive. It is in the standards for the length with 10 cm, but it is larger than the average with a diameter of almost 9 cm. On the scale, its weight is also felt: more than 1 kg. It’s very heavy! Associated with a housing of the caliber of a Canon EOS 5D, the whole is unbalanced and stings forward. Beware of long sessions of freehand shots that may strain on the wrist.

The manufacturing quality is very good and does not have much to envy that of its competitors at Canon, Nikon or even Tamron. It has a black plastic barrel textured with the most beautiful effect with the inscriptions in gold. The design is undeniably thought of that of Nikon lenses.

The zoom ring has a nice finish and good handling. Its fluidity is good; the ring is a little hard, but this guarantees precision. The race is moderate and it will be quick to go from 24 to 70 mm: a good point, therefore. The grooved rubber grip is very comfortable to use.

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It is at the manual focus ring that things start to go wrong. Indeed, Tokina chose a ” clutch ” mechanism (like on the Olympus or some Fujinon, for example) to switch to manual focus. This choice is respected, but it makes any manual retouching of the point impossible. In addition, this mechanism must be reliable and precise, because it is very often used in the field. On this point alas, the Tokina version worries. Indeed, the mechanism is sorely lacking in frankness: damage.

Once engaged, the ring is rather pleasant to use. Fluidity is good and there are stop marks to indicate the minimum focusing distance and infinity. Unfortunately the race is too short and the ring therefore lacks precision. Note that the lens has a dynamic focus distance indicator on the top.

Lab test

We tested the 20 mm with a Canon EOS 6D and its 24 x 36 mm 20 Mpx sensor (6.5 µm side).

The notion of dive is quite delicate to deal with. This is what we can assimilate to the “feeling of sharpness” and / or to the “precision” that we observe on an image. It can be very different from one lens to another, from one focal to another and from one aperture to another. It can also vary between the center and the edges of the image. We usually say that the sharpness is optimal in the center and at the average openings: f / 8 or f / 11 for example.

In addition, the sharpness will depend on the definition of the sensor of your device and the size of its sensor (the Canon EOS 6D has a 24 x 36 mm 20 Mpx sensor). The smaller the pixels, the more the system will show its limits due to diffraction. This phenomenon increases as you close the lens diaphragm.

The Canon EOS 6D has a resolution of 5,568 x 3,708 pixels. Each pixel therefore measures 6.5 µm side. The minimum aperture recommended to avoid diffraction problems is therefore f / 20.

This Tokina SD 24-70mm f / 2.8 IF DX provides good image quality. However it suffers from a cruel lack of homogeneity on the extreme edges. At larger apertures and at wide angle, the sharpness offset between the center and the corners of the images is very large. It decreases as the diaphragm is closed. At the other focal lengths, the phenomenon is still present, but much less marked. As for the center and the areas located at two thirds of the image, the Tokina is rather efficient.

The focal

A focal length corresponds to an angle of field – or angle of vision – covered by the camera equipped with the lens. The larger the focal length, the smaller the field of view: we speak of long focal length. Conversely, the shorter the focal length, the wider the field angle: we speak of wide-angle.

Here is what we get with the 24-70 mm mounted on a Canon EOS 5D, equipped with a full format sensor 24 x 36 mm. The focal range is relatively versatile and will suit most subjects. Used on an SLR equipped with an APS-C format sensor, this zoom becomes a 36-105 mm equivalent.

The vignetting

All the lenses give an image whose periphery, and particularly the corners, are darker. The vignetting is measured in IL (Lumination Index): the value indicated measures the difference, in IL, between the amount of light received by the edges and that received in the center.

The vignetting is quite discreet on this objective. It is mainly visible in the wide-angle position and at the largest openings. It becomes completely negligible from f / 5.6. At other focal lengths, it is only felt at full aperture f / 2.8.

Distortions

Objectives tend to “twist reality”. Geometric aberrations appear when one moves away from Gauss conditions. There are two types of geometric distortions: distortions in bearings and distortions in barrels.

The distortions are clearly visible on this new 24-70mm f / 2.8 from Tokina. Of course, they are particularly felt in the 24 mm wide-angle position, but they are also noticeable at 70 mm in the tele position.

Bokeh

The bokeh is to be related to the depth of field. We can compare it to the “quality” of the blur or to the way in which the objective goes from the net to the blur – a very subjective notion, even if certain elements make it possible to predict things – on images with shallow depth of field. It depends on many parameters including mainly the design of the lens, the shape and the size of the diaphragm.

In terms of depth of field and bokeh, the constant light aperture of f / 2.8 is rather an advantage. It is very easy to pick up the main subject from its background. Thanks to the 9-blade circular diaphragm, the bokeh is soft and quite pleasing to the eye.

Field gallery

We were able to test this Tokina SD 24-70mm f / 2.8 IF DX with a Canon EOS 5DsR on the first day of competition of Master Longuines . On the program: an international indoor show jumping competition and a gala evening with parade and concert by Lej!

Let’s start with the sports photo. Even if the quarry was very well lit, it was necessary to raise the ISO a little in order to be able to use fairly short exposure times and thus avoid subject blurring. In equestrian sport and more particularly in show jumping, it is comfortable to use exposure times of about 1/800 s. Of course, this speed can depend on the axis of shooting of the jump: in profile or from the front. In addition, to have a little depth of field, we made the compromise to work at f / 4. In this configuration, we had to go up to ISO 1600, which generated a little noise on the 5DsR images.

It is true that a 24-70 mm is not very suitable for sports photography. The focal range is not limited. Celai says, for this kind of sporting events, we can get close enough to the action and the 50 million pixels of the 5DsR leave us a comfortable margin for cropping.

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Overall, the Tokina has risen to the challenge fairly well, except for the autofocus which is much too slow and cruelly lacking in responsiveness. Suddenly, on moving subjects, it’s almost mission impossible: you have to do it several times before you can anticipate this problem and get clear images.

As for the photos of the concert and the parade, the weaknesses of the autofocus are less felt, but the lack of optical stabilization limits the versatility of the lens and forces you to climb in ISO towers to limit camera shake. of the photographer.

The absence of optical stabilization and the weaknesses of reactivity and speed of the autofocus of this new Tokina 24-70 mm f / 2.8 cost him its recommended. Tokina signs however a good optics: it delivers a quite honorable image quality, can undoubtedly compete with the competitors of the kind and it is completely adapted to ultra-defined sensors. The manufacturing quality and handling are quite good. We regret however that the weight of this zoom is a little high and that the system to switch to manual focus is not more straightforward.

STRONG POINTS

  • Manufacturing quality and finishes
  • Getting started
  • Zoom ring
  • Optical quality
  • Overall very high dive
  • Fairly weak vignetting

WEAK POINTS

  • Weight and size
  • System for switching to manual focus
  • Manual focus ring
  • No optical stabilization
  • AF lacking in responsiveness and speed
  • Lack of homogeneity on the extreme edges
  • Distortions visible at the extremes
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