Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-06-28)

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LENS TEST T estbench

High-qualitywidezoomswithfastconstant

aperturesrarelycomecheap,butTokinareckons

itslatestOperalensdeliversonbothquality

and price.Matt Golowczynskiinvestigates

T

okinamaynothavetheprominence

orbreadthof optionscomparedto

otherthird-partylensmanufacturers,

buta fewmayknowthatit’shada

handto playin SLRlensproductionsincethe

1950s.Today,it offersa smallbutinteresting

collectionof lensesforDSLRs,andhasrecently

broadeneditsappealbyaddingprimelenses

designedforSonyE-systemmirrorlesscameras.

TheOpera16-28mmF2.8FFis intended

forCanon and Nikon’s DSLR users, and its

grandnamepointstoitspremiumbillingin the

company’slenstable.BeforetheOperaseries

arrived,theA-TXPROseriesservedasthe

company’spremiumline,andthisnewoptic

essentiallyappearstobeanupdatedversion

of theexistingAT-X16-28mmF2.8PRO

FXlens.Botharelarge-aperturewideangle

zoomsthataredesignedforusewithfull-

frameDSLRs,butthisnewermodelappears

tobeaimedat usersof moremodern

high-resolution models, such as the Canon

Capturedatthewideangle

endofthelens,chromatic

aberrationis seenatthe

peripheriesoftheframe

Canon EOS 5DS R, 1/160sec at f/11, ISO 200

16-28mm F2

Witha currentpremiumof around£200

overtheexistingoptic,thelensontestwill

needtodeliversomethingthat’sappreciably

a stepupovertheexistingversion.Thatsaid,

lensesof thissortcarryaskingpriceswellinto

fourfigures,soif thislenscandeliverwhat

it promisesit willbea welcomearrivaltoa

relativelyunpopulated side of the market.

Features
Thelenshasbeenconstructedwith 15
elementsarrangedin 13groups.Threeof
these,whichincludea particularlybulbous
elementtowardsthefront,areasphericalin
designtohelpcombatsphericalaberration
anddistortion,whilea furtherthreehave
low-dispersionpropertiestohelpbanish
ALL PICTURES © MATT GOLOWCZ YNSKI chromatic aberration. Bokeh is arguably