Tokina AT-X 11-16mm T3 CINE Lens Review

Tokina AT-X 11-16mm T3.0 Cine Performance

At 11mm, sharpness in the centre of the frame is already outstanding at maximum aperture, with good clarity being produced towards the edges of the frame. Stopping down barely improves performance across the frame, with very good levels of sharpness being achieved towards the edges of the frame between T/4 and T/11.

Zooming to 13mm results in a slight drop in performance in the centre at maximum aperture, with very good clarity in the centre and fairly good performance towards the edges. Stopping down to T/8 produces the best performance for this focal length, with outstanding sharpness in the centre, and excellent performance towards the edges.

Finally, at 16mm, performance in the centre of the frame remains very good to outstanding when stopped down. Towards the edges of the frame, sharpness is fair at maximum aperture and only reaches very good levels when stopped down to between T/11 and T/16.

MTF@11mm

MTF@13mm

MTF@16mm

How to read our charts

The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column.

The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple.

For this review, the lens was tested on a Canon EOS 7D using Imatest

Levels of chromatic aberrations towards the edges of the frame are high throughout the zoom range, exceeding two pixel widths on occasion. This level may cause issues with any high contrast subjects towards the edges of the frame.

CA@11mm

CA@13mm

CA@16mm

How to read our charts

Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software.

Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more.

For this review, the lens was tested on a Canon EOS 7D using Imatest.

For such a wide lens, with a bright maximum aperture, falloff of illumination towards the corners is remarkably well controlled. At 11mm the corners are only 0.9 stops darker than the centre, and at 16mm this level drops to 0.4 stops. Visually uniform illumination is achieved at T/4 throughout the zoom range.

Distortion is very well controlled for a lens of this type, with barrel distortion of only 3.3% at 11mm and 1.07% at 16mm. At both ends of the zoom range, the distortion pattern is uniform across the frame, so it should be relatively easy to correct in editing software afterwards if required.

A deep, flock-lined petal-shaped hood is supplied with the lens, which does an excellent job of keeping extraneous light that may cause flare off the front element. Strong point sources of light, such as the sun can cause flare and loss of contrast when towards the edges of the frame, or just out of the imaging area, but only under severe circumstances.

Value For Money

Some folks may think it a little cheeky of Tokina to charge extra for a lens that is virtually the same as the standard 11-16mm lens, but has some gears stuck on the focus rings. If you're buying this lens for cinema work, rather than still and have all the fancy motorised equipment for operating the geared lens rings and stepless aperture, then it could be worth the extra. Whether £900 extra is a step too far is a question only you can answer.

Add your message