Tokina AT-X 11-16 F/2.8 type-II

[the_hefay]

I recently purchased the Tokina AT-X 11-16 F/2.8 type-II lens Sony alpha mount. It uses a clutch system to switch between AF and MF on the lens. One simply pulls back on the focus ring and the lens is now in MF. There is no need to switch the camera switch from AF to MF according to Tokina's website. B&H, where I purchased the lens, states that it has an internal focusing motor. When the lens came I noticed that it had a drive pin for using the camera body focusing motor. When I used the clutch to switch between AF and MF I couldn't turn the focus ring becuase it was still connected to the camera drive which was in AF mode. If I switch the camera to MF then the clutch works great and the focusing is smooth. But of course when I push the focus ring back forward to AF on the lens, I cannot use the lens in AF until I switch it back to AF on the camera. If the lens is in MF and the camera in AF the I can still auto focus but the focus ring turns while focusing so you have to keep your hand away from it to let it turn freely.

Am I doing something wrong or is this just a real bad design? This just seems like a real strange design that wasn't thought through very well. Tokina hasn't rsponded, but it is the holidays. B&H just responded and wanted to know what camera body I used. So we'll see what they have to say.

Sony A580

[the_hefay]

Well, I just received an RMA from B&H. Funny thing was that I was really hoping to enter into dialogue with them to see if I understood correctly what was going on with the lens vs. what I understood the product listing to say. Instead they send me an RMA. Not sure what to do. I understand this is a really good piece of glass and I'm wanting to have a nice WA lens.

[Birma]

Hi Hefay, this is exactly how my Tamron 90 works on the A99 with its push pull af/mf selector. I often have to switch the camera off and on again to re-engage af. I have always assumed this is just the electronics in lens and camera not talking to one another. I think that the requirement to change the af/mf selector on the body and the lens is required on several Sony lenses as well. I would think the way you describe the Tokina lens working is what I would expect.

The mark 1 of this lens was well thought of and I considered getting it for a long time, but have since switched to full frame so not much use any longer. I rarely use af and so this sort of issue doesn't tend to bother me.

I hope someone else can advise what they would expect as well.

[bfitzgerald]

If it's screw driven it's normally a 2 stage process on A mount ie set to MF on lens and then have to set it on the body.
As Birma says the 90mm Tamron macro is exactly the same, so is the 70-200mm f2.8 (screw drive older version) If you put them in MF on the lens and not the body the MF ring will rotate when you half press the shutter to AF, so you must set MF on the body too. The only exception to this is DMF on some bodies where you can AF once it gets a lock, DMF de-clutches the camera motor and you can pull the ring back to MF

On Canikon the 90mm is a one stage process as it has a built in lens motor.

So the Tokina isn't doing anything out of the ordinary here
I am curious what exactly changed from version I to version II on the Tokina?

Also out of interest how do you find the lens optically?

[classiccameras]

Barry, I believe one of the mods carried out on the Mk2 was improved lens coatings to reduce flare problems and enhance other optical factors. I'm unaware of any other mods, but there could well be some.

[the_hefay]

I haven't used the lens yet due to my concerns over how it was acting. Thanks for the info on how other Tokina lenses act on Sony cameras. What bugs me is that B&H claims that the body switch doesn't need to be used and they also claim it has an internal silent motor. Tokinas press release makes it sound like the AF/MF is a simple one step process by just using the clutch. It seems like all that is wrong and that I paid $150 for better lens coating. Grand Caliph is correct about the lens coating. From Tokinas website I found that there were two changes to this second edition of the lens.

"The main update to this lens is in the Nikon mount, the AT-X 116 PRO DX-II has an internal silent focusing motor to allow the lens to AF on Nikon bodies that do not have an AF drive gear and motor. There have also been some adjustments made to the coating for slightly improved optical performance."

[the_hefay]

Well I decided to keep the lens. I'm going to contact B&H and let them know to cancel the RMA. I've been pretty excited about the perspective gained with the 11mm WA. I haven't done anything real special with it yet, except take some very distorted pictures of my nephew and nieces, which they thoroughly enjoyed.