The new Tokina AT-X 165 PRO DX makes an excellent standard lens giving the digital photographer the equivalent of a 24-75mm lens in terms of film. From the nature enthusiast to the portrait artist to photojournalist, everyone will be able to appreciate the AT-X 165's bright F/2.8 constant aperture. This wide aperture allows for faster shutter speeds in low-light conditions or a more shallow depth of field for more pleasing portraits. The out of focus background from a wide aperture setting concentrates attention on the subject giving the photo more strength and intimacy.

Tokina's exclusive One-touch Focus Clutch Mechanism allows the photographer to switch between AF and MF simply by snapping the focus ring forward for AF and back toward the camera to focus manually. There is no need to change the AF-MF switch on Nikon cameras*** and there is no second AF/MF switch on the lens for Canon, everything is accomplished by the focus ring.

The front element of the AT-X 165 PRO DX has a newly formulated WP or "Water Proof" optical coating on the glass. This new coating makes marks such as spots left by water or finger-prints much easier to clean than standard multi-coating.**

The rear optical group of the lens contains 1 SD (Super-Low Dispersion) glass element to reduce the number of elements (pieces of glass) in the optical design in order to make the lens more compact, light-weight and faster focusing.

specification

Mount availability: Canon EOS, Nikon-D

Focal length: 16 to 50mm

Maximum aperture: f/2.8

Minimum aperture: f/22

Optical construction: 15 elements in 12 groups

SD glass: One elements

Coatings: "Water Proof" optical coating

Angle of view: 82° ~ 31°

Minimum focus distance: 11.8 in. (30cm)

Macro Ratio: 1:4.88

Zooming system: Rotary type

Number of diaphragm blades: 9

Filter size: 77mm

Dimensions: 3.3 in. (84mm) X L 3.8 in. (97.4mm)

Weight: 21.5 oz. (610g)

Lens Hood BH-777

Availability: May 2007

woohoo.. 1mm wider..

wonder how it perform, if the IQ is good, then the tamron price sure habis...

built should be alot better than the tamron. but the price is a lot higher too. selling at rm 2.3k

tokina...still a bit skeptical about it
but if IQ is indeed better than tamron, it will be then not much difference than nikkor

unlikely but im open, competition is good
time to change siggy?

The Tokina 16-50mm F2.8 was designed in collaboration with Pentax.

So Pentax also has a 16-50mm F2.8 with similar optics but with SDM (Pentax's version of USM/SWM).

Read from http://www.mobile01.com/newsdetail.php?id=3317, that this lense has CA issue in high contrast scenes (also affirmed by review @ Photozone)

However, the Sigma is not as sharp & the Tamron has more serious vignetting issues. So nobody's perfert.

Now the Tamron 17-50 is around RM1.3-1.4k. So whether the extra 1mm at the wide end is worth the RM1k extra?

Anyhow, since I've got a 28-70mm F2.8 already, I guess I should be getting a 12-24mm iinstead.

This post has been edited by scorgio: Jun 14 2007, 12:55 PM