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Tokina atx-m 11-18mm f/2.8 E - Review / Test Report |
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Lens Reviews -
Sony Alpha/NEX (APS-C)
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Page 1 of 3
Review by Klaus Schroiff, published December 2022
Introduction
Tokina was and still is a powerhouse when it comes to ultra-wide DSLR zoom lenses but things have been way too silent on the mirrorless front for too long - until now. Meet the Tokina atx-m 11-18mm f/2.8 E for Sony Alpha APS-C mirrorless cameras. In FF terms, this is roughly equivalent to "17-27mm". Such a focal length range is perfectly aligned with landscape and architecture photography. One of the surprising aspects is its US price tag of $600 (although it costs 800EUR in Europe) - and quite a bit less than that during sales promotions (down to $400). Given its speed, this is undercutting the mainstream competition by some margin.
Tokina lenses have a long history of providing high build quality and this also applies to the atx-m 11-18mm f/2.8 E. It isn't obvious whether Tokina used lightweight metal or some kind of compound material for the lens body but it surely feels sturdy. The focus and zoom control rings operate smoothly. The lens extends marginally when zooming to 11mm. However, it does feature an inner focusing system. Thus, the length doesn't change during focusing. Tokina doesn't claim to have incorporated any weather sealing. A petal-shaped lens hood is provided.
The lens uses a stepping motor (STM) auto-focusing. It's reasonably fast and silent. As usual, manual focusing works "by wire". The focus steps are too coarse for our liking though. The achievable maximum magnification is 1:9.2 so it's obviously not meant for macro photography. However, the fairly large max aperture of f/2.8 makes it fast enough for some shallow depth-of-field images at close focus distances.
| Specifications |
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| Equivalent focal length (full-format) | "17-27mm" |
| Equivalent aperture (depth-of-field, full-format) | "f/4.2" |
| Optical construction | 13 elements in 11 groups (3x aspherical & 2x SD elements) |
| Number of aperture blades | 9 |
| min. focus distance | 0.19m (max. magnification 1:9.2) |
| Dimensions | 74×74mm |
| Weight | 335g |
| Filter size | 67mm |
| Hood | petal-shaped (bayonet mount, supplied) |
| Other features | - |
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