A wide-angle prime well-suited to multimedia applications, the FíRIN 20mm f/2 FE MF Lens from Tokina is dedicated to full-frame Sony E-mount mirrorless cameras. The ultra-wide perspective is benefitted by a sophisticated optical design, which incorporates three super-low dispersion elements and two aspherical elements to control both chromatic and spherical aberrations. A multi-layer coating has also been applied to reduce lens flare and ghosting for increased contrast and improved color fidelity. Its manual focus design affords precise control when working with subjects as close as 11", and the manual aperture ring can be de-clicked to enable smooth, silent aperture adjustments for cine use. Additionally, electronic contacts are integrated into the mount design to permit seamless communication of distance and aperture information to the camera body in order to support the use of focusing aids, in-camera image stabilization, and an EVF distance scale.
Bild Shop Specials
- E-Mount Lens/Full-Frame Format
- Aperture Range: f/2 to f/22
- Three Super-Low Dispersion Elements
- Two Aspherical Elements
Tokina FiRIN 20mm f/2 MF Overview
Tokina FiRIN 20mm f/2 MF Specs
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Tokina FiRIN 20mm f/2 MF Reviews
Not perfect, but for $399 seems to be a good deal
As other reviewers already found out, resolution in the center of the frame is very good, even at f2.0. This was checked with 24Mpix APSC camera, which has the same pixel density as full frame 56Mpix camera sensor. Away from the center, resolution depends on the distance from the center of the sensor and also on the distance from the subject - these test I performed with full frame 42Mpix camera. At all distances from the subject, bottom right corner was significantly weaker than other corners, but improving and becoming acceptable at f5.6-f8. Upper corners were quite good, even at f2.0, probably at the expense of lower corners. It appears that this would be a great astrophotography lens, if you can place the worst lower right corner on something not important below the horizon line and taking picture in the horizontal orientation. I didn't test this lens at infinity, the longest distance was 10m, and at this distance the plane of focus is slightly warped outside at the corners, i.e. to get the corners most sharp I had to turn the focusing ring past the infinity mark. But the plane of focus is not perfectly flat also at lower distances. It seems to warp out at the corners in the direction of the camera at lower distances. This is to be expected, for wide angle lens the field of focus will never be perfectly flat. But at least it should be symmetrical and not exhibit anomalies like I found at certain area located in lower-left mid-frame at a distance of about 1.5m, where everything was out of focus in comparison to the opposite side of the frame. I repeated that test to make sure that the focus is set accurately and the camera is perfectly parallel to the flat subject. Unfortunately, the results were always the same at this distance. However, when photographing a typical landscape scene, where f5.5-f11 is being used, all these problems mentioned before will be hardly visible. The thing I really like is that aperture blades are not rounded. This allows for creation of sunstars with 18 beams on very bright lights. Unfortunately, in most cases you will get some flare also at the other side of the frame. In camera corrections (when turned on) do excellent job in removing vignette, chromatic aberrations and geometrical distortions. As it comes to ergonomics, there are some weaknesses also. Since the aperture ring is very close to the focusing ring, it is very easy to accidentally move focus when adjusting aperture. To make matters worse, focus ring is quite loose. That, in conjunction with very sensitive distance encoder (which appears to be activated by vibrations sometimes), can induce focusing mode (image enlargement) in the viewfinder. This is annoying and slows down the process. Anyway, considering current price $399, it seems to be a good deal for an amateur photographer like me, lens is certainly capable of professional results when you will be aware of some limitations.
Amazing lens hampered by poor QC.
If you've read any of the reviews then you know this lens is highly regarded. The MTF chart is impressive and so is the price, and I'm in the market for an astro lens so this seemed like the perfect deal. Now I firmly believe that after my experience with it that this is only the case if you get a good copy. Be aware that I tested my lens against a resolution chart as well as using it at infinity focus. On the 1st copy I received the corners were an absolute mess. Not one, but all 4. I've never received a lens like this before so I figured it must be a defective product. I sent it back for a replacement. To be clear, the corners on this initial copy suffered from extreme field curvature and didn't sharpen up until f/11 if you focused on the center. To get sharp corners I had to focus very close to the edge of the frame, but then the center suffered noticably. My 2nd copy was better but still had some issues. Only 1 corner was good from wide open. 1 corner was decent but acceptable. 2 corners were unacceptable with one being exceptionally bad and didn't sharpen up until f/11. Once again, this was using the center as a focus point. To get that one corner sharp meant sacrificing resolution across the rest of the frame. I briefly thought about keeping this copy but I ended up returning it. I don't expect perfect performance across the frame but I do expect at least an acceptable amount of softening. I may have gotten unlucky with my copies, the lens does get some high praise after all. However it's worth pointing out that other people have had similar experiences with this lens, including Phillip Reeve who runs a popular lens review website. Other than those hiccups, the lens performed very well. When the lens is sharp it's a razor. Build quality is nice as is the handling. Flare resistance could have been better but it's actually pretty good compared to Tokina's other lenses. I don't like the square hood, that would be my only complaint aside from the QC with the optics. -1.5 stars for the poor QC, -.5 stars for the square hood.