Tokina AT-X 60-120 2.8

[noone]

I was after a 2.8 manual focus mid range zoom for years when using Pentax DSLRs and just occasionally, I would see this lens on Ebay.

I have had a lot of mid range manual focus film era zooms and most have not been great, two exceptions being the Tamron adaptall 70-210 3.5 (model 19b), a lovely lens but very big and heavy and Canon FD 80-200 f4 L (this one I never had until a lot more recently).

When I DID see a 60-120 2.8 lens, they were very few and far between and all from Japan and usually very expensive or had fungus or other issues.

More recently i have given up on old lenses unless I get them very very cheap from the charity shop I volunteer at or likewise at a pawn shop i haunt but have gotten rid of most of them in the last couple of years.

I was looking for an AF portrait lens on Ebay for my A7s but kept going down and came across this old lens (around 40 to 50 years old).

$150 Australian plus postage is an absolute bargain and when the lens was listed as near mint condition, well I put off paying the electricity bill to buy it

It turned up today (two days early) and I fell in love at first sight and want to marry it after a minutes use!

There are very few reviews of it around but most say it is very good though some say it is not sharp...Well I think it may well be the sharpest zoom i have ever had and its bokeh is to me, superb.

It is not quite mint (though looks like it was made yesterday), One touch and the focus works very smoothly but the zoom action is a little stiff (better that than loose though).

Minimum focus distance is a fraction longer than i would like but that is just nit picking.

For video, I will only use it to record single musicians either seated or not moving far just for the odd song (on a tripod and zoomed to the focal length wanted and set).

For stills it will be a wonderful portrait lens (all I need are victims) but it might be a while before i can use it properly unless i stop random people in the park.

I am sure it will have downsides (maybe if a light source is in view though yet to try it) and I get a new flash in the next few days that i want to try it with.

IF you can find one in even half decent condition, from what i have seen so far, I would say BUY it (or kill for it but check the prison will allow you to keep it with you first).

Some lame first shots.    Any errors are MINE, not the lenses.    All at 2.8 

 

 

[heart0less]

Those shots are gorgeous, I really like its rendering.

Can't quite believe all of those were shot wide open. Impressive!

Now, you managed to whet my appetite.. Why, oh, why..

( :

Congrats on the find and thanks for sharing!

[noone]

10 minutes ago, heart0less said:

Those shots are gorgeous, I really like its rendering.

Can't quite believe all of those were shot wide open. Impressive!

Now, you managed to whet my appetite.. Why, oh, why..

( :

Congrats on the find and thanks for sharing!

Thanks,

Biggest bargain of my photographic life (over 70 interchangeable lenses over the years and dozens of cameras).     Who would of thunk it would be an old MF off brand zoom!

Well it DID take around ten years of searching (on and off apart from the last few years) to get it!    Those are all at 120mm too I think.. I did take some at 60 which are just as nice to me but mostly i just could not manage to make myself use it stopped down or below 120 (it is supposed to be at its WORST at 120).     I may find I end up using it at 60mm and using clear zoom for video which will get me the same reach but be a lot easier (especially with a remote) than trying to zoom a one touch zoom for video which would be near impossible to zoom and focus optically.

[leslie]

nice, i really like the rose, that a real standout to me.  A couple of the tokina 28-70 atx pros have almost a cult like following in some groups. Shouldn't be a surprise  that tokina have some other gems as well i guess. Be interesting to see some video from it

[noone]

Expecting the worst shooting into a light source after some of the ( few) posts about this lens around the internet, I was pleasantly surprised and it seems no worse than most lenses in that regard (and if i am shooting right into a very bright light up close, it is not going to be pretty regardless of the lens).

It also seems ok as a general purpose lens at longer distances.

For close in at 2.8, it does seem to have some magic and much more than i expected.

A couple at 60mm at a distance 2.8 and f8 and a couple into a light at 2.8 and f22 (another surprise, this lens produces pretty much ZERO sun stars).

I really can not wait to use this for both video and stills at a gig (indoor pub or outdoor concert) though with the current climate that might be a while.    Portraits hopefully will be a lot earlier.

 

[noone]

I still have not used it for any serious portraits though have taken a couple of quick snaps of people but mostly too quick to get focus right (one woman was fine for me to shoot her and her kid but the kid wanted to do other things).   

As I said, the minimum focus is a bit long so I have been thinking about using a very short extension tube with it.

The Sony Tubes i have include  a 10mm one but that is too long.       

That got me looking for shorter extension tubes and all i can find are 7mm and 8 mm but none in either FD mount or Sony E mount.

