First Tokina 300mm for Micro Four Thirds test at DC.watch.
As you may remember Tokina announced the first Micro Four Thirds lens a couple of months ago. It is a 300mm f/6.3 Telephoto Macro Lens. A first test with many image samples has now been posted at DC.watch (Translation here). The lens costs $369 in US at BHphoto (preorders here). It should start shipping in US and Europe by end of this month while in Asia it’s already available on eBay (click here).
One more thing. The images you see on DC.watch have been taken on the Olympus E-M5. The Silver bodies are now in Stock:
Silver E-M5 Body only is in Stock at Adorama, Adorama ebay with extras, Amazon (shipping next week) and in Europe at Amazon UK and Simplyelectronics.
Silver E-M5 with kit lens only is in Stock at Adorama, Cameraland ebay , Amazon (via third party resellers) and Amazon UK.
Nawaf
10 months ago |First
Circles!
mooboy
10 months ago |Congratulations, but why don’t you go look at porn instead like other teenage boys your age?
Darwin
10 months ago |Yet the ease at which you are annoyed displays the utmost in refinement and maturity.
Tom
10 months ago |lol true!
Andy Taylor
10 months ago |Burn!
anoon
10 months ago |@Darwin
Your need to criticize a valid expression of distaste highlights a personality disorder
Darwin
10 months ago |Nice try.
Guest
10 months ago |Does this thing have autofocus or not?
Andy Taylor
10 months ago |No, but it transmits focal length data to the camera, so it should automatically activate focus assist.
Brod1er
10 months ago |So small and sharp but with bad ring bokeh and only MF. Personally I would get the 100-300 which has great bokeh, AF, faster aperture and a much more useful range. It also has OIS. It’s twice the size and weight but still very compact for what it offers. Only 25% more expensive too.
mister_roboto
10 months ago |Most mirror lenses will give that sort of bokeh.
Duarte Bruno
10 months ago |Sharp? If that was true, there would be some value to this lens because of size. Unfortunately there isn’t one single sharp picture when looking at 100%…
This lens is pretty much pointless when it’s probably at the same level of a 40-150mm with 2x digital zoom…
Ross
10 months ago |I think I’d rather have the Panasonic 100-300 lens too, which will probably be a grey import to make it worthwhile.
Yun
10 months ago |300mm is very interesting focal length but in F6.3 will be too slow .
Not my standard , I’ll skip this while wait for faster lens with similar FL .
Pana & Oly , you got it ?
ulli
10 months ago |you wont get it much faster because of the lens type, i think the rubinar 300 mm 4.5 is the fastest you can get, which is a very decent speed for a mirror lens.
Roger M
10 months ago |Wow, that’s a tiny 600mm for a reasonable price.
It looks pretty good on the PEN, and the samples shows the potential. Quite a set up together with a remote and a sturdy tripod.
I do have a few 55mm filters already, so what am I waiting for?
“The lens has a fixed aperture of f/6.3 and is manual focusing.” (According to BH Photo).
Steve
10 months ago |The bokeh looks horrible on the Tokina and very poor detail and contrast. I would recommend skipping this lens as my 100-300 looks much better. The Canon or Panasonic bridge would give better results than this.
Still waiting for a good quality long prime.
Boooo!
10 months ago |It’s a mirror lens. They all have the same type of bokeh
Pavlo
10 months ago |The bokeh is a matter of taste. I like it. But must agree on the contrast and sharpness.
Roger M
10 months ago |I also agree regarding the contrast and sharpness. Not great to say it least. I most likely won’t get the lens my self, but it sure looks like a fun thing to play with for a while. So I’m eager to see how it turns out on flickr rather than on my camera
Duarte Bruno
10 months ago |Sharpness? Have you seen the samples at 100%?
Roger M
10 months ago |Yes?
(At least I thought it was?)
Have you?
ulli
10 months ago |its not horrible, its just different and inherent to the construction, lots of of fashion/model photography was done with such lenstype in the 60′s/70′s
Dave
10 months ago |The bokeh is awful. The lens output is dull and glows. Who would buy this?
Doug
10 months ago |Is that a mirror lens? Ironic…. Mirror lens for a mirror less camera….
Tom
10 months ago |pardon my ignorance, but what is that circular thing right in the middle of the lens element? It disturbs me..
Dossen
10 months ago |That’s a mirror – these lenses don’t have lens elements. See here: http://www.photozone.de/mirror-lenses
Tom
10 months ago |ah, thanks for the lesson….looks like I will be staying away from this then
MikeH
10 months ago |The lens bokeh is horrible. The background either looks dreadfully busy or it looks like someone had added some cheap photo effect like sparkles, in this case, rings. There isn’t much Tokina could do about it as it is a function of the lens design but it won’t be winning any beauty contests.
peevee
10 months ago |For just $130 more, you can get Panasonic 100-300 f/4-5.6. It is 520g vs 300 g, but SO MUCH BETTER… AF alone worth the price and weight.
Why they even bothered to offer this for $369? This thingy is worth $50 tops.
uberzone
10 months ago |I bought the legacy Tokina mirror for Canon FD 500mm f8 for $50. It is a fun toy but mirror lenses are defiantly not worth $350 as they are not very sharp and the colors are quite dull. The legacy versions comes with a fancy brown case and 3 screw in filters. I was thinking about springing for Cannon’s own 500mm FD mirror lens. Does anyone have any experience with that one?
Fish
10 months ago |Too bad (or maybe good). I was worried that a modern cat from Tokina would give much improved results over the legacy mirror lenses. But it looks like I will be able to pass on this one and save my money for some of the new lenses being announced at photokina.
brony etr
10 months ago |love that crazy bokeh!!!! af would have been nice thou
Ivan Lee
10 months ago |cmon Tokina!!! you can do much better than that!! a 300mm f/6.3 mirror? is this a joke?
To me that donut bokeh is horrible as hell
Zetton
10 months ago |Good post.
Kabe
10 months ago |Well, there are Zooms from Panasonic and Olympus that cover 300mm focal length, have autofocus and better image quality – the Olympus at least, yet I assume the Pana shouldn’t be so far off to be beaten by the lens described here.
If this would be a lot cheaper, they may have a point. Certainly it has less weight and is shorter, but I’m very skeptical if there is a market for this lens at the announced price point. Probably they’ll offer steep discounts…