Hello all,
I just had to make a quick post about my latest toy, the fantastic Duclos modified 11-16mm T2.8 Tokina. In a time where more and more manufactures of still photo optics are moving away from metal (for housing and even innards) and substituting (egads!) plastic, I’m really glad that companies like Tokina (in a worthy partnership with Pentax) are sticking with METAL mechanics. It makes a world of difference for longevity.
11-16mm Duclos Tokina PL mount
Now I’m not sure if it’s really fair to call what team Duclos does to the Tokina lens a “modification.” That’s kind of like calling West Coast Choppers unique builds nothing more than a “custom” bike.
Wide angle lenses generally don’t have a problem with breathing, and of course the 11-16 doesn’t breath at all. I think that there is a big future for this kind of work, expect to see the 11-16 be quite popular with Hot Rod PL systems.
The humble $600 Tokina get’s some serious work by the folks at Duclos. More than just modifying, the lens is enhanced- in addition to the PL, they add an entire iris ring to the optical assembly. The insides are also fully buffed and tweaked; there’s nice resistance to the zoom ring, just the right amount of effort is required to slide it with your thumb- not sticky, not sloppy, this zoom is cine style built for creeping zooms, not for the quick repositioning still shooters demand. Focus ring doesn’t get a re-build, but it doesn’t need it when you’re shooting this wide, there’s not much pulling to be done even at T2.8.
Team Duclos takes after my own heart at works their magic without adding much in the way of size, and keeps the design simple and elegant. If you have been looking for the smallest, lightest and widest angle PL mount zoom lens, look no further. Of course, they sell them as fast as they can make ‘em and the waiting list for the lenses can run for months (it was for me), I recommend you queue up now for the next batch before they decided to raise the price… that is… raise the price again, the price recently went up $500. Understandable when there’s a demand, if you check Abel Cine the price of the Hot Rod PL Deluxe kit has gone up too, nearly $100. If you are on a wait list for a Deluxe kit rest easy, I expect to deliver more Deluxe kits next week.
Oh one more thing… Duclos is also the local Los Angeles representative for the UK based TLS which makes some might fine matteboxes. These things are solid, and other than a few minor quibbles I have with some design choices, these things are totally worth the money. Think of the TLS matteboxes as cut from the same cloth as the popular low price Genus mattebox, but the TLS boxes are larger, and as such have more filter options. I put Hawk on the 11-16mm today and it pairs very nicely without vignetting.
I.