The Tokina lens - history

Throughout its 57 year history, the Tokina Co Ltd., of Japan, adopted a design and manufacturing philosophy aimed at a high quality target. Unconfirmed reports claim this relatively low profile company was originally started by a group of disgruntled Nikon optical engineers specialising in photographic zoom lens design.

Whatever the mythology, Tokina consistently produced well made and notable objectives for film cameras. They were one of the first independent companies in the 1970s to produce compact zooms and soon after, an f/2.8 maximum aperture version of the popular 80-20mm zoom. This lens marked the beginning of Tokina's AT-X - Advanced Technology Extra - era and was built on in the following decade when it acquired the design rights to one of the then most highly regarded fast short zooms, the Angenieux 28-70mm f/2.6, which subsequently appeared as the Tokina AT-X 28-70 f/2.6 - f/2.8 and later in a new optical design as the AT-X 28-80 f/2.8 zoom.

Today, Tokina designs and manufactures a range of mid-priced high performance zoom and prime lenses. The Tokina 10-17mm f/3.5 - 4.5 DX and SD 12-24mm f/4 (IF) DX designed for the APS-C Dslr format were followed by two larger constant maximum aperture objectives, the Tokina AF 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X 165 Pro DX and medium telephoto AF 50-135mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro DX. The Tokina AT-X 116 PRO DX is an ultra-wide angle lens with a fast f/2.8 aperture based on the award-winning optical design of the AT-X 124 PRO DX (12-24mm f/4) lens.

Tokina’s exclusive One-touch Focus Clutch Mechanism allows the photographer to switch between AF - auto focus - and MF - manual focus - by snapping the focus ring in one direction or another. Other lenses in the Tokina stable include the 35mm f/2.8 DX AT-X Pro AF Macro, the 100mm f/2.8 Macro AT-X M100 the 100mm f/2.8 D AT-X Macro and the long telephoto zoom 80 - 400mm f/4.5 - 5.6 AT-X. Future Tokina lenses will be fitted with silent micro motors to speed auto focus.