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Tokina 100-300 5.6
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PostPosted: Mon May 22, 2017 9:14 pm    Post subject: Tokina 100-300 5.6 Reply with quote
Wandered into the local brick-n-mortar camera store this morning and spied a mint-condition Tokina 100-300 f/5.6. My guess (based on the colors used) is late 70's/early 80's.



They let me take it home for a test drive. Not a bad lens. Walked around the back yard to test it for sharpness.



I'll need to do some more testing, but if it seems sharp all around I fancy I may just buy it.


PostPosted: Tue May 23, 2017 5:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Some Tokina lenses are really good. I do not know about this one, but i am quite curious as i own the Minolta 5.6/100-300 and the Tamron SP 60-300. I prefer the Tammy!

However: i have been reading about the AT-X version of your lens, which i hope to find at a good price some day, it has a constant aperture of f/4. Here's an interesting read:
http://www.rokkorfiles.com/100-300mm.htm


PostPosted: Tue May 23, 2017 8:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
That regular old RMC Tok is doing a very nice job.

I own both the Tamron SP 60-300 and the Tokina ATX 100-300. They're both great lenses, but each fills a slightly different niche.

My Tamron I like because I have everything from a normal focal length to 300mm and it's really quite sharp across the spectrum. It's somewhat long, but easily manageable handheld. For years, I carried a two-lens outfit with one SLR. This was one of the two lenses, the other was a Vivitar S1 28-90. The Tamron also has a surprisingly good macro mode, gets all the way down to 1:1.5, as I recall.

The Tokina ATX 100-300 isn't as much of a flexible all-around lens as the Tamron. It is much bigger, being a constant f/4 optic and all. It has no macro mode. But it does have SD glass and a surprisingly good IQ all the way from 100 to 300mm. What I find amazing about this lens is just how sharp it is at 300mm. I used to own a Canon FD 300mm f/4 and it was not as good as this Tokina zoom. It wasn't nearly as well-corrected chromatically as the Tokina is. I think you'll really enjoy this lens.


PostPosted: Tue May 23, 2017 1:11 pm    Post subject: Re: Tokina 100-300 5.6 Reply with quote
480sparky wrote:
Wandered into the local brick-n-mortar camera store this morning and spied a mint-condition Tokina 100-300 f/5.6. My guess (based on the colors used) is late 70's/early 80's.

I have found that there are three versions of that lens, the RMC Tokina 100-300/5.6, apparently (in my experience) optically all the same, but with some physical differences between them:







In the Pentax-centric world, this is what I have found out about the three versions:

V.1 focuses in a "Vivitar direction" (opposite to the normal Pentax focus direction of V.2. and V.3), lacks a tripod mount (unlike V.2 and V.3), has a K mount interface with a slightly narrower mounting flange (like V.2 but unlike V.3), can fit 55mm screw-in lens hoods only (unlike V.2 and V.3), and is labeled "RMC Tokina" using green lettering (like V.2 but unlike V.3).

V.2 focuses in the normal Pentax direction (like V.3 but unlike V.1), has a removable tripod mount (like V.3 but unlike V.1), has a K mount interface with a slightly narrower mounting flange (like V.1 but unlike V.3), can fit a dedicated SH-551 clip-on lens hood (like V.3 but unlike V.1), and is labeled "RMC Tokina" using green lettering (like V.1 but unlike V.3).

V.3 focuses in the normal Pentax direction (like V.2 but unlike V.1), has a removable tripod mount (like V.2 but unlike V.1), has a Ka mount interface with a slightly wider mounting flange (unlike both V.1 and V.2), can fit a dedicated SH-551 clip-on lens hood (like V.2 but unlike V.1), and is labeled "RMC Tokina" using white lettering (unlike both V.1 and V.2).

In K- or Ka-mount trim, here's how they compare for weights:
V.1 Weight = 691g
V.2 Weight = 696g without tripod mount, 723g with tripod mount
V.3 Weight = 678g without tripod mount, 705g with tripod mount

I have owned all three versions (briefly) at the same time, and I still own and continue to use my V.3 copy on occasion -- it's like the "l'il brother" to my "big brother" AT-X 100-30/4.

Last edited by fwcetus on Tue May 23, 2017 1:44 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Tue May 23, 2017 1:42 pm    Post subject: Re: Tokina 100-300 5.6 Reply with quote
480sparky wrote:
I'll need to do some more testing, but if it seems sharp all around I fancy I may just buy it.

Assuming the store is not asking too much for it, I'd suggest going for it. Smile

The "li'l brother" to the Tokina AT-X 100-300/4, with a maximum aperture of f/5.6 and 55mm filter threads, is reasonably compact, so it does offer greater portability than its mechanically similar but (not surprisingly) optically superior "big brother".

