Strong structure (metal) Fast autofocus Optical quality Price

None, especially for the price paid

The lens is very well bilt copared to other plastic lenses and is very easy to use. In particular the manual/auto focus cluch is superb and works fine. Distortion and flare are very limited copared to Tamron 20-40 f2.7 and Nikon 80-200 D-ED which I own. The lens quality is certenly comparable to a Nikon. I strongly recomend this lens to any one who is not wiling to spend money for a Nikon or a Canon.

Similar Products Used:

Tamron 20-40 f2.7/3.4

design, architecture, handling, ruggedness

heavy flare, distortion on both ends, little vignetting

This you can add to the Rewiew of P_Aretino: ... A lot of shots you can’t take from the best position, but must change your optimal point, if possible, because the lens shows a not acceptable kind of flare. Other tester found out: “There were nasty rainbow halos around any small light source at all focal lengths and all apertures. A very poor lens e.g. for sunset/sunrise photography”. That means, this lens is optically by far not on par with the Canon EF f/2,8 28-70 L USM, on the other side better than the Sigma one, on par with the Minolta and very near to the horrible expensive Nikon. The best performance of this new Tokina zoom lies between 35 and 65 mm, the domain of the standard fix lenses. Here you can get very cheap but very good lenses, no demands to buy a expensive & heavy zoom for that. At the short and at the long ends the new Tokina is a little looser (in comparison to the champions league Canon, Leica, Zeiss). The lens resembles here more Pamela Anderson than Jennifer Lopez! You can get good, sharp & less flare results only when stopped down at 28 and 80 mm! The distortion at both sides is strong, when wide open! Distortion on each end of the focus range, straight lines are a problem; for architecture this lens is wrong designed. Was this your target? May you compromise this, are you prepared to play in the regional league? then go for it and spare more than 500 $ in comparison to Canon! Now you can buy the mountain bike for your son! BTW: Tokina has greater quality control and compatibility problems than Canon, Nikon or Minolta, but the world wide service is o.k. You may change the first lemon quickly for the second or third example, which is than may be a better one. Conclusion: Who will buy my fresh one Tokina for only 480 bucks now?

Customer Service

no experiences

Similar Products Used:

EF 3,5-5,6 28-80 USM, EF 4-5,6 75-300 IS USM

Tank-built Fast Focusing but of coz not as the EF28-70 2.8L

Blur but not soft! Not worth to buy! The optic is the worst one that I ever used!Much worse than EF 28-105 F3.5-4.5

well, it''s a bad lens, i suppose! The lens would give you the blurred images @ F2.8~F4! It''s not worth to buy!I''d changed the second one right after the testing of the 1st, but it doen''t help!The outcome was disappointing! Finally, I bought a Canon EF28-70 2.8L though, which wouldn''t let you down!

Customer Service

Well!

Similar Products Used:

EF28-105 F3.5-4.5 EF28-70 2.8L

design, handling, good ruggedness,

flare, distortion at both ends, little vignetting

Ok., folks for a better understanding at first you must give an answer at my following questions: 1. What is the difference between Jennifer Lopez and your wife? 2. What is the difference between your car and a Mercedes 600 SL 3. Need your son a new mountainbike? 4. What about: “What you get is what you pay”? 5. do you have enough money & condition to buy cheap products? 6. In case you own the best photo gear of the world, which quality we can await at your pic’s? 7. Keep in mind: A bad photographer (beginner) with an ‘normal’ gear is handicapped in comparison to an bad photographer with a very good gear! 8. and so on … You must agree, that in a lens testing, where the highest results are 5 respective 10 balls a result 3 or 7 points means, this product is (s)crap! Useable items needs minimum 3,5 or in the other rating 8 balls! O.k., that’s it! Now my rating after long, long studies. Up to now I used a borrowed (rented, means hard used) EF 2,8 28-70 L USM in comparison to my new one Tokina 2,8 28-80 AT X PRO. I studied all available comments, reports and testimonials. The result is: The new Tokina f/2,8 28-80 AT X PRO is concerning design/architecture, mechanical quality a masterpiece and the real reference product for all standard zooms, a beauty and in the same time very stabil & rugged. The weight is by far less the Canon & Nikon rivalries, but in the same time built quality is more than comparable to the Nikon AF-S lenses and clear better than the Canon EF 2,8 28-70 L!!! In this plan, nowhere a better one standard zoom! The Tokina has a excellent handling & the new AF/MF-clutch has a much more higher usability (solidity) than the small Canon switches therefore. I’ve broken one at the EF 2,8 28-35 L USM and paid quite 130 $ to change only a 1 g plastic switch knob! But, folks, it’s well known, the main feature of an photo lens is the optical quality!!! And the truth is here: The result of the optical redesign from 2,6-2,8 28-70 up to the new 2,8 28-80 is a beautiful little lemon or a optical homunculus, worse the predecessor! Tokina won the new 10 mm from 70 up to 80 only by an ‘fool’ trick. At the other side, the new lens works now wonderful together with the EOS 3, but not yet with the Nikon 100!!! Optically it`s only acceptable starting at f4 and upwards but it`s too soft or fuzzy wide open at f2,8. A lot of shots you can’t

Customer Service

Canon Service takes time & is very expensive. up to now I don''t need Sigma or Tokina Services

Similar Products Used:

EF f/2,8 20-35 L; EF f/1,4 50 USM; EF f/2,8 100 USM Macro; EF f/2,8 70-200 L USM; EF f/5,6 400 L USM. Sigma f/2,8 14 mm EX HSM

f/2.8 constant Sharp Works well with Maxxum 9

Too much flare when wide open.

