17 tokina or 18 distagon or

[ante_portas]

Hi dear contaxians ,
I am deciding which *super* wide lens would be best for me. I want something more wide than 20mm. There is not many lenses I can choose. I have nothing against distagon 18/4, but (only) filter size is really huge! Over 80, -86mm I think or so. And I want to buy 4, 5 filters at least.
I have heard that MF tokina 17/3,5- filter size 67mm, is also perfect glass (e.g. over 9 ratings from 10, super- FM, deutchland). Have no experiences with both. (i am planning to do 70% landscape, 30% document-people, moments etc. with the lens)
Anyone has experiences with it?, I want to do *large* photos, 60*45cm or so, MC quality is also important for me.
Please send me few lines of your comments, I will be delighted.
Thank you, Pavel
ps: ante_portas@hotmail.com

 

[matthias]

Did you consider the 3.5/15 ? Built in-Filters (no Polarizer, as far as i know), excellent quality.

And the faces of the people when seeing this huge lens (but you will need a second body with a portrait lens) !

matthias

 

[ante_portas]

Hi Matthias,
yeah I considered but not long ) ( a little bit expensive for me. I am using 70-80% telelenses, so the wide lens will not certainly became my No.1. But I believe that 15 is excellent
And 15mm is maybe too wide for me. A friend of mine has 15 (heliar) and he always shoots also his own shoes..
For portrait i have 135, or 50+2x convertor, or also 28-70 etc. In fact, you can do a portrait with anyone lens....if you know how.
Thanks Pavel
ps: maybe sigma or tamron has similar product, I do not know them too- opticaly.
ps:How works built in filters I do not know, only I am guessing....

 

[rico1]

Pavel,

In general, I shoot either wide or wider.

The ideal use for ultra-wide rectilinears is straight-line architecture: I live in Chicago and use the 21mm. For people pictures, this kind of lens will cause horrible distortions unless everyone is kept in the center of the frame. Similarly, landscapes can appear odd, and the Cos^4 Law mandates a significant light fall-off, regardless of aperture.

Which brings me to the fisheye. This lens is well-suited to landscape, curved subjects, and groupings of people. I even do "environmental" portraits, meaning the person is kept at a distance of two metres. This lens is much smaller than the 15mm, and quite affordable 2nd-hand. Illumination and sharpness is awesome. Four filters are inbuilt: UV and three colors.

Based on images directly from Canon DSLRs, I observe too much chromatic aberration from the Tokina 17mm, even with 1.6x sensor crop. Carl Zeiss would not approve!

 

[swoolf]

> I have heard that MF tokina 17/3,5- filter size 67mm, is also perfect> glass (e.g. over 9 ratings from 10, super- FM, deutchland).

I nearly bought one of these but was put off by a couple of people who had actually used one saying that the quality was not very good at all - fine if you need that length for the occasional shot , but better to spend money on something better if you will use it alot . Steve

 

[paulcontax]

I have heard that MF tokina 17/3,5- filter size 67mm, is also perfect glass (e.g. over 9 ratings from 10, super- FM, deutchland). > I nearly bought one of these but was put off by a couple of people who had actually used one saying that the quality was not very good at all - fine if you need that length for the occasional shot , but better to spend money on something better if you will use it alot .

I agree: I once bought this lens with a RTS II and some other lenses. The Tokina is really soft wide open and I really thought it must have been haze or so but - shots from the same day with my Distagon 28mm showed me the difference ! The HUGE difference ! The Tokina is quite o.k.if you can stop it down to 8 or 11 - but nothing like the Zeiss-lenses ! You mentioned the problem with 15mm-lenses where you had to take care of your feet. I think you have to pay attention with 17mm as well...... By the way : I used to take a Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 2.8/20 with M42-lens mount (screw in) with had far better results than the Tokina ! Paul

 

[ante_portas]

Hi Paul and everybody,
it seems you all do not share ethusiasm for Tokina.... thats surprises me...:-o
It is true that CZ Jena could be also posibility (simple reduction for M42), some older member in my fotoclub had a good memories for this glass, but concerning MC layers...one have to be observant to aginst-light, even it is Flektogon modell with MC (the newer).
If you put Flektogon between Distagon and Tokina, I would say before, that Tokina must be better, (newer modell, newer MC etc.) but you do not. Interesting, indeed....

Concerning sharpness, I find important that wide lens must be able to be *edge cutting* from minimum aperture; nothing like at 8 or 11 and then its good... such lens is worthless.
Tamron has also 17/3,5 as I found. But in tests Tamron has worst results than tokina. Is there also a Sigma for Contax? Sigma also produce some very good lenses, doesn’t it? I do not know if distagon can be fully exploit for its price. And planar 50 has better results than d18!
Pavel
anybody else knows lenses mentioned above?

 

[pelmo]

Hi all Tokina/Flektogon enemies/friends:

I´ve used both of these lenses (RMC Tokina 3.5/17mm, CZJ Flektogon MC 2.8/20mm)and have compared Tokina 17mm to D18.
Flektogon is the worst. Even the "bad" D25 blew it off miles away in direct comparison in respect of sharpness, contrast and colour rendition.
17mm Tokina comes close to D18, sharpness is slightly worse, also contrast, but distortion is clearly visible, edges are not really sharp.
I found 17mm Tokina acceptable and definitely better than Flektogon 20mm. But I suppose that there exist various batches of these lenses with differing optical performance.
Now I found the optimal solution and bought a D21.

Dieter

 

[paulcontax]

Hi Pavel,=20

of course there are other lenses esp. from Sigma which have to be concerne= d. The Sigmas are well reputated and I have my experiences with the 18-35 = asph. Zoom for my AF-SLR (I have more than one SLR...) :

Wide open it's better than the Tokina 17mm was (although only 18mm) but yo= u need just 1 stop down (that's 4,5 with 18 mm) and then you have really g= ood results ! O.K. - not to compare with a Zeiss-lens but the difference in price may be= worth it =3F The newest Sigma wideangle lenses should be even better....

 

[ante_portas]

Just remark, prices of Tokina (second hand, but good condition, no scratches etc...glass untouched) is aprox. 2,5-3x cheaper than d18 in the same condition. Then D18 should be more then 3x *better* otherwise it is no worth to buy it from this point of view...
FM (fotomagazin)from D comments this glass, in summary (among other things): *ein Spitzenobjektiv* ; and Tokina has better tested parameters then Sigma 18-35.
Your comments?