Do you agree with Manny?

Tokina 11-18mm lens is at BHphoto. Adorama.

Lenstip tested the Tokina lens and concluded:

Pros:

• excellent image quality in the frame centre,
• sensible image quality on the edge of the frame,
• practically zero longitudinal chromatic aberration,
• sensible distortion correction,
• slight astigmatism,
• silent, quick, and accurate autofocus.

Cons:

• terrible performance against bright light.

I like many aspects of the Tokina ATX-M 11–18 mm f/2.8 E. First of all it is very sharp in the frame centre. At the shorter end of the focal spectrum it allows you to get images of very good quality across the frame.

Additionally, it corrects distortion and vignetting with the help of optics – a rare thing nowadays. I am very happy Tokina constructors didn’t pin that task on a camera software even though it made their work much more difficult. They managed to construct a lens that is sharp and completely able to correct most of optical aberrations in a right way and they should be praised for it.

Still, not all aberrations are corrected that well. The lens fell short of it when it comes to lateral chromatic aberration – perhaps the situation is not as bad as it used to be but still it can’t be called good either. Perormance against bright light is a very painful slip-up – years have passed and Tokina still can’t show us wide angle instruments which would be efficient in that area.

Testing and discussing the effects of shooting below the native ISO of your camera in video. How is dynamic range, noise, and image quality altered?

What’s changed in 9 years? A lot…but in some areas not by much!

The lens at BHphoto. Adorama. Amazon US&EU. FotoKoch.

SonyAlphaBlog tested the Tamron 20-40mm FE lens and concluded:

The Tamron 20-40mm F2.8 Di III VXD (999 euros) , is proposing a usual zoom range that will suit vlogger , and photographer who mix street and architecture/landcsape and a tiny bit of portraits. It will also be an ideal complement to a Tamron 35-150mm F2-2.8 Di III VXD

Its performances are very good overall with very good sharpness especially at 20mm but nothing excellent neither specially in the corners that are a little bit weak at 40mm wide open. For best results across the frame you will need to close down to F5.6 . Bokeh is very good, as well as color rendering and smoothness of background blur

The images are automatically corrected in Lightroom for distortion and vignetting. Resistance flare is a bit average

In term of competition there is no direct equivalent the best replacement are either

• The Sony PZ 16-35mm F4 G deliver superior performance (sharpness, ergonomics) with a wider focal range but do not have the F2.8 aperture
• The Duo Tamron 20mm F2.8 (300 euros) + Tamron 35mm F2.8 (300 euros), that offer superior sharpness
• The Duo Sony 24mm F2.8 G (600 euros) + Sony 40mm F2.5 G (600 euros) that offers superior sharpness, ergonomics color rendering and AF speed but less versatility

The Tamron 20-40 will be ideal only if you really need the variability of a zoom , a F2.8 and this specific focal range and will be more at ease on a A7IV (33Mpix) than on a A7RV (61Mpix)

If you are on the market for a Sony Vlogger camera check out that quick comparison.

Sony A7rV store links:
In US at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, FocusCamera, BeachCamera, Buydig.
In EU at Fotokoch, Amazon EU, FotoErhardt, Calumet DE, WexUK. ParkCameras UK.
In Australia at CameraPro, Camerahouse, Sony.

CameraLabs finalized his A7rV review and concluded:

By becoming more practical for long exposures, macro photography and pixel-shift composites, the R V broadens its appeal, while also giving you the flexibility of a tilt and flip screen, the joy of the most detailed viewfinder around, the bonus of 8k video and Sony’s most cunning AF system to date. I can definitely recommend it, but whether it’s worth the extra thousand? Only you can say.

One more review from Sidney: