Data sheet: Tokina Tele-auto 200 mm f/3.5

Pekka Buttler, 08/2025

Specifications

The table below summarises the lens’ key specifications (measurements based on pictured sample, fitted with M42 adapter ring):

Brand:	Tokina	Lens name	Tele-Auto 1:3.5 f=200mm
Focal length(s) 1	200 mm	Angle-of-view 2	12°
Maximum Aperture	f/3.5	In Production	1960s
Lens mounts (native)	T4 (early)	Other lens mounts3 (using adapter rings)	M42, others unknown4
Length 5	150,1 mm	Diameter 6	74,9 mm
Filter ring diameter	67 mm	Weight	765 grams (with M42 adapter)
Lens element count	unknown7	Lens group count	unknown
Aperture blades (S/R/C) 8	8 S	Focus throw	240 °
Minimum focusing distance (measured)	281 cms	Maximum magnification (measured)	1:12,0
Has manual aperture ring	YES	Has manual focus ring	YES
Aperture mechanism type	Automatic9	Aperture click stops (on preset ring) 10	3.5-5.6-8-11-16-22

Further notes:
• This lens was manufactured by Tokina (Then: Tokyo Koki Seisakusho) at the time when Tokina was already an established lens manufacturer, but mostly sold its lenses onwards to distributors (Allied Impex/Soligor, Ponder&Best/Vivitar, Hanimex, as well as several less known brands) who would then slap their own brands on the lens.
• Even so, Tokina would at times sell its lenses under its own nascent brand (as is the case here).
• This lens (sample) uses a very early form of the T4 lens mount. The T4 lens mount is an an intermediate mount. The early and later forms of the T4 mount are in no way compatible. See the JAPB article on the T4 and TX mounts for further details.
• Alike all subsequent T4 lenses, this lens has a dual aperture range (maximum aperture in the middle, smallest aperture at both edges.
• This lens has a tripod collar that is 360 ° adjustable. Interestingly, most copies of this lens sold under other brands (Soligor

Tokina 200 mm f/3.5 lenses

Tokina – like almost every other lens manufacturer – has a long history of manufacturing 200 mm tele lenses. In Tokina’s case, this history goes back to the age when Tokina’ sold lenses’s own brand was the Tokyo Koki -brand, and Tokina’s first own-name 200 mm lens was the Tokyo Koki Tele-Tokina 200 mm f/4.5 (the big brother of this lens)

Somewhere during the 1960s Tokina started manufacturing tele lenses with the mainline specification of 200 mm f/3.5 (like this lens) and most of them were manufactured to be rebranded (as Hanimex, Soligor, Vivitar and others). Interestingly, none of the rebranded lenses I have seen look quite like this (silver aperture scale, black aperture ring), but the resemblance is often quite strong. Also, a bit over half the samples I have seen come without tripod collar.

While the T4 intermediate mount (and later the TX mount) was a big asset for Tokina, not nearly all of the lenses manufactured and sold during this period came fitted with an intermediate mount. First, the T4 and TX mounts were co-operations between Tokina, Soligor (Allied Impex) and Vivitar (Ponder & Best) and were not used on lenses sold by Tokina to other rebranders. Second, even a fair share of Tokina lenses sold as Vivitars or Solligors during this time came with a fixed mount. Hence, while you can be certain that a 200 mm f/3.5 lens that has a T4/TX intermediate mount is a Tokina product, the lack of the intermediate mount does not say it was not a Tokina product.

Going forward into the 1980s, Tokina modernised the optical design and kept manufacturing 200 mm f/3.5 lenses. Generally, the optical design was optimised for compactness and one can see the progress Tokina made looking at filter thread diameters: from this lens (67 mm) to the next generation (62 mm) to the third generation (58 mm). In the end, increasing numbers of photographers opted for tele zooms instead of tele primes and Tokina ended selling 200 mm lenses under its own name somewhere in the 80s. Whether the market for rebrands dried up at the same time is not a given, but very likely.

Adapting

Given that this lens uses an intermediate mount, the first step is to either identify which adapter comes fitted to your lens.

Alternatively, if your copy came without a fitted adapter, you need to procure one.
In that case, if your lens comes fitted with a later (breech-lock) type of T4 adapter, then you’re in luck and will have a wide range of adapters to choose from. In that case my recommendation is to get a M42 or Nikon F adapter¹¹.
If however your lens comes (as this sample) with an early T4 intermediate mount, you will need to hunt for a suitable adapter far and wide (I have only ever seen two samples, mine and a lens on eBay).

Next we will assume you have this lens with an M42 adapter (which was back then the most popular and therefore likeliest solution today) If you have this lens with any of the other film camera mounts (typical for the 1960s), please see the article on the respective mount for advice on how to adapt: Canon FL/FD, Exakta, Konica AR, Minolta SR, Miranda, Nikon F, Petri FT

On dSLRs
If you have a Canon EF, Pentax K or Sony/Minolta A dSLR, and you have this lens with an M42 adapter ring, you can adapt your lens using a simple adapter ring. However, metering will only work in stop-down mode.
If your dSLR is uses a Nikon F mount or if your lens’ adapter ring is of any other type, adapting will only work using an adapter with corrective optics to make up for the negative flange focal distance difference.

On Mirrorless
Assuming you already have an M42 adapter ring on your lens, the only thing that you need is an adapter from M42 to your mirrorless mount. Thanks to being a fully manual lens (manual aperture, manual focus), a simple dumb adapter is sufficient for photography. However, because this lens is an auto-aperture only lens (it does not have a selector for manual aperture), your adapter should be of the type with an internal flange to keep the stop-down pin pressed in (see more on the distinction in the JAPB article on the M42 mount).

On Film
Whatever adapter ring you have on your lens, you’re sure to be able to find a film camera to mount this lens on..

Footnotes

1. Focal length is (unless stated otherwise) given in absolute terms, and not in Full-frame equivalent. For an understanding of whether the lens is wide/tele, see ‘Angle-of-view’. ↩︎
2. Picture angle is given in degrees and concerns the diagonal picture angle. Rule of thumb:
   > 90 ° ==> Ultra-wide-angle
   70–90 ° ==> Wide-angle
   50–70 ° ==> Moderate wide-angle
   40–50 ° ==> ‘Standard’ or ‘normal’ lens
   20–40 ° ==> Short tele lens
   10-20 ° ==> Tele lens
   5-10 ° ==> Long tele lens
   < 5 ° ==> Ultra-tele lens ↩︎
3. JAPB is here listing only those adapters that we have seen with our own eyes, but other period-typical adapters can also have existed. ↩︎
4. This early T4 seems to be a very short-lived and rare mounting system and documentation (brochures etc.) are difficult to come by. The only T4 early adapters I have ever seen are fore the M42 mount ↩︎
5. Length is given from the mount flange to the front of lens at infinity. ↩︎
6. Diameter excludes protrusions such as rabbit ears or stop-down levers. ↩︎
7. I have found no hard evidence on the optical design used by the lens. ↩︎
8. S=straight; R=rounded; C=(almost)circular at all apertures. ↩︎
9. No stop-down lever or button on lens or mount ↩︎
10. Numbers equal aperture values on aperture ring; • intermediate click; – no intermediate click. ↩︎
11. M42 as it is the most ubiquitous; Nikon F as its flange focal distance is most generous considering your range of camera options ↩︎