28-70

About Tokina’s 28-70mm f:2.6-2.8 AT-X Pro and its Angenieux ties

Nikon Glass Blog
Nikon Glass


The pages about the Angenieux 28-70 zoom lens have been the biggest hit of this blog so far.

Manufactured in relatively small volumes by a renown French company, this lens disappeared from the shelves in the mid nineties, only to resurface – slightly modified – as an AT-X Pro after Tokina bought the design. So says the legend, at least.

More about the Tokina AT-X Pro saga can be found in a page published in November by John Cazolis in his blog Nikon Glass. John explores the different versions of Tokina’s 28-70 zoom, and tests extensively the AT-X Pro 28-70mm f:2.6-2.8, which is considered the closest to the original Angenieux design.

There are always a few Tokina AT-X Pro 28-70 lenses for sale on eBay, but the first iteration of the Pro model – the one that John Cazolis recommends – is relatively difficult to find. Expect to pay between $200 and $300 for a nice lens in good condition.

[Edited April 2018: posted a new blog entry about the Tokina 28-70 lenses: The four Tokina 28-70 AF lenses and their Angenieux roots.And John Cazolis rewrote his Tokina 28-70 entry in  http://www.johncaz.net/home/tokina-at-x-pro-af-28-70mm-26-28. ]

joe_lake_powell
Joe – Skipper on Lake Powell (AZ) – Scanned from print – Minolta 700si – Angenieux 28-70mm f/2.6 zoom (May 1994)

Angenieux 28-70mm f:2.6 AF

The 28-70 f:2.6 was Angenieux’s last consumer oriented zoom, designed for Canon, Minolta and Nikon AF cameras. With a very wide aperture, an all-glass and all-metal construction, it was positioned to compete with the “pro” series zooms of the big three. The tests performed by the specialized press at that time showed that it was THAT good.

Unfortunately, its price was also on par with the best of Nicanolta, which made it a tough sale beyond the small circle of admirers of French technology. When Angenieux decided to refocus on professional markets and stopped the production of its consumer oriented lenses, Tokina inherited the design, and their Tokina AT-X 287 Series – which was sold as recently as 2007, is a remote descendant of the Angenieux 28-70 AF.

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