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Spiratone 17mm 3.5 ...tokina?
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 4:32 pm    Post subject: Spiratone 17mm 3.5 ...tokina? Reply with quote
Was the spiratone 17mm made by tokina? Have an eb for a low price. Looking for high quality ultra wide for relatively inexpensive money for my new a7ii.Done a bit of research. Tokina 17 seems to be the least expensive of the decent ultra wide. I have found the downside to mirrorless full frame... too many choices! Ultimately I am looking to the 16-35 tessar, but currently budget has been blown out of the water with the body, a 70-400 and 24-70 2.8 sonnar. So... going to Africa in a few months and I want a pretty good landscape lens. Trying to balance current expenditure with future goals. Zoom? Prime? Tokina, sigma, canon, minolta, tamron nikon, samyang, olympus . The choices become bewildering.


PostPosted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 4:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Upon closer examination it's 18mm so not tokina. Hmmm. Maybe sigma. I have made an offer of 135 usd. Fingers crossed.


PostPosted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 11:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
accepted! I'll have to try it out and report back.


PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 1:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I do not know that much about the lens, but from the little research I did, you did not get yourself that good of a deal. I'll be interested to see your results though.


PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 1:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
jamaeolus wrote:
Upon closer examination it's 18mm so not tokina. Hmmm. Maybe sigma. I have made an offer of 135 usd. Fingers crossed.


Spiratone 18mm can be both sigma 18mm (oldest 3.2 opening) or Tokina's 17mm (certainly to continue with same focal length)


PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 2:47 pm    Post subject: Re: Spiratone 17mm 3.5 ...tokina? Reply with quote
jamaeolus wrote:
Was the spiratone 17mm made by tokina? Have an eb for a low price. Looking for high quality ultra wide for relatively inexpensive money for my new a7ii.Done a bit of research. Tokina 17 seems to be the least expensive of the decent ultra wide. I have found the downside to mirrorless full frame... too many choices! Ultimately I am looking to the 16-35 tessar, but currently budget has been blown out of the water with the body, a 70-400 and 24-70 2.8 sonnar. So... going to Africa in a few months and I want a pretty good landscape lens. Trying to balance current expenditure with future goals. Zoom? Prime? Tokina, sigma, canon, minolta, tamron nikon, samyang, olympus . The choices become bewildering.


First and most important, congratulations on your new lens! I hope it arrives in good condition, and I hope you very much enjoy using it!

I do not own any 17mm lenses, but I wish I did Very Happy . Here is the closest I can come with short F/L lenses:

I picked up a Spiratone 18mm f3.5 lens in December of 2014 for an all-in cost of (roughly) US$32. This is the YS lens, so I'm pretty sure it is a Sigma lens. Lens is in good shape.

I bought, probably in 2013, a Vivitar 20mm f3.8 lens for circa US$30 all in. The lens is in like new shape, it arrived in the original box, and most likely it is new. However, this lens has a fixed KAR mount, so is less desirable. Lens is probably Tokina.

Finally, I do own a copy of the ubiquitous 12mm f8 lens which was sold under a variety of brand names. Mine is an Accura but I think Sigma made them all. It's in good shape and I paid circa US$30 all in for the lens, which is T2 I'm pretty sure. I have noticed, over the last year, that these 12mm lenses (various brands but all the same) have skyrocketed in price to where I would not be able any longer to afford one. I have no idea why this has happened.

I can offer this observation regarding short F/L lenses in general:

Cameras with APS-C (or even smaller) sensors of course require short F/L lenses to allow shooting wide angle shots. This has caused prices of short F/L glass, high to begin with, to escalate even more.

In future, as FF mirrorless camera bodies become more affordable, it will become possible for MF lens users to go wide angle with slightly longer F/L lenses, e.g., 24mm and perhaps even ubiquitous 28mm lenses. This might, it seems to me, eventually result in lower prices for the much shorter F/L lenses we all prize so much today.

Of course with an African adventure in the offing, and depending on the thickness of your wallet, you might want even today to at least look at FF mirrorless camera bodies. They are very expensive now, but prices are down a bit and with a FF sensor you do not need such expensive MF lenses.


PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 3:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
The Vivitar 3.8/20 is the Cosina 3.8/19 rebadged. Not a very good lens, most copies are decentred, poor coatings, very flare prone, flat contrast, muted colours.


PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 9:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I had quite forgotten quite how nasty my copy of the Cosina is. I hoped it would be OK on my crop sensor NEX 5N - but no and even worse with the Lens Turbo.

On my A7 it somehow doesn't look quite so bad - still mush in the corners, but possibly usable in some circumstances. The real shock is that it is really not that bad when compared to the disappointment of my Minolta 17mm - which cost me a GREAT deal more !

Here are a couple of shots to compare. Resized down to 2000 pix across.

First Cosina 19mm f3.8 then the Minolta 17mm f4 .




PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 2:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
My Tokina 17mm RMC is pretty good, but even so you have to lower expectations for a 30 year old lens for extreme corner sharpness.
If that matters to you, then you can always crop 5% or so, and you still have a pretty good ultra wide field of view. Apart from the corners, the edges are not bad, so if you shoot for a square or 10x8 crop you shouldn't really see much nastiness.


PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 4:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Yes - this is quite true, but I do like to frame quite tightly and cropping seems to defeat the object.
UWA are a real test for the A7 as I have discovered. The only reasonable contender seems to be the new CV Heliar III which appears to deliver impressive results.

I am tempted to sell off my 2 Minolta 17mm to finance it !


PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 6:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
hemeterfilms wrote:
Yes - this is quite true, but I do like to frame quite tightly and cropping seems to defeat the object.

True, but you are still getting a very compact, effective 18 or 19mm lens with a slightly loss in resolution. I have the Nikon mount Tokina, and I am fairly limited in what I can use on a D600. The Nikkor superwides are quite pricey in comparison, and anything wider than 18mm is a fisheye, or very expensive.


PostPosted: Sun Jun 25, 2017 4:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
jamaeolus: Did you ever report back about the Spiratone?


PostPosted: Sun Jun 25, 2017 11:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Spiratone 18mm Rectilinear -- Three Versions http://forum.mflenses.com/viewtopic,p,1071884.html

The early model is Tokina? http://forum.mflenses.com/spiratone-pluracoat-13-5-f18mm-ultra-wideangle-72-t32820.html

The next f/3.5 models made by Sigma for Spiratone http://forum.mflenses.com/spiratone-ys-13-5-f18mm-t32821.html

The later f/3.2 models made by Sigma for Spiratone http://forum.mflenses.com/spiratone-ys-13-2-f18mm-t32822.html

http://forum.mflenses.com/spiratone-18mm-3-2-surprise-t32581.html


PostPosted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 2:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
That early Spiratone "18," which you're wondering if it is made by Tokina, I'm pretty sure it is. I have a Tokina made Vivitar 17mm f/3.5 that has that same integral lens hood. The Tokina brand 17s don't have that hood. The only one I've see, prior to this Spiratone, that has that built-in hood is the Vivitar, like the one I own.

Great lens, btw. Seems to work a bit better on FF tha APS-C, though.


PostPosted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 5:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
My Sigma branded 3.5/18.



PostPosted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 2:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks for all the info. I was bidding on one which was the third version. In the end, I lost out for being too cheap but it still sold at low price, maybe to someone here.


PostPosted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 8:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
woodrim wrote:
Thanks for all the info. I was bidding on one which was the third version. In the end, I lost out for being too cheap but it still sold at low price, maybe to someone here.


+2! (not the part about not winning)

Thanks Michael & Edgar for key pieces of information.


PostPosted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 8:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
visualopsins wrote:
woodrim wrote:
Thanks for all the info. I was bidding on one which was the third version. In the end, I lost out for being too cheap but it still sold at low price, maybe to someone here.


+2! (not the part about not winning)

Thanks Michael & Edgar for key pieces of information.


What? Did you buy it?


PostPosted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 10:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
woodrim wrote:
visualopsins wrote:
woodrim wrote:
Thanks for all the info. I was bidding on one which was the third version. In the end, I lost out for being too cheap but it still sold at low price, maybe to someone here.


+2! (not the part about not winning)

Thanks Michael & Edgar for key pieces of information.


What? Did you buy it?


Offering of sympathy. A few years ago, I bought a bunch of these, like 5 or 6, cheaply. I made a bundle of profit on selling due to ebay bidders insanities. Good 18mm imho, tho I kept the Tamron...and later sold it too.
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