Marc Alhadeff tested the new lens (Preorder at BHphoto and Adorama.)
Pro’s
- The sharpness of this lens is excellent on the entire frame. As of F2 in the centre as of F2.8 in the corners, overall better than the Zeiss Loxia 21mm F2.8 everywhere in term of sharpness
- Very nice out of focus effect at F2 and close distance
- Nice bokeh for a wide angle
- The build quality is good (although not as good as on a Zeiss lens like the Zeiss Loxia 21mm F2.8 )
- The lens is small and lightweight
- Distorsion is low as well as CA (you can reuse the Lightroom lens profile of the MF version)
- Good color rendition
Neutral
- The AF is a welcome addition to the lens and make its use more easy , but the Tokina Firin motor is rather noisy and not as fast as the supersonic motor that equip most Sony lenses
- The lens hood is a standard one (vs the rectangular for the MF version) which makes it much more practical to carry. The lens hood is a little bit difficult to fix
Cons
- AF too slow for fast actions and AFC mode
- Video : I would not recommend to use the lens in AF for video due to the noise and the hunting, MF could be ok but still expect some noise due to the non disconnected AF motor
In summary : Highly recommended as a wide angle lens with fast aperture for photography, not so great for fast actions and for video in AF
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