Tokina 17mm 3.5

Hi all. I have one of these (in PK-M fit), and was just wondering if any other forum members have any experience or knowledge of the lens. Debating whether to sell it and obtain a 24mm f2.8 lens in a PK-A fit which would be more useful for digital, and have a slghtly less extreme wideangle on film. Any idea how much I could ask for it?

There's a quite positive Ken Rockwell review here: http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/17tokina.htm

Thanks

Will

I used to have one on my Minolta years ago - it was good for an ultrawide on film but I've never tried one on digital (or a Pentax for that matter). Nicely made lens though and plenty sharp corner-to-corner at mid apertures, I'd imagine you'd get a reasonable price if you decide to sell it.

I have a very clean Sigma 24mm f2.8 Superwide II PK/A MF if you fancy a trade.

Would have to give that a bit of thought, although that's the 24mm lens I am after!

Would you consider selling instead?

I'll give you first dibs on the 17mm if I decide to sell it, having compared the two on my K200D (when it arrives!) I've got some pics taken with the 17mm on film which I'd like to assess too.

Now I have worked out how to use M lenses manually with the DOF preview lever, and have the 18-55mk II, I have been able to do a comparison, taking a picture of the inside of my boat with both lenses. I probably should have tidied up first.

f11/4secs/ISO 200

Tokina



Pentax



Tokina



Pentax



Tokina



Pentax

It looks to me like the Tokina is pulling *slightly* more detail from the scene (looking at the brass hook in the lower right of the first crop and the wood grain next to the window frame on the second) but there's barely anything in it and I think I actually prefer the overall rendering of the Pentax lens from the two uncropped examples.

When faced with straight lines though the DA18-55 can be prone to a bit of barrel distortion whereas I always thought the greatest strength of my old Tokina was the lack of any distortion. Still, it shows how far zoom lens design has come over the years - and this performance from a "mere" kit lens to boot!

Yes. For me, the Tokina wins on resolution and contrast - especially at the edges, but the Pentax wins on controlling glare. Maybe a DIY lenshood for the Tokina would help, lol.

The Pentax is delivering a warmer colour but stupidly I left the AWB on, and in any case WB can be tweaked in RAW, so that doesn't really mean anthing!

Tokina left, Pentax right: