FS7: Tokina Cine zooms - lense discussion

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klfi

Active member
A lot of discussions about lenses we have on this forum.
Of course, some primes (the cheaper on) my be better, but i am tired to change often lenses move the cam very often to get the right frame. Most of the time i have to shoot quickly, less time to change primes. I go 4K or 4 UHD.

Think of for a longer term of investment i am very interested in those 3 Tokina cine zooms:
Tokina cine 11-16 T3
Tokina cine 16-28 T3
Tokina cine 50-135 T3

I tend to go on EF mount and Speedbooster, so i would have about T2.

For me as a long term investment the price is nearly ok (even it is high). Zeiss CP zooms (or other high price brands) are out of budget.
I dont have money to throw out, but for a long time investment i am thinking of to take my credit card.
I did not find a lot of critical discussions or reviews about those lenses.

I like full manual controlls, if sometimes autofokus or other-automatics are needed, i can take some cheaper E-lenses (i have Sony E 18-108 and hate the distortion at 4K).

Do you have any experiance, what are pros and contras ?
Are there better zoom solutions (Duclos, GL, .. ?)


Thanks for your thoughts
klfi
 
I don't think the 50-135mm and 11-16mm are full-frame, so they won't work on a Speedbooster. Certainly though, they seem the most affordable option (ever) in terms of cine zooms. Haven't seen any sample footage from them though.
 
The regular EF mount 11-16 is full frame from about 14mm and I've used it on a speedbooster at that focal length as well. Not sure how the cine rehouse is in that regard.

That said, while it is a great budget solution the 11-16 has way too much distortion to be anything other than a 'other you will miss the shot' lens.
 
They look like they are based on their EF Photo lenses of similar focal lengths. If they're optically similar then I think Ken Rockwell will have data on the stills versions.

I'd love to know how good they are too given the massive price differential to the other cinezooms.
 
If I was going to buy a cine zoom on a budget I would not look any further than the various rehouses of the Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 which is a staggeringly good piece of glass.
 
If they are in fact just rehoused, I can definitely say to approach with caution here on any of the longer zoom lenses by Tokina. I own 5 or so Tokina's and don't use any of them anymore with exception to the 11-16 which doesn't seem to have any issues I can find. Any of the others 16-50, 28-70 f2.6 angenieux version , 28-70 f2.8, 28-80 f2.8 you will get "Tokina glow" (spherical-aberration induced softness or haziness) at various specific focal lengths throughout the lens which you will not necessarily see in your VF or monitor and is major pain in ass later on when you find it on your footage.

It's so damn annoying that I no longer use my Tokina's for any reason and have replaced them all with modern Nikon zoom lenses and never looking back.

I'm quite certain you won't have issues with the short zooms 11-16, 16-28 but at $5000 for the 50-150mm I'd be doing some more research and tests, or save up for a better cine zoom from Zeiss or Canon.


*Edit: Oddly enough even "expensive" zoom lenses can have issues. I recently shot with a couple of Canon PL zooms 15.5-47 and 30-105 and we spent hours in the colouring suite trying to fix strange contrast/color shifts caused by the 30-105 that happened during higher zoom focal lengths. At first we were trying to blame the camera somehow (F55) but realized the shift happened when we increased focal length. So even a $20k zoom lens isn't perfect.
 
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The Tokina Cine lenses are re-worked to reduce optical flaws such as breathing and CA or at least that is what they have said since day one. I had been researching these lenses and its hard to find samples anywhere. There are several samples with the 16-28 out there but nothing with the 50-135. They are more than just rehousings according to Tokina.

After being honest with myself I decided that LW stills zooms are probably in my best interest because when I use a zoom its usually for running around fast work and prefer primes for anything that I'd have a larger lens on the camera. Of course I've been wanting the Sony PL set since the price drop but really it just doesn't make business sense at the moment.


Ben Scott said:
If I was going to buy a cine zoom on a budget I would not look any further than the various rehouses of the Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 which is a staggeringly good piece of glass.
Click to expand...

I've thought about going this route as I love my Sigma 18-35 but without a set of rehoused I'd be in the same position I am now with a mixed bag of lenses that don't match coatings and colours. Wonder if the Sigma 50-150 matches (although I doubt it as its not of the new ART line) and if anyone would offer a rehouse of that also. I could get behind an 18-35 T2 & 50-150 T3 set from Sigma.
 
The sigma can be made to match Contax Zeiss or Zeiss Standard or Superspeed glass stuff quite easily by using a 1/8 Black Pro Mist, or there's the 24, 35, 50mm ART lenses also out, plus the new rumoured 24-70
 
The Sigma 18-35mm is an APS-C lens so won't work on a Speedbooster (at all focal lengths), which means you won't be able to adjust the back focus unless your using a shimable PL mount & a converted, or rehoused lens.

The GL Optics' 18-35mm has swappable EF/Nikon/PL mounts but they need to be ordered with the lens so I have doubts it can be shimmed. Allstar offers a PL-to-EF adapter for their 18-35mm Lite which also sounds like it might not be shimable.
 
Sigma 18-35 is pretty amazing re housed or not....
i would say that your list has a pretty large gap right in between 28 and 50 and I would say that I use my fs7 most between about 20-60....unfortunately there aren't a lot of zooms covering that middle ground....the canon 17-55 comes to mind....probably the most under rated zoom out there...better then most L glass....not full frame but (like the sigma) covers a lot (almost 5k on epic for example)
 
Klfi - I purchased the 16-28 Tokina cinema lens in EF mount about a month ago to use w/ my FS7.
My quick 2 cent review...but first a bit of background...I currently own only Canon lenses (non cine) and started out in the ENG world 25 years ago using 2/3 broadcast zooms - so can't compare the Tokina to Zeiss or other more expensive Primes or other Cine zooms. But I think it is much sharper than the Canon 16-35 2.8L and of course adds full manual control, is full-frame (unlike the Sigma as Bern pointed out), and is par focal. I love the focus barrel and even smooth manual zooms are possible with this lens (it comes with a short pin - but I find it's easy enough to simply turn without the pin throughout entire range. When using with my MB SB Ultra - it essentially gives me fov coverage of 11 - 20 as well... which is how I've used it most (and of course makes it a T2). I'm shooting mostly HD and have not noticed any CA thus far.

The minor gripes I have are nothing about the images it produces but are about its size... and that I've yet to find a matte box that will allow for the 11mm wide to clamp / rail on 114mm barrel w/o vignetting. (with rounded glass in front it can produce really nice lens flares - if you want/ try for them - but is a bit of problem to quickly flag w/o any hood. I'm using 15mm rails to support it - and it is of course larger/heavier than most still lenses in this range. But that is likely a trade-off for the full manual controls and one I will certainly live with - it is of course a matter of your specific work on whether you'll want to drop the extra $ - but it certainly makes me want to trade-in the rest of my Canon stills for all manual glass.

Lastly, it allows for focusing as close as 11.2" - which when using on the short Sony flange and the MB adapter almost makes it "sort of" macro...This video was shot entirely using it...
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?338699-Chasing-the-Bee
 
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