Tokina Reflex 300mm MF Macro Lens Review

Tokina Reflex 300mm MF Macro Handling and features

Weighing only 298g and being only 66mm long, this lens is incredibly compact for its focal length, partly due to the catadioptric optical system and partly down to the smaller sensor size of the mirrorless camera system. The lens has a high quality metallic finish and balances well on the Panasonic Lumix G3 used for testing.

The light weight and compact size do have some drawbacks when using such a telephoto lens. On a camera with no in-body stabilisation, a camera support is almost necessary, as holding the camera steady enough to focus adequately, let alone take a sharp image can be a challenge in itself. As Micro Four Thirds cameras rely on enlarging a section of the image to assist with manual focusing, this issue is greatly magnified when attempting to focus accurately. The focusing ring is quite stiff to operate, which leads to even more vibration during focusing as you struggle to turn the control.

Closest focus is an impressive 80cm, which allows you to achieve 1:2 reproduction at the closest focus stop. A lens like this may appeal to those interested in astrophotography, due to its narrow field of view. However, as the lens doesn't have a hard stop for infinity focus, it can be quite tricky to get the lens adequately focused. The focus range has quite a short throw. Three quarters of a turn takes you from infinity to 0.8m. As a result focusing accurately at distances over 10m can be a little tricky, as the slightest adjustment radically alters the focused distance. Some older catadioptric lenses got around this by allowing the focus ring to tur more than one revolution, making it easier to apply fine adjustments.
A 55mm filter thread is supplied, which does not rotate during focusing. A deep circular lens hood is supplied, which does an excellent job of shielding the lens from extraneous light.


Tokina Reflex 300mm MF Macro on Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3

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