Stacked TCs: Testing a super copy of the Tokina 300mm f/2.8 with 2x + 1.5x

stylgeo

stylgeo

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I recently bought a Tokina 300mm f/2.8 ATX. After some very thorough tests (you guys can imagine what I'm talking about, charts on walls, bird feathers, pixel peeping at 200% ;) ), I realised that it is a very very sharp lens, even sharper than my old 120-300mm f/2.8, which was an amazing lens.

The lens is very usable wide open at f/2.8, and gets even better at f/3.2

With the 1.5X so at 450mm I noticed that the sweet spot of the lens is at f/4.8-5.2, which is brilliant considering that it is wide open at f/4.2

With the 2X so at 600mm, the sweet spot of the lens is at f/8 giving me very sharp photos, which again is amazing considering that it is just one stop slower from its wide open setting of f/5.6.

So, today I decided to do the ultimate test, something I wouldn't even consider doing with my Sigma, and I went to the canal to try the lens on the local pigeon population with both TCs stacked.

So, the lens was now at 900mm f/8.4 wide open, with an effective FOV of 1440mm. I was amazed to see that just stopping it down by one stop at f/12 I was getting decent photos, with AF. OK, the AF did hunt a bit, and I can only imagine how it will be at a darker setting, but as experiments go, this is a definite success!! :D

1) This is the full frame shot taken from 12.5 meters away, I couldn't get the whole pigeon in the frame.
5408874844_2490f7a902_b.jpg


2) This is a 100% crop, no sharpening whatsoever, and believe me, it sharpens quite nicely in PS.
5408875994_99f3a293ec_b.jpg


3) Another 100% crop from the same photo.
5408877022_4d1287ccc7_b.jpg
 
That is very impressive and, dare I say it without opening the gates of hell, close to the sharpness of my Canon 300mm with stacked teleconverters.

Can we see a sharpened version of the same image if you have it?
 
Thanks guys. Some more photos

4) Just a bit of sharpen to bring out some more detail at the fine feather detail of the pigeon.
5408345989_bf67c9cbae_b.jpg


5) This is from a different setting. This is from 16 meters away of a bird feeder. Remember this is a 100% crop
5408346523_cc07be4b03_z.jpg


6) Same crop but sharpened a bit
5408347297_11f851fda0_z.jpg
 
I'm in the market for a Telephoto lens and im looking at Extenders instead of going for a long lens. I think i might take a little look at Tonika. I was originally after a Canon 300mm F4 but i might save abit more and purchase this! When i say a little more,im aware it'll be alot :P
 
Well John, you'd be amazed that it is actually a "cheap" lens for a 300/2.8, and after seeing these results, it is quite a bargain. Unfortunately you can only find it in the second hand market and even though I couldn't call it rare, they are a bit hard to find second hand, but if they do, they tend to sell for £900 or if you are lucky for a bit less!
 
Hi Stylgeo

Nice to meet up earlier.

Just had a bit more time to check out the crops above. This really is a remarkable lens; £900 (or whatever) VERY well spent IMHO.

Look forward to seeing some more pictures once the sun shines.

Best regards
 
£900 Quid!!!!11
I think i might need to look for one of these when it comes to buying a telephoto!
The Af works good on a 500D?
 
Hey Gary, nice meeting you as well. I realise that I got a great bargain, and I think this makes two of us :) ! I hope the weather is better in the weekend so that I can put it to the test and through its paces. But I did spend a couple of hours properly testing it with Michael today. We put the photos up on his huge PC monitor and pixel peeped. His exact words were "I hate you" :p :P. I'll put up some samples of the more "scientific" testing we did today with the charts and everything.

John, Tokina doesn't offer HSM or USM for their lenses. Saying that, even though it is not silent, it is fast enough and can definitely keep up with a flying bird coming towards you, but I only tested it with the 1.5X TC for BIF, not with the 2X. I would imagine that it would be slower, but it is still quite fast. With good light, it autofocuses with both TCs stacked, but I'm using Kenko teleconverters that don't report to the camera so even though it is at f/8 the AF does work, even though at low light it hunts a bit. But what do you expect with a lens with both teleconverters on? :)

I will be uploading some samples, so stay tuned! One photo was with the stacked teleconverters wide open, and I was amazed by the quality I managed to get!
 
