Lens review

Tokina AT-X 124 PRO DX II AF 12-24 mm f/4

9. Ghosting, flares and transmission

Having the access to the spectrophotometer we couldn’t deny ourselves the pleasure of checking how the new Tokina coatings fare. You can see the results on the transmission graph, posted below.

It is quite characteristic for typical greenish multi-coating, so fashionable lately. A significant “hole” in the transmission near the centre of the visible spectrum is, of course, responsible for their greenish hue. The tested lens loses as much as 20% of light there. The situation improves in the red part of the spectrum, where the transmission increases to 89%, and near the 480 nm length of the light's waves, where it amounts to 82-83%.

The Tokina 12–24 mm II consists of 11 groups of elements. Its producer has as many as 22 air-to-glass surfaces to cover. In the red part of the spectrum the loss on one of these surfaces amounts to 0.5-0.6%, then. You can describe such a result as average. The best coatings in photographic lenses can minimize the losses to 0.2-0.25%.

Fortunately, the inside of the Tokina’s barrel is constructed well and blackened properly so its work against bright light can be assessed positively. It is quite significant because when you work with an ultra-wide angle you have plenty of bright light in the frame corners. As you can notice in the pictures below, light artifacts are caught but there aren’t many of them and they aren’t particularly bothersome.