RMC Tokina 100-300mm 1: 5.6. Review from the reader Radozhiva

Review of RMC Tokina 100-300mm 1: 5.6 (Konica AR => M42) specially for Radozhiva prepared Rodion Eshmakov.

RMC Tokina 100-300mm 1: 5.6

RMC Tokina 100-300mm 1: 5.6

This lens is also a Tokina RMC zoom telephoto lens, produced in Japan in the 1980s for a variety of SLR cameras: Canon, Pentax, Konica, Minolta, etc. As a rule, these lenses have a low price on the secondary market with good performance. Will 100-300 / 5.6 be an equally good compromise?

Features:
Lens Type - Zoom
The range of focal lengths is 100-300 mm (3x zoom ratio)
Relative bore - F / 5.6 (constant)
Filter thread - 55 mm
MDF - 1 m
Weight - ~ 600 g
Case Material - Aluminum

Lens design

The Tokina RMC 100-300 / 5.6 lens is made according to a single-ring (pump-action) scheme: with the translational movement of a single huge ring, you can change the focal length, and rotational - the focus distance. This lens is not parfocal. Before the advent of autofocus, it was precisely this arrangement that reigned in the camp of zooms.

RMC Tokina 100-300mm 1: 5.6

RMC Tokina 100-300mm 1: 5.6

A distance scale in meters and feet is plotted on the focusing ring, a focal length scale and an IR shift mark are displayed on the fixed part of the body. When focusing on MDF, the green arrow on the focus ring indicates the current macro scale: from 1: 6.6 with FR = 100 mm to 1: 2.3 (!) With FR = 300 mm.

The focusing mechanism of the lens: focus on infinity (left) and on MDF (right)

The focusing mechanism of the lens: focus on infinity (left) and on MDF (right)

The rear group of lenses when changing the focal length remains stationary. Perhaps because of this, the lens sucks less dust into the camera. Focusing is performed by changing the position of the front group of lenses. Theoretically, this means the possibility of adjusting the working segment due to its movements. It is important to note that when focusing, the entire front part rotates, which will complicate the work with polarizing filters.

“RMC” in the name of the lens means “Rainbow Multi-Coating” - at that time it was fashionable to come up with different degrees of pathos of the designation of a proprietary multilayer antireflection coating.

Front view of the lens

Front view of the lens

Enlightenment really sparkles with all the colors of the rainbow, justifying its name.

The aperture of the lens is six-bladed, “blinking”. Petals are matte black and rounded.

Aperture view Tokina 100-300 / 5.6

Aperture view Tokina 100-300 / 5.6

My copy was originally intended for Konica cameras with AR mount, which does not allow the full use of the lens on a modern SLR camera. Therefore, its shank was replaced with a tail with M42 thread with an increased length (for Nikon cameras), and the control of the diaphragm remained completely manual. At the same time, the fact that the stroke of the aperture ring turned out to be very small gives inconvenience: it is very difficult to set the desired value exactly, it is much easier to navigate shutter speed and picture. On the other hand, with a maximum relative aperture of F / 5.6, there is nothing to diaphragm here.

Dural back of the converted lens with M42 thread

Dural back of the converted lens with M42 thread

The lens in its design does not carry any surprises: this is the most typical zoom of its time. The only nice feature is the Close Focus mode, which is not declared anywhere else, at which an impressive maximum increase of 1: 2.3 is achieved.

Optical properties

The lens is not parfocal: when you change the focal length, the focus point shifts. It is logical: it is difficult to change the RF on a pump-action lens without touching the focusing distance. For the same reason, the infinity mark (and generally the distance scale) on this lens is very arbitrary.

The picture quality is on the C grade: sharpness at FR> 135 mm is no longer enough due to spherical aberration and chromatism, the enlightenment also cannot cope with the backlight. Poor blackening of the inner surfaces of the lens is most likely to blame (the insides are matte, but rather gray than black). It is difficult to shoot without wiggling with such FR and relative aperture. The lens did not meet my expectations - I liked Tokina 80-200 / 4 much more.

The open aperture is completely inactive in macro photography:

Macro on open aperture

Macro on open aperture

Macro on a covered diaphragm (~ 1.5-2 feet)

Macro on a covered diaphragm (~ 1.5-2 feet)

And at infinity there are not enough stars on the open lens:

~ 1 stop shot when aperture

~ 1 stop shot when aperture

Open aperture shot

Open aperture shot

And this lens absolutely does not like backlight:

Backlit diaphragm shot

Backlit diaphragm shot

The lens bokeh without features is pleasant, unobtrusive. On full-frame cameras, a slight twisting will be noticeable due to vignetting.

More sample photos (Canon 600D, converted to Canon DPP from RAW):

Conclusions

Tokina RMC 100-300 / 5.6 - compact zoom telephoto with the ability to shoot macro. The image quality is mediocre, shooting with a lens due to low aperture (and even the need for aperture) and large FRs is inconvenient. Perhaps the RMC Tokina 80-200 / 4 could be a much more reasonable acquisition.

You will find more reviews from readers of Radozhiva here.

Add a comment: Past the crocodile

 

 

Comments: 30, on the topic: RMC Tokina 100-300mm 1: 5.6. Review from the reader Radozhiva

  • Oleg

    Thanks for the brief review.
    Fix plz: "reigned in the camp of zooms"

  • anonym

    Very good information in the sense that it is a lens and is not needed for nothing. I’m not joking, because sometimes, among such old rubbish, more or less high-quality options from various manufacturers come across.

