Last Updated on 05/16/2014 by Kevin Lee
Image stabilization is coming to just about every lens under the sun including unlikely primes like Canon’s 35mm f2. Now Tokina has announced its first optically-stabilized addition, the AT-X 70-200mm f4 PRO FX VCM-S telephoto zoom lens. The name is a mouth full but this full-frame telephoto lens made for Nikon cameras is equipped with a voice coil motor-driven—or essentially a magnetically controlled IS system—that promises up to three-stops of stabilization.
There’s a lot of technobabble to read through here, but the IS system should help bird watchers and other wildlife photographers get that all important shot even when shooting handheld. Inside the long barrel the lens is made up of 19 elements arranged into 14 groups.
The Tokina 70-200mm f4 also features an ultrasonic motor for near silent auto-focusing. On Nikon crop sensor bodies like the Nikon D7100, the lens has an equivalent focal length range of 105-300mm. Oddly enough the lens does not come with a tripod collar built-in. Buyers will need to buy the module separately.
This May, the lens will first come as a Nikon mount in Japan for ¥150,000 or about $1,477. With a price tag like that, the Tokina telephoto lens sits right next to Nikon’s equivalent lens, the 70-200 f4, so it will be interesting to see how the two lenses compare with their optics and IS systems. Another option Nikon shooters could look at is the Tamron 70-200mm f2.8, which also comes in at the same price range for $1,399 with a bigger aperture to boot.
Via DP Review