Tokina SZX Super Tele 400mm F8 Reflex MF

£249/$249 It’s ultra-lightweight thanks to mirror tricks

This Tokina is a fraction of the price of the other lenses on test, but there’s a catch. As a reflex or ‘mirror’ lens, it has just six optical elements, three of which have mirrored surfaces that bounce the light backwards and forwards within the relatively short barrel. This enables a long focal length in a physically small build.

As a ‘dumb lens’, there’s no electrical connection to the host camera. The same lens is sold with different mount adapters to suit various cameras, including Nikon F and Nikon Z. Focusing is purely manual and the aperture is fixed at f/8. At least manual focusing is fairly easy with mirrorless Z system cameras, thanks to the availability of a bright viewfinder image at f/8 and the camera’s ‘focus peaking’ option.

Performance

Although pretty impressive for a mirror lens, sharpness is nowhere near on a par with all of the other lenses on test. On the plus side, colour fringing and distortion are quite minimal and you get the typical ‘donut bokeh’ of a mirror lens, which gives defocused bright spots a distinctive halo effect.

N-photo verdict

This Tokina lacks the sharpness, contrast and clarity of regular lenses but it’s small, lightweight and cheap.

Sharpness

Levels of sharpness are very consistent across the whole image frame but relatively lacklustre overall.

Fringing

There’s very little colour fringing and, as with sharpness, it’s entirely consistent across the frame.

Distortion

Very minor pincushion distortion is on a par with the Nikon Z 400mm f/4.5 VR S lens on test.