    • anonym

      So I bought a Vivitar 70-210 f / 3.5 Series 1 for my OM-D E-M10 mk2. The glass is pleasant, I shot a macro a couple of times on it + there is a close focus mode, but it is very inconvenient to use it, especially on a compact BZK.

      • Sergei

        He himself has a Vivitar Series 1 70-210 mm f / 2.8-4 VMC (Komine, ver. 3) (I sell) - ehh, he would have a weight of 200 grams less :( ...

      • zengarden

        I have a Vivitar 85-205 f / 3.8 (M42) lying around - some kind of rare Japanese, there is practically no information on it. Removes also mediocre; but this is possibly due to a rare Japanese fungus 😆 if Rodion is interested in testing it, I can send it as a gift.

        • Rodion

          Perhaps I will refrain. Thanks for the offer)

    • Sergei

      From Tokina, by the way, too.
      I have manual 35-70 / 2.8 and 60-120 / 2.8 AT-X series - glasses of a rather high level.

  • Michael

    What does “close focus” mean? I do not understand. Explain, if not difficult.

    • Sergei

      Literally that means, as translated - "near focus", ie the ability of the lens to focus at close distances, which gives quite good (as for a zoom in those years!) macro capabilities.

  • Michael

    I get it, thanks for the clarification. But does this (close focus) not imply, of course, the presence of a macro mode?

    • Onotole

      Close-focus is something in between intermediate, non-specialized photography and true macro.

  • aries2200

    a good lens ... gives the most natural image comparable to human perception ... film drawing ... a plastic volumetric image ... the author's criticism is based on his deformed perception of the world around him brought up on many hours of vigil in monitors with a contrast of 1:60 - 1: 600

    • Sergei

      The opinion of the author is based on his vast experience in owning and using old manual optics. So his opinion, IMHO, can be more than trusted.
      The lens (at least - a specific copy of it), judging by the given photos, is objectively "not very" and precisely in comparison with its classmates by age / price ...

      • Т

        This is a great experience for Arkady, Rodion, in addition to the junk, did not see anything else. But the reviews are doing good, I wouldn’t be able to

      • Onotole

        I think at the full frame he would open differently.

        • anonym

          At full frame, the lens does not close and opens))) but just soap edges are added.
          In this case, there is no miracle and cannot be, an ordinary soap low-contrast cheap lens, with low resolution and without normal enlightenment.
          Junk, but the price tends to zero. ))) It is unrealistic to get high-quality images, so take the tops at 1mp.

      • R'RёS,R ° F "RёR№

        You're probably right. Almost the same lens, but with aperture 5 (not 5.6), a little better. But the zoom with f4 is worse again.

  • Past the crocodile

    Hooray, Eshmakov is back)))
    Norm reviewer, thank you!
    And by the way, like macrushka pressed on a long Pts even!
    Put it in the piggy bank.

  • Past the crocodile

    In general, rams-tokens are very different. I like Pts at 3.5 with 62mm on the face. Pts quality telezumchig.
    But sometimes dark and not discrete zooms come across even very nothing.
    And about the plastic lamellas of the diaphragm - well, how can you tell me why they are worse than the metal on the drain at 10-30uy)))?

  • anonym

    Normal soapy zoom with low resolution and a lousy picture. Like dozens of other same old shitbags.

  • Past the crocodile

    , described here - you probably forgot to mark the anonymous author ... I generally look you are easy on the assessment of what you did not hold in your hands. There are no bad rams for toxins in manuals. There are different tasks and goals.
    And if you are a fool buy a decent Vivic for crop 2 and it doesn’t work out for you, then all this is easy to explain -
    ) What for on crop 2 are so focal?
    (Maybe you don’t know how to? Rodion won’t even give decent material to Ramsey.
    (And in general, maybe you are not at the address?
    Fink About IT, baby

    • Arkady Shapoval

      Very impolite communication. Try not to get personal, it's not beautiful

      • Past the crocodile

        I won’t. Block or delete.
        Caesar Cesarean.

  • anonym

    Rodion, and you did not think to spend your time with greater benefit than writing a review of an uninteresting and unnecessary lens?
    Take a walk with a girl, make money for good new optics, for example.

    • Onotole

      Anonymous, and you, in turn, did not think to spend your time with greater benefit than giving out useless tips to the Internet?
      Take a walk with a girl, make money, etc.?

    • Arkady Shapoval

      Rodion has modern Canon fast fixes, if that :)

  • R'RёS,R ° F "RёR№

    Good test, thanks to Arkady !!!
    I also have a Tokina 70-210 f/3.5. This is the same Vivitar series 1 in only one Tokin version. The quality is very good, I rarely use it but I'm not going to sell it. Sometimes it works out really well. I would like something similar only with a larger zoom of 100-300. There is also a lens not 5.6 aperture, but simply 5. It is heavier, larger. I would like to know about him.

  • Edward

    Hello Arkady. You have a small nuance in the search for your articles, for example, the RMC Tokina 100-300mm 1: 5.6 lens. for some reason it was not included in the lists of Tokina lenses .. I ran into just this, I recently read about this lens, then I decided to read it again, went to the main page of your site, chose “Tokina lenses” and it’s not there ?! I found it only on Google .. well, here is such a story, maybe I can help someone ..

    • B. R. P.

      This is a review from a reader, in another section.

      • Rodion

        In general, readers seem to be also included in the general list (or were included). Maybe this particular one was forgotten.

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