Tokina 300mm F6.3 MF Mirror Lens for Micro Four Thirds Gets Another Review
The Tokina 300mm F6.3 MF Mirror Lens is the first native mirror lens developed for micro four thirds compact system cameras and happened to get another review. This time review has been made by photography blog CameraStuffReview.
This lens has become available in market in August 2012. It is a compact sized telephoto mirror lens that provides a full frame equivalent focal length of 600mm . As it is a mirror lens its size is comparably smaller when compared to other 300mm lens. It is a telephoto lens with macro capabilities and has a minimum focusing distance of 80 cm representing a 1:2 replication of subjects in sensor.
This lens has a weight of 298 grams and its lens support a 55mm filter size. The retail price of the lens is of 439 € (including the lens hood).
Unlike majority of modern lens it is a manual focus one. Mirror lens have been available in market for some years with the first ones being developed by Nikon in the 1950s. Something to bear in mind is that mirror lens though lightweight and more affordable when compared to other lens do give images with less contrast and a more softer look.
Tokina 300mm F6.3 MF Mirror Lens Review Photos:
Tokina 300mm F6.3 MF Mirror Lens Final Conclusion:
Their conclusion is that this lens is ideal for someone looking for a compact telephoto lens that presents reasonable quality for an affordable price. The lens also presents very low or no chromatic aberration. Distortion of lens is also very low (0.8% pincushion), low vignetting (0.8%) and low lens flare.
The lens sharpness is the same cross edge without differences between corners and centre. Also a nice addition is that lens comes with a lens hood unlike other brands that sell it separately as an accessory. However this lens also has its faults. For a start it is a manual focusing lens so you have to bear this in mind as it is not easy to focus lens for fast moving subjects. Aperture of lens is fixed at F6.3 which may present some challenges when light conditions are not ideal forcing photographers to take photos at a higher ISO. Lens also presents a low acuity and bokeh is quite characteristic from mirror lens with its donut shape. As lens has a fixed aperture is also not possible to change the depth of field via changes of aperture settings. The lens does not have in built image stabilisation which is also to take into consideration if taking photos with a Panasonic micro four thirds camera.
Source: http://www.camerastuffreview.com/tokina-lens-review/review-tokina-300-micro-43