Big 'n' L'il Brothers


The build quality of the RMC Tokina 100-300/5.6 is very high. It focuses smoothly and zooms smoothly, with absolutely no play whatsoever in its motions, and the RMC 100-300/5.6 does focus more closely than does the AT-X 100-300/4, which can be quite helpful at times. The clip-on hood (for V.2 and V.3) attaches and releases properly, and is quite secure when attached. The finish quality of the lens is also very high. In fact, I find nothing about this lens to fuss about when physically comparing it to the AT-X 100-300/4.

The only significant difference between the RMC and AT-X 100-300 "siblings" (other than the obvious size and weight differences) is in the optics, which I attribute mostly to SD glass in the AT-X lens, and to the difference in maximum apertures. The RMC is "quite good", while the AT-X is "superb". [This is, of course, actually somewhat of an unfair comparison, simply because the RMC lens is a "budget" lens and because the AT-X lens is just such a ~really~ good long zoom.]

While the RMC 100-300/5.6 is (not surprisingly) a bit softer and lower in contrast at f/5.6, it does improve significantly by f/8, and I tend to use it with the aperture set at f/8 to f/11 most of the time. There is also, under high-contrast situations, a fair amount of purple-fringing at f/5.6 -- however, by f/8, the obvious CA is pretty much gone. I find that the lens is quite usable -- i.e., reasonably sharp and reasonably contrasty -- set at f/8 or f/11, and is somewhat better at the wide end than the long end (unlike the AT-X 300/4, which is quite strong at both ends, but that's rather unusual).

For "macro" mode use, I generally set the aperture to f/11 (or even to f/16, if maximum DOF is needed). With this lens, the "macro" mode is available at all apertures, but I find the close focus resolution and contrast to be higher at 100mm than at 300mm.

Overall, I would say that Tokina did do a good job at producing a compact, well-built, quite usable "consumer" long telephoto zoom, especially considering that it was never really intended, and it should not really be expected, to match the optical quality of the AT-X 100-300/4.

Here are a few images captured using the RMC Tokina 100-300/5.6 lens on a Pentax K-3. In each case, the images are in sets of two or three, with one being a resized original image (sometimes slightly cropped), and the other(s) being cropped to 100% (i.e., full-size 1:1) resolution from the original. Note that, with the exception of occasional slight cropping and the necessary resizing of the original images, and slight compression of all images, ~NO~ other processing was used. [Obviously, some editing, such as for gamma, contrast (especially for the 300mm images), and sharpening, would significantly improve each of these images, but I have left them as UNprocessed as possible just to illustrate what the lens itself can do.]

#1 - 100mm @ f/5.6 -


100mm @ f/5.6 - 100% (1:1) crop from #1 -


100mm @ f/5.6 - 100% (1:1) crop from #1 -


#2 - 300mm @ f/8 -


300mm @ f/8 - 100% (1:1) crop from #2 -


#3 - 300mm @ f/10 -


300mm @ f/10 - 100% (1:1) crop from #3 -


#4 - 100mm @ f/11 -


100mm @ f/11 - 100% (1:1) crop from #4 -


#5 - 100mm @ f/11 -


100mm @ f/11 - 100% (1:1) crop from #5 -


#6 - 100mm @ f/11 -


100mm @ f/11 - 100% (1:1) crop from #6 -


100mm @ f/11 - 100% (1:1) crop from #6 -


Last edited by fwcetus on Tue May 23, 2017 1:53 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Tue May 23, 2017 1:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Now i'm starting to wonder how this compares to the Minolta MD 5.6/100-300 i have....

While looking for these on the net i found another version: Tokina 100-300 f/5.0, constant aperture. Any knowledge on this one available? Seems to me it's an older one as it was sold with the TX mount.


PostPosted: Tue May 23, 2017 2:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
TrueLoveOne wrote:
i have been reading about the AT-X version of your lens, which i hope to find at a good price some day, it has a constant aperture of f/4. Here's an interesting read:
http://www.rokkorfiles.com/100-300mm.htm

cooltouch wrote:
The Tokina ATX 100-300 isn't as much of a flexible all-around lens as the Tamron. It is much bigger, being a constant f/4 optic and all. It has no macro mode. But it does have SD glass and a surprisingly good IQ all the way from 100 to 300mm. What I find amazing about this lens is just how sharp it is at 300mm. I used to own a Canon FD 300mm f/4 and it was not as good as this Tokina zoom. It wasn't nearly as well-corrected chromatically as the Tokina is. I think you'll really enjoy this lens.

Yes, the AT-X 100-300/4 SD ~IS~ a really nice long zoom, sharp and contrasty at both ends of its zoom range.

But the RMC 100-300/5.6 is a nice little lens in its own right (within reasonable expectations), and, due to its relative (to the AT-X) compactness and its very effective macro mode (especially at 100mm), it does make a fun walkabout lens. Smile
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