Tokina Goes for Old Mojo, Prepping Super-wide Zoom

Tokina, a third party lens maker known especially for hit-and-miss super-wide zoom lenses, will apparently be soon launching an 11-18mm f/2.8 lens for crop Sony E mount.

This harkens back to the famous 11-16mm f/2.8 lens that was both cheap and at least as good as the first-party brands back in the days of the DSLR.

Tokina has long been known for wide angle lenses, with some models known specially as super values, providing excellent image quality and very low prices. Of late, Tokina has tried to join the “cine” fray, launching similar lenses at much higher prices, but without the sharpness that some of their earlier models were known for.

The new 11-18mm lens, with pictures recently leaked, appears to be very small, even accounting for the shorter flange distance needed versus the old DSLR designs. It looks an awful lot like the old 11-20 lens sold mostly for Canon EF mount.