Tokina 35-105 f3.5 Close Focus Lens ( manual focus )

[old4570]

Im going to have to do this slowly as this is a very interesting lens , that needs some delving into ..

@ 105mm it has that GLOW / hue , halo effect when close ( 1.5meter minimum focus - Normal ) and when using the close focus function ..
Not so much an issue @ 35mm , in fact , 35mm is some what impressive ..

Lets look at the lens ..



No 1 - Your f stop ring or aperture ring
No 2 - Zoom ring
No 3 - Close focus ring
No 4 - Focus ring

Now you can use both the focus and close focus rings , this is very nice , the close focus is some what of a course adjustment , while the normal focus ring is very fine , or large amount of movement to go in and out of focus ..
There are only 5 aperture settings , 3.5, 5.6, 8 , 11 and 16



This is a somewhat large and heavy lens , I mean , its a brick .. And in front of the little istDs , yeah , you can feel the heft !

Now lets check out what happens close up @ 105mm



This picture was taken @ 105mm and f3.5 just outside ( few centimeters ) the minimum focus distance ..
In the next images , we will examine the close focus , now the exact same thing happens using the close focus as taking pictures @ 105mm just outside the minimum focus distance , so why double up ?











Thats @ 105mm

Next lets take a look 35mm , here are some images @ 35mm just to see how close you can get at this setting ..







Well , its a dark dreary day outside , but at 35mm and f3.5 , hand held mind you , the lens is working rather well ..

I went outside to take some more pictures - unfortunately the weather is a little topsy turby outside .. The sun came out as I was taking the pictures , and you can clearly see how this affected the images ,
but we are examining the halo or glow .


First image @ 35mm and f3.5 using close focus



Second image - f5.6
You will note the lack of the halo or glow effect , unfortunately at this point the sun began to peek and the wind picked up ( very poor conditions for testing )



Third image - f8



Fourth image - f11



Fifth image - f16 and the sun is blaring down


Now next I went back to 105mm and f3.5 to see what effect moving away from the subject would have ...
First shot is about 2.5 meters ..



Now the problem here is the wind , the subject is moving , and the wind is only growing in strength , so there might be some BLUR in effect from movement ..

In this next image we are still @ 105mm and f3.5 .. My focus point is the pin wheel ..



Now will notice the limitations of f3.5 in this image , again be mindful that the wind is in effect : And its going to be a few days before the weather settles ..
So I will come back to this lens , this is a very interesting lens , but for now , mother nature wins .


More as time permits ( this is an interesting lens ) ............................................

[old4570]

Part 2

---

Ok now lets examine the effects of zoom - Starting from the minimum distance @ 105mm + a few centimeters .. I will step down from 105mm by the readings on the lens

Thats 105mm , 85mm , 70mm, 55mm, 45mm, and 35mm .. So lets see what happens ..


















Well , that was interesting ...
Next lets try the same again but at that all time fav f-stop setting of f8 ..


















Wow - much nicer !

Lets do a couple of direct comparisons :


First at 35mm



Next 105mm



Well interesting ( for me ) , and I hope this was all interesting for you as well

..

So in a nutshell ..
You can close focus through the zoom range , not just at one end .. Thanks to separate close focus function
The lower the magnification , the closer you can get to your subject ( pretty darned close )
There is that glow when at higher zoom settings at close to minimum focus distance at wide open aperture ..
Overall I like this lens , its sharp , its big , its heavy , and for some reason as you increase zoom , it gets brighter and you need to increase shutter speed to compensate ( I actually like this )

It is a fully manual lens , and one sometimes forgets - (All these auto cameras) ... So if you can live with a manual lens ?
Anyhow , I wont be parting with this lens any time soon , that's for sure .