Next thought was to look for one of these lenses in a mount that there ARE shorter tubes available (Nikon has a 8mm tube as do some others) so I started looking for other copies of the lens in different mounts (there is a Pentax one in Germany listed as good and there is one in the US but i think it is also FD and the condition is unknown).     Another reason for a different mount is I am a bit wary of the older FD mount being easier for a lens to fall off (not the New mount) and my lens is the older type.

Given how good my copy is (and how cheap it was) though I guess I should stay with it so my latest idea is to buy a FD lens to EF adapter and remove the glass from that and mount it in a EF to E adapter so that should give me something like a 2mm extension tube which might be pretty close to perfect for me (IE just a bit shorter minimum focus and not losing too much for distances I am likely to use it at).

The lens is ok at infinity but not something I would really want to use it for and it is a portrait lens for me 

Anyway, i have just ordered the FD to EF adapter so shall see how it goes when it gets here.

 

[heart0less]

2 hours ago, noone said:

my latest idea is to buy a FD lens to EF adapter and remove the glass from that and mount it in a EF to E adapter so that should give me something like a 2mm extension tube which might be pretty close to perfect for me

This seems like a brilliant idea. 

Never would've thought about it myself. 

 

2 hours ago, noone said:

there is a Pentax one in Germany listed as good

Don't tempt me, man! 

[noone]

My FD to EF adapter turned up.     Could not be very good for its designed purpose because it did not have any glass so would have lost infinity anyway.

In any event, it seems even two mm (which it should be but is probably only aprox) is a bit too much and loses infinity a bit more than i want.

At 60mm it is no use  for portraits as focus is now very close and at 120mm It might be ok for kids portraits  and small adults at best.

The only mounts I know of that are between FD (42mm flange distance) and EF (44mm flange) are Minolta SR and Fujica X (both 43.5) which would be  better but i would need to find adapters for FD to either of those and then one of those to Sony E and how much better remains to be seen.      Guess I just have to learn to live with it being a little long for minimum focus and use this way for rare times I have a few kids or smaller women to shoot.

[heart0less]

There is a solution, although it'd require buying another item.

A FD → Sony E helicoid.

At its minimum setting it should allow you to focus at infinity and if you want to have smaller MFD, then you turn the helicoid slightly and voila.

https://www.ebay.pl/itm/Canon-FD-lens-to-Sony-E-mount-adapter-Macro-Focusing-Helicoid-NEX-6-A6000-A6300/283131024151?hash=item41ebec9317:g:EZwAAOSwf95bh9Gf

[noone]

2 hours ago, heart0less said:

There is a solution, although it'd require buying another item.

A FD → Sony E helicoid.

At its minimum setting it should allow you to focus at infinity and if you want to have smaller MFD, then you turn the helicoid slightly and voila.

https://www.ebay.pl/itm/Canon-FD-lens-to-Sony-E-mount-adapter-Macro-Focusing-Helicoid-NEX-6-A6000-A6300/283131024151?hash=item41ebec9317:g:EZwAAOSwf95bh9Gf

Thanks.      I will see how i go living with things as it is but if I do find it irritating, I will give it a go.

[noone]

On 6/19/2020 at 4:08 PM, heart0less said:

There is a solution, although it'd require buying another item.

A FD → Sony E helicoid.

At its minimum setting it should allow you to focus at infinity and if you want to have smaller MFD, then you turn the helicoid slightly and voila.

https://www.ebay.pl/itm/Canon-FD-lens-to-Sony-E-mount-adapter-Macro-Focusing-Helicoid-NEX-6-A6000-A6300/283131024151?hash=item41ebec9317:g:EZwAAOSwf95bh9Gf

Again, Thanks!

I ended up getting a helicoid adapter from Ebay.

Makes it sooo much better.     I still need victims but once it starts warming up and the virus is less an issue it should be good.

[leslie]

5 hours ago, noone said:

Again, Thanks!

I ended up getting a helicoid adapter from Ebay.

Makes it sooo much better.     I still need victims but once it starts warming up and the virus is less an issue it should be good.

people are over rated, try some wildlife or landscapes perhaps. got in a session with the p4k and the fd 50mm f1.4 ssc this afternoon. Cant fault either, although my dop and colour grading is pretty newbish 🙄

[noone]

8 hours ago, leslie said:

people are over rated, try some wildlife or landscapes perhaps. got in a session with the p4k and the fd 50mm f1.4 ssc this afternoon. Cant fault either, although my dop and colour grading is pretty newbish 🙄

Well I am anti-social so yeah.     Still though, this was MADE as a portrait lens and I think it will shine for that more than anything.

Just wish it was not so damn cold (for me) right now.