Growing up Asian American, I was exposed to cultural aspects from both Hong Kong (the family motherland) and America. However, if there is one cultural aspect that my parents taught me that I still uphold, it is to be frugal, to never pay full price for anything. Like a wise man named Jimmy O. Yang once said, in terms of shopping, our bragging rights come from how little money we actually spend. Unfortunately, photography gear is expensive.
During the pandemic, perhaps out of boredom, I returned to landscape and architectural photography. At that time, most of the equipment I owned would traditionally be used for portraiture work- standard fast-apertured lenses meant to be shot wide open or close to it, or telephoto or portrait lenses. For landscapes and architectural photography, I’d need to go wide. But brand new ultra wide lenses can be prohibitively expensive, so for a while, I opted to shoot digitally and put off getting a wide angle lens for my film cameras.
That is, until a couple of months ago, when I discovered how cheap and good vintage ultra wides can be.
While digging through the junk box at my local camera shop, I came across a Tokina 19-35mm f/3.5-4.5 AF lens for Nikon F-mount. It was in decent condition, and would only be improved by a gentle cleaning. The shop owner asked $50 for the lens, I happily obliged, and became the proud owner of a dirt cheap ultra wide.
Lens Specs
The Tokina 19-35mm f/3.5-4.5 AF lens is an ultra wide-angle zoom lens that was available in multiple lens mounts. I’m reviewing the Nikon F-mount version, though the same lens in other mounts will perform similarly if not identically.
The lens’ optical formula is composed of 13 elements in 11 groups with low-dispersion glass elements. As a variable aperture zoom lens, maximum aperture at 19mm is f/3.5 while at 35mm, the maximum aperture is f/4.5. Minimum aperture throughout the aperture range is f/22 with 6 aperture blades. The Tokina 19-35mm lens accepts filters with a diameter of 77mm. Physically the lens clocks in at just 390 grams, thanks to its poly-carbonate lens barrel, making this a great ultra wide lens to take on travels. Do note, this lens’ front element does rotate in manual focus, which can prove challenging for those wanting to use circular polarizers or other special effects filters on this lens.
As the name suggests, this lens is capable of auto-focus, however only on select Nikon auto-focus bodies with built-in auto-focus motors (that little screw on the lens mount at approximately the 7 o’clock position). The lens features an Ai-S mount which makes it compatible with practically all Nikon film bodies, the few exceptions being Nikon cameras that require a lens prong (colloquially called “rabbit-ears”) to communicate lens aperture to the the camera’s meter (this lens lacks the prongs). Examples would be the majority of the Nikkormats (with the exception of the FT3 and EL2) and the Nikon F and F2 when equipped with the Photomic meter prisms.
Handling and Impressions
I had the chance to really experience this lens during a few short and sweet summer trips in between the chaos of taking all my prerequisites for PA school. In particular, I used this lens extensively during a short solo trip to Seattle to hang out with friends. Many of the spots I visited pretty much required an ultra wide lens, specifically The Museum of Flight. It is an aviation geek’s dream destination, as visitors are allowed to board and see rare and historical aircraft up close. Other places included Chihuly Garden & Glass museum, Smith Tower, Columbia Center, and the University of Washington’s Suzzallo Library. All my images shot with this lens on this trip were made with my Nikon FM2n, my main workhorse film camera.
In the hands, the poly-carbonate lens barrel leaves a bit to be desired in terms of build quality. Though lightweight and relatively compact, the lens barrel does creak a bit with just a moderate squeeze on the focus ring and lens body. It didn’t exactly inspire confidence. The focus ring was very light to turn and adjust focus, but the aperture ring felt a bit rough. Not at all surprising given that this lens was a budget ultra-wide when it was new, and it’s far from new today.
Image quality is where this lens reveals its character and truly shines. Stopped down at f/8 and smaller, details are resolved very clearly with sharpness across the entire frame and crisp micro-contrast. Distortion will always be evident with ultra wides for closer subjects, however this lens still handles distortion well throughout its focal length range.
At larger apertures, details do get a bit softer and vignetting is visible, as shown in the images shot inside Suzzallo Library. However, do note that I used Cinestill 400D for those shots, which is known for vintage soft glow looks with glowing halations in the highlights (a product of the removal of the remjet layer found in the original motion picture stock from which this film is derived).
Flare is controlled remarkably well for a budget lens, with only a slight decrease in contrast when shooting against the bright early evening Seattle sun from Smith Tower.
The majority of my images shot with this lens while in Seattle were made at the widest focal length of 19mm. Why buy an ultra wide lens if we’re not shooting ultra wide?
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, at just $50, this lens’ impressive performance represents one of the best bang for buck deals I could ever score and it has proved to be a versatile yet lightweight ultra wide lens for landscape and urban architecture work to take on my travels across the world. I was thoroughly impressed by this great value of a lens’ performance, while capturing some of the most memorable shots while enjoying my time with friends, and it’s opened my eyes to a whole world of cheap, 3rd party zoom lenses released during the 1990s and 2000s.
Since the average price for this used lens is under $75, I highly recommend it for budget-minded shoppers looking for their first ultra wide lens. With competing modern ultra wides costing up to thousands, the Tokina 19-35mm AF is a stunning bargain. It makes gorgeous images, costs almost nothing, and has been a worthy addition to my adventures.
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Great write-up and cool images. I just ordered a super clean copy with lens hood and everything for $65 USD. Hope your trip was as delightful as the photos you shared!