| INTRODUCTION
I
had long yearned for a true micro lens. The great pictures of
bees, butterflies and detailed exotic flora had me wanting. Because
of an accidental misfortune I could not buy the 105mm f/2.8D Micro
Nikkor when I was out there. So, no Nikon that time around.
.
 |
|
The
Tokina AT-X M100AF 100mm f/2.8 AF Macro |
I
had admired the Tokina lenses for quite some time, so an alternative
was there. Allow me to explain why.
| THE |
 |
STORY |
You
may not believe it but there was a time when the prime (fixed
focal length) lenses reigned. A zoom lens was not at par with
them, neither in sharpness nor in contrast; not to mention a series
of aberrations they suffer from.
Nikon
pioneered the effort to develop the required new optical and mechanical
formulas and as early as 1959, at the time of the introduction
of the Nikon F, there were the 85-250mm f/4-4.5 -the first
Nikon design- and a 35-85mm f/2.8. Three and a half years
later the not handheldable 200-600mm f/9.5-10.5 made its appearance
in the marketplace, along with the 43-86mm f/3.5. However, despite
how awesome these zoom lenses seemed at the time, quality was
rather poor when compared to the prime lenses, reputation that
still haunts zooms today.
One
rumor was that, annoyed because of internal disagreement on what
would be the future importance of the zoom lenses and how to improve
those designs, a group of Nikon engineers and managers left to
establish their own shop and try out their own ideas. Hoya was
asked to produce the glass under their strict specs.
The
other part of the rumor was that they left with an OEM outsourcing
contract with Nikon; hard to believe although plausible with other
brands.
You
must remember that life-time employment was the rule in Japan
until very recently. Failure was not an option. It must have taken
true grit to try out on their own.
So
I made a consultation to THK (the USA distributor for Tokina,
Hoya and Kenko), for them to either confirm or deny the Nikon
engineers' origin of Tokina and the Hoya glass participation.
They confirmed it as follows:
"........
It is true, Tokina was established by a group of Nikon optical
engineers and executives that wanted to concentrate on zoom lens
design at a time when there were only a couple zoom lenses on
the market and they were of rather poor quality.
Tokina
started out as an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) and made
products under other brand names and then, in the early 1970's,
the Company established their own Tokina brand name.
The
glass in Tokina lenses is made by Hoya Corporation to Tokina spec,
the worlds largest manufacturer of optical glass. Hoya makes glass
for several Japanese camera manufactures, including Mamiya, Bronica,
and Tamron. They also make virtually half of the world's glass
used in eye-glasses. Besides filters and optical glass, Hoya also
makes the substraight material for hard drives and semiconductors.
Thank
you
webtech@thkphoto.com"
So
there you have the connection between Tokina and Nikon engineering.
For me, enough darn good reason to trust it. Furthermore, reviews
have been very good, most raving, specially on their AT-X Pro
line. |
