I couldn't find any other info in this forum about these two and a Nikon shooter buddy showed up at our planned meet this morning with the 50. Once you get over the size and weight of the lens, you discover some great qualities, like low optical vignetting and coma. Anyone out there using it or its UWA zoom bother?
p.1 #2 · Tokina's Swank Glass- Opera 50/1.4 and 16-28/2.8
Reading DPR's review of the new Pentax 50/1.4....:
"Is this the same lens as the Tokina Opera 50mm F1.4? Well, the optical construction appears identical, and the two lenses are pretty much the same size and weight, so at the very least it's obvious that they're clearly closely-related. However, the bare specs don't account for the possibility of some mysterious 'special sauce' that Ricoh might have reserved for the Pentax-branded version. Was this lens developed with the involvement of Tokina? Yes, almost certainly. Does it matter? Probably not - and anyway, the slightly cheaper Tokina-branded version isn't available in PK mount, so if you're shopping for a prime for your K-1 II, the question is academic."
It seems to have pretty strong LoCA at wider apertures... but is very sharp wide open
p.1 #3 · Tokina's Swank Glass- Opera 50/1.4 and 16-28/2.8
Interesting stuff, @rscheffler. It looks like Pentax could do worse for an optical partner on the lens, though, you're right, it's not particularly well-corrected for color aberrations at wide apertures. It's got nice bokeh, and I think, in a fast normal, that's a more important quality. My friend bought it primarily to use as an astro lens, where it apparently excels.
p.1 #4 · Tokina's Swank Glass- Opera 50/1.4 and 16-28/2.8
rscheffler wrote:
Reading DPR's review of the new Pentax 50/1.4....:
"Is this the same lens as the Tokina Opera 50mm F1.4? Well, the optical construction appears identical, and the two lenses are pretty much the same size and weight, so at the very least it's obvious that they're clearly closely-related. However, the bare specs don't account for the possibility of some mysterious 'special sauce' that Ricoh might have reserved for the Pentax-branded version. Was this lens developed with the involvement of Tokina? Yes, almost certainly. Does it matter? Probably not - and anyway, the slightly cheaper Tokina-branded version isn't available in PK mount, so if you're shopping for a prime for your K-1 II, the question is academic."
It seems to have pretty strong LoCA at wider apertures... but is very sharp wide open...Show more →
I started with Pentax and over the years I've had a few Tokina lenses. Pentax always had good lens coatings whilst Tokina's always permitted strong flare. The last lens I tried a few years ago, 16 to 28, was the same, very sharp but awful flare (I quickly changed it for the awesome Tamron SP 15-30). Hope they've developed better coatings with these new lenses.
