2.8 constrant aperture. Nice build quality. Zoom and focusinf rings perfect for big hands. Excellent value at its price.

Nothing is perfect. However I don't encounter any shortcomings with this lens in my applications.

I find this lens to be perfect for my type of shooting, ( portraiture, waist up and head to toe, w/ shallow depth of field), so corner sharpness wide open is not high on my priority list. I am using this lens with an Canon Elan 7. Despite autofocusing concerns of some Canon and Minolta owners my combination autofocuses as well as I can manually. (note: I have 20-25 corrected vision). This lenses zoom ring is very ergonomic for men with extra large hands. Additionally, this SLR/Lens combo autofocuses with my Promaster 7000M flash in near complete darkness.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Canon 35-105

Sharpness! Both wide open and stopped down. Build quality excellent Amazing price for performance Nice lens hood included

Slightly soft at "macro" distances Tendency to slightly front focus in close-ups (could be a Canon issue, can't entirely blame lens) AF MF transition could be smoother

This is an incredible lens, especially considering that it is priced competitively with canon's consumer zoom lenses in the same range. I have been using it for two weeks on my new Canon 10D, and have compared it to the Canon 24-70L, 28-135 IS and 28-80. Although the L lens is, as expected, superior, the difference is very hard to detect. Compared to the consumer lenses, not only does this Tokina go all the way to f/2.8 (compared to 3.5 or 4.5 on the others, depending on the focal length), it is significantly sharper *wide open* than these lenses are, even at their reduced apertures. Stopped down, this lens is remarkable as well - in fact, I have even seen moire taking a picture of a duck in high-detail areas on a 10D, which is known for its relatively strong antialiasing filter. The fact that a sub $300 zoom lens can significantly outperform a 6 MP sensor *with* a 1.6x crop factor is most remarkable to me, considering that most of canon's own zoom lenses have trouble keeping up. Having said that, there are a couple things that could be a bit better. For one, the minimum focusing distance is .7M, which while not too bad, could be improved. Additionally, sharpness at close distances is fully acceptable but not quite up to par with sharpness at normal distances; I actually concur with the previous poster who observed that his lens likes to front-focus on up-close objects. I have seen this with portraits; often times at f/2.8 the face is in acceptable focus but then I notice that a piece of the shirt which is a bit closer to the lens is in fact razor sharp. I suppose one can compensate for this, or attempt to, either by trying to select a too-distant focus point or by manually focusing, but I believe Tokina should work on this issue. I cannot comment on vignetting as my 1.6 crop factor would protect me from anything other than absolutely terrible vignetting. Color rendition has been pleasant; but again, I don't much care as color is easily tweaked in Photoshop, whereas sharpness can never be recreated. AF speed on the 10D is very acceptable. Slower than USM, but consistantly accurate and fairly fast. Distortion seems not to be an issue, but I've not done rigorous tests in that arena. Build quality is fantastic. Feels very solid; much preferable to the Canon consumer zooms. Switching from AF to MF is not pleasurable, as you need to pull the whole focus ring forward or backward as well as toggle a difficult switch; I suspect this is not much of an issue for most users. Overall, this lens represents a fabulous value and will provide fantastically sharp pictures. The only way to beat it - and not by much - is to spend literally four times as much on the L zoom, so I give this lens my highest regards.

Customer Service

Only had this lens for a couple weeks: N/A

Similar Products Used:

Canon 24-70L USM Canon 28-80 USM Canon 28-135 IS USM

Built quality F2.8 Sharp optics Balances very well on my Nikon F80 Looks Good

Slightly hard zooming Changing from AF to MF not so smooth

Having bought this lens I immediately proceeded to carry out some tests using slide film at different apertures and zoom range. The images produced came as a pleasant surprise with sharp and contrasty images at all apertures best at f8. On my example little distortion was encountered and no sign of flare was evident maybe thanks