Tokina

Tokina Co., Ltd. (株式会社トキナー, Kabushiki-gaisha Tokinā) is a Japanese manufacturer of photographic lenses and CCTV security equipment.

Partnership with Pentax

Tokina has become a partner of Pentax, a division of Ricoh, and has agreed to jointly develop some lenses. These will be available under the Pentax brand in Pentax K mount and under the Tokina brand for all other lens mounts. However, the research center, design and engineering teams of these two companies are completely independent.

The co-developed lenses share main optical designs but have different barrel structures and coatings. They also have some other different features. For example, the Tokina AT-X Pro 12-24mm II comes with built-in silent focusing motor, while the Pentax version has screwdrive autofocus. Another example is that Tokina AT-X Pro 16-50mm and 50-135mm have only screw-drive autofocus and no weather-sealing, but Pentax versions have both features.

Another difference is the procedure for switching between manual focus and auto-focus. With Tokina's "One-touch Focus Clutch Mechanism", you move the focus ring forward to enter auto-focus mode, and backward to enter manual-focus mode. With Pentax's "Quick-Shift Focus System", introduced in early 2004 with the DA 16-45mm f/4.0, you just rotate the manual focus ring while staying in auto-focus mode. Sigma and Nikon now have systems similar to Tokina and Pentax, respectively.