Something some of you may not know...

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Sambr

Senior Member
Yes and ex-Nikon engineers started Tokina years ago. I have a 50-135 2.8DX Tokina Zoom and it is awesome. Same build quality as Nikon, not as quiet though.
 
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fotojack

Senior Member
Here's another little tidbit: Ever notice your pictures start with DSC_xxxx? Ever wonder what the DSC stands for? Literally, it means Digital Still Camera. :) Now you know.
 
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kanteen

Banned
LensWork said:
And Kenko is the "K" in the THK (Tokina-Hoya-Kenko) company.
Click to expand...


Not True. Tokina was started long before Hoya & Kenko joined with "Tokina" Tokina was started by a handful of Nikon engineers that were not happy the direction Nikon was taking so they startred their own company. Pentax later bought Tokina. Not changing anything - however the Pentax "star" lens are the sharpest around.
Tokina was founded by a group of Nikon engineers who left Nikon to concentrate on the development of high-quality zoom lenses, which were rare at the time. Originally an OEM manufacturer only, in the early 1970s they began selling lenses under their own Tokina brand.[1]
In recent years, Tokina has become a partner of Pentax, division of Hoya Corporation and jointly developed some lenses. These will be available under the Pentax and Schneider Kreuznach D-Xenon and D-Xenogon brands in Pentax K mount and under the Tokina brand for all other lens mounts. However, the research center, design and engineering teams of these two companies are completely independent.
The co-developed lenses share main optical designs but have different barrel structures and coatings. They also have some other different features. For example, the Tokina AT-X Pro 12-24mm II comes with built-in silent focusing motor, while the Pentax version has screwdrive autofocus. Another example is that Tokina AT-X Pro 16-50mm and 50-135mm have only screw-drive autofocus and no weather-sealing, but Pentax version have both features.
Another difference is the procedure for switching between manual focus and auto-focus. With Tokina's "One-touch Focus Clutch Mechanism", you move the focus ring forward to enter auto-focus mode, and backward to enter manual-focus mode. With Pentax's "Quick-Shift Focus System", introduced in early 2004 with the DA 16-45mm f/4.0, you just rotate the manual focus ring while staying in auto-focus mode. Sigma and Nikon now have systems similar to Tokina and Pentax, respectively.
As of March 2009, the six lenses co-developed and released in both Tokina and Pentax versions are the AT-X Pro 12-24mm f/4.0, AT-X Pro 16-50mm f/2.8, AT-X Pro 50-135mm f/2.8, AT-X 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 fisheye, AT-X Pro 100mm /2.8 macro, and AT-X Pro 35mm f/2.8 macro. The last Tokina lens released before the collaboration was the 28-70mm f/2.8, in 2002. The currently available Tokina own-designed lenses are the 11-16mm f/2.8, 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6, 16.5-135mm f/3.5-5.6 and 28-80mm f/2.8.
As of February 2010, Tokina started production on its first Sony Alpha-mount lens, the AT-X 116 Pro DX 11–16 mm f/2.8.
 
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