I wanted a 2.8 constant zoom in this range. This was pretty much a brand new lens when I bought it (Nov 2000). It has given me very good results in the 1 1/2 years that I have used it with my Maxxum 9. It is very sharp across the zoom range an is very well built. It has too much flare wide open but is fine when stopped down. It is my "every day" lens and a great match with my Maxxum 9.

Customer Service

n/a

Similar Products Used:

Canon 28-80 L Vivatar Series 1 28-105 (MD Mount)

Excellent build quality and feel Very Sharp Overall optical performance

Compatibility with F100 Reliability issues ''We do not care'' attitude of Tokina Management

I brought this lens to use on my F100 even though I had read somewhere that there were compatibility issues with this camera (I had not read the reviews in this site at the time). I took a chance because this lens has received excellent reviews on it optical performance in Popular Photography as well as in many user reviews. Unfortunately the dreaded compatibility problem surfaced on my camera also. The lens was not able to close focus properly and the prints came out fuzzy. I then checked out this site and came to know about other F100 users who faced the same problem. The same evening I went and returned the lens and exchanged it for the Tamron 24-135 F/3.5-5.6. It is a pity that I had to return the lens because I really liked the lens, the build quality and the feel of the lens is excellent and optically (at normal distances) it is very sharp. It is really surprising that in such competitive times Tokina Company has not bothered to rectify this compatibility problem with the F100 even though this has been reported more than a year ago. After this experience I would think twice before buying another product from Tokina because of their unreliability. The management at Tokina must be sleeping or they dont care if they lose business of hundreds of F100 users not only for the 280 AT-X Pro but also of other lenses when the users decide to upgrade etc.

Customer Service

Not Used

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 28-70 f/3.5-4.5 Sigma 75-300 f/4-5.6 Tamron 24-135 f/3.5-5.6 Sigma 24-70 f/3.5-5.6 Canon 35-70 f/3.5-4.5 Tamron 70-300 f/4-5.6

Sharp lens -- except 80mm Great build quality

Very slightly soft at 80mm, but I like it this way to manipulate background

An excellent lens. I compared this lens to my Pentax 50mm 1.7 prime lens and it becomes also as sharp. For lanscapes, I use it at f-16 and it surprises me in sharpness -- except at 80mm, where it become slightly soft -- nothing unacceptable though. Listen, if my prime lens fails, then I know that this lens delivers very, very, good quality -- almost to the point that I forget that it''s a zoom lens!

Customer Service

None so far.

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 17-35mm Pentax 50mm 1.7mm Tamron 90mm 2.8 Macro Sigma 15mm Fisheye 2.8

The very rugged feel and build of the lens. The very fine image quality of it (as good as my Pentax 50mm f/1.4) The f/2.8 speed makes focusing easy.

I am a big guy and I love the lens, but some think is is a bit heavy.(I am not one of them).

This is the first pro zoom that I have owned. Overall this is a very good lens. I love the feel of it in my hand. It looks like a pro lens. just made a 16"x20 print from a head shot neg taken with this lens. It was outstanding. I will do a wedding with this lens.

Customer Service

I have not needed any yet.

Similar Products Used:

Sigma f/3.5, 28-70 zoom, Focal f/4.0, 28-70 zoom,

sharpness, colour transfer, build

that d*** intermittent Nikon F100 auto-focus problem

Overall I am/was very happy was this lens - colour, sharness, etc there was/is no real complaints. the hesitation here is that I use theis lens with the dreaded Nikon F100 configuration and after 1 year+ of faultless use I got an unexpected surprise. I used this lens to test against a 28mm, 45mm and 90mm contax (Carl Zeiss) G2 rangefinder. Given that I was taking about 12 shots on each focal length the issues werent attributable to a one off occurance. For the first time since owning this lens at the 80mm end of the range across the entire apeture range, I got (on auto focus) no sharp shots. Even at f16 & f22 nothing was in focus. This was/is the first time to witness this problem. Subsequently I have had the camera/lens combination out (without film) and tried to replicate the issue on the same and other scenes - checking the focus visually - and its perfect. I love this lens but now always have that nagging thourght in auto focus.

Customer Service

not required

Similar Products Used:

nikkor 80-200 f2.8 nikkor mid/wide angle primes Contax G2 system

Very well build, solid contruction. Focus clutch ring works great. Optics are 99% of what the canon 28-70 2.8L are. Great 3 year warranty.

None, Other than lack of name brand. Sorry Canon!

I now have used this lens for over a year on my EOS 3 canon body and I must admit, I do like this lens better than my previous canon 28-70L 2.8 which was stolen. Build quality is much better than the canon, very solid and comfortable to use. The focus is more than fast enough although not as fast as the canon USM. The optics are equal in every way except maybe wide open (f2.8 to f4)but only on the extream corners, and even then its extremly close to the canon 28-70 2.8L. The folks at THK who distribute tokina here in the States were very helpful in answering any questions I had before I purchased their lens. I had heard there was compatibility problems with EOS camers but I have had none at all. If you don''t mind the smart remarks canon snobs will give you, you will be very satisfied with this lens and all the money you saved for traveling.

Customer Service

None needed, other than to ask questions in which they were very helpful.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 28-70 2.8L Tamron 28-105 SP 2.8 ( I traded it in for the tokina)