Hi George

Emailed Michael a bit ago to let him know how delighted I am with the big lens. Shot some collared doves at 1200f8 (plus crop on the 60D) and nearly fell over when I saw how sharp the images were.

Guess we are both happy guys !

Must go shooting one day. Will arrange something with you both for in a few weeks time - just cannot wait for Spring !

All the best
 
stylgeo said:
I'm using Kenko teleconverters that don't report to the camera so even though it is at f/8 the AF does work, even though at low light it hunts a bit. But what do you expect with a lens with both teleconverters on? :)
!
Click to expand...
Hi 'Stylgeo', just for info,with the Canon300/2.8 even if you stack Canon (reporting) converters the Camera will only see the tc next to the lens so with a 1.4x + 2x stacked on a f2.8 lens (efective f8) the Camera only see it as f5.6 and will attempt to AF on any Canon Camera. In other words, for stacking, you do not necessarily have to have non reporting tc's.
 
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Roy C said:
Hi 'Stylgeo', just for info,with the Canon300/2.8 even if you stack Canon (reporting) converters the Camera will only see the tc next to the lens so with a 1.4x + 2x stacked on a f2.8 lens (efective f8) the Camera only see it as f5.6 and will attempt to AF on any Canon Camera. In other words, for stacking, you do not necessarily have to have non reporting tc's.
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Not necessarily true. When I use the Canon 1.4x III and the Kenko 2x, both report to my camera and I get (on an 2.8, 300mm lens): f8, 840mm
 
micloi said:
Not necessarily true. When I use the Canon 1.4x III and the Kenko 2x, both report to my camera and I get (on an 2.8, 300mm lens): f8, 840mm
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I did say 'Canon Converters' :thumbs:
BTW you are getting the correct EXIF info because of the the semi-dumb Kenko which manipulates the EXIF data without reporting it self to the Cameras AF system, this is a clever piece of trickery by Kenko.
 
Roy C said:
I did say 'Canon Converters' :thumbs:
BTW you are getting the correct EXIF info because of the the semi-dumb Kenko which manipulates the EXIF data without reporting it self to the Cameras AF system, this is a clever piece of trickery by Kenko.
Click to expand...

Nope, I am talking about the Kenko DG and not the DGX.
The DG reports to the camera AF just fine.
 
micloi said:
Nope, I am talking about the Kenko DG and not the DGX.
The DG reports to the camera AF just fine.
Click to expand...
It is still to do with the Kenko electronics. It has always been that if you stack Kenko's (the DG and even before that then the camera would see the stack). The same thing goes if you stack Kenko and Canon. Not so with just Canon's I can assure you.

BTW, if a non one series AF system sees over f5.6 it will not even attempt to AF - the electronics will be shut-off period, AF is impossible. The fact that some combo do report f8 in the EXIF and yet still attempts to AF is because the AF sytem does not see the converters as I have been trying to explain.
 
The combination of the Canon 1.4x II and the Kenko 2x DG did report f8 AND did not AF on the 550D. So the DG did report the correct aperture to the camera AF system.

The DGX on the other hand does not report correctly as it tries to fool the camera AF and it does try to AF on the 550D.

That is a fundamental difference between the DG and DGX
 
Gary we should definitely arrange an outing, even though I'll feel a bit out gunned, having you too having 600mm and 800mm at your disposal, and me with my meagre 300mm :p. I'll definitely be using it at 600mm, but still :).

Ric, did you use AF for No6? Never shot motorsport before! That's impressive btw!

As for the TCs, I really don't know what autofocuses and what reports, all I know is that my TCs don't report to my camera, but the camera does compensate for the loss in light, so I don't need to dial down my exposure.
 
stylgeo said:
Gary we should definitely arrange an outing, even though I'll feel a bit out gunned, having you too having 600mm and 800mm at your disposal, and me with my meagre 300mm :p. I'll definitely be using it at 600mm, but still :).

Ric, did you use AF for No6? Never shot motorsport before! That's impressive btw!

As for the TCs, I really don't know what autofocuses and what reports, all I know is that my TCs don't report to my camera, but the camera does compensate for the loss in light, so I don't need to dial down my exposure.
Click to expand...

Yes A/F Worked.
 
Another sample, this time with both TCs stacked but WIDE OPEN!!

1) Target chart
IMG_0055.jpg


2) 100% crop from centre
Tokina900mmwideopen.jpg
 
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