Hands-On: Tokina SZX Super Tele 400mm F8 Reflex MF Review

I’ll admit it. I love primes. Specifically, lightweight prime lenses that differentiate from contemporary offerings with yesteryear’s quirky (and potentially inherently “flawed”) optical designs. Recently, Tokina introduced an SZX 400mm F8 Reflex lens to their catalogue. Comprised of 6 elements in a mirror arrangement with only a fixed F8 aperture, can something so simple and niche stay relevant in an age of over-engineering and pixel peeping resolution?

Mirror (catadioptric) lenses are nothing new… having been in existence for centuries and are still used in telescope design to this day. However, they became largely overlooked and out of favour with modern manufacturers due to the stigma of decreased contrast and resolution. Tokina’s use and refresh of the SZX designation is in respect to a historical line, with this new release upholding core engineering principles of compactness and value.

A demo unit was requested and supplied by the Australian Tokina distributor; CR Kennedy. The thoughts and views of this product are my own. This is not a paid review.

HANDS ON

At approximately the same size (with the lens hood detached) and weight as a can of Coke, this lens is extremely portable, comparatively against modern 400mm lenses with faster apertures. Despite its lightweight and throwback design, modern engineering has ensured that there is no “slop” with this lens. There’s a lot to like here… sturdy metal housing, rigid mount, multi-coated glass and (almost too) buttery smooth focus, with a throw of approximately 270 degrees.

Its palm-sized form factor balances well when mounted on a mirrorless camera, with all of the modern benefits such as focus peaking, IBIS and higher ISO performance addressing practical limitations that may have hindered usage in the past. With these advantages, I endeavoured to review this unit hand-held only.

STABLE SNIPING AT 400MM

Framing to compose handheld (as opposed to cropping in post) is no easy feat, even with the support of the Sony’s IBIS manually set to 400mm. That’s not to say it’s impossible, my preferred usage of lenses has always been more of the run and gun type… it just takes time, patience and good practice when bracing to minimise shake. It’s understandable why photographers who ride longer tele focal lengths usually shoot with a tripod or monopod.

The mentality of shooting a prime 400mm lens for street is quite different and presents its own challenges. Without the luxury of zoom (as with 100-400mm lenses), “aiming” at your subject can be quite haphazard, compounded by the shift from simply recognising the scene in front of you as with a normal focal length, to anticipating and spotting interesting subjects from 10-20m away.

Comparison between the 28mm and 400mm Field of View below, the wider images were taken from the same position using the Ricoh GRIII. Exposure settings are specified for the Tokina to give an indication of practical hand-held performance.

THE BLURSE OF SMOOTH FOCUSING

The long reach of the 400mm focal length, paired with the relatively short minimum focusing distance does allow a subject to fill the frame quite nicely in a pseudo 1:2.5 macro magnification.

The long 270 degree focus enables precise focusing, which is a blessing when you factor in the extremely shallow DoF, using the Cambridge in Colour online calculator yields this result:

That’s right… only 2 cms depth of field in acceptable sharpness when focusing on a subject at 2.5m!

The focusing ring on the Tokina 400mm SZX is buttery smooth… almost too smooth with close to no resistance, this in part due to the simple optical design which requires less moving parts and subsequently less gearing. When shooting on the run and handheld, one has to be mindful to not accidentally nudge the focusing ring when fully braced and depressing the shutter button.

Due to this, the below shots have actually missed focus on the subject(s). However, this could be just due to teething issues and the experience of getting acclimated with a new lens. Overall, I don’t believe it to be disastrously detrimental due to the flat compression and 3D rendering in the out of focus areas.

Certainly not ideal for large scale printing, but you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. The compact 400mm SZX affords you the ability to bridge a very, very large gap and the opportunity to capture those points of interest. Petapixel recently published an article on the concept and relevance of sharpness in photography which you can read here; “If Sharpness Truly Mattered, Cartier-Bresson Would Be a Joke“.

PIXEL- PEEPING PEDANTRY

Ok, stay with me here… despite the above, I’m still stubborn enough to persist in only using this lens handheld. So how far can this lens resolve in optimum conditions?

By the time I embarked on a third outing with this lens, the overcast winter sky had cleared. I was able to attain optimum IQ by shooting with a lower ISO and faster shutter speed; no noise to reduce resolution and a fast enough shutter to compensate any shake or shift in position.

I’m both surprised and relieved to advise that it can keep up with the gratuitous 42.4 megapixel count on the Sony A7rIII. The only degradation being the atmospheric haze between the lens and the subject causing lower contrast, nothing that a slight boost with a clarity/ dehaze slider can’t rectify in post.

LUSCIOUSLY LOOPING, DELICIOUS DONUT BOKEH

Love it or hate it, the donut bokeh is a signature of mirror lenses.

Example of the infamous donut ring bokeh…

Lets not focus on the fact that I’m actually shooting Christmas lighting in August…

Whilst not dramatically obvious in the example photos from the previous sections, this optical phenomenon tends to present itself in out of focus highlights; making fairy type lights, foliage or even defocused lightsources more pronounced.

Now, this effect isn’t for everyone, but I find it adds a unique texture to photos that can’t easily be replicated digitally. I suppose if you were shooting something that was thematically centred around “rings” such as weddings, the Olympics…or even a Sonic the Hedgehog cosplay photoshoot, this lens may add some dramatic optical irony.

THE SOCIAL DISTANCING PORTRAIT LENS

A 400mm lens is quite some distance between you and your subject. Shooting street style candid portraits means you have to change your mentality to see what’s beyond that is in front of you. A rough estimate would be that to compose for a head to hip type portrait, you would have to be approximately 5-10m away.

FINAL MUSINGS

In an age of mirrorless cameras standardising features such as in-body stabilisation and focus peaking, this new telephoto offering is made even more practical. Perhaps my only concern would be the dust resistance in the use of an interchangeable mount, and the baffling use of a screw-in lens hood (Get with the times Tokina and offer us a bayonet mount hood!)

With that being said, if you’re after a compact, lightweight and well-constructed telephoto prime then the Tokina 400 SXZ is a worthy contender especially at $349 AUD/ 249 USD… a cheap price of admission for a unique rendering and reach.