Tokina touts macro, wide-angle zoom lenses
Tokina's 11-16mm zoom is due to ship in February for about $810.
(Credit: Tokina)
Tokina's 35mm macro is set to go on sale in December for $610.
(Credit: Tokina)Japanese lensmaker Tokina announced two lenses Friday, an 11-16mm wide-angle zoom and a 35mm fixed-focal-length lens. (Update: Sorry for the extra word earlier--the second lens is indeed fixed at 35mm.)
Both models have relatively fast f/2.8 apertures useful for low-light conditions, and both are designed to mount on Canon and Nikon digital SLR cameras with smaller image sensors, according to announcements on Tokina's Japanese Web site.
The AT-X 116 PRO DX 11-16mm F2.8 is scheduled to be available in February 2008 at a cost of 90,000 yen, or about $810. It weighs 560 grams.
The AT-X M35 PRO DX 35mm F2.8 can focus as close as 14cm, or about 5.5 inches, and, as you'd expect for a macro lens, can reproduce subjects with a 1:1 magnification ratio. The 340g model will cost 68,000 yen, or about $610, and is scheduled to be available in December.
(Via The Imaging Resource.)
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The new lenses are good news for those with dSLR's with an APS C size chip. Since their is about a 1.5X multiplication factor with lenses used on those cameras, having new shorter focal length lenses is a real plus. As a bonus, Tokina "glass" is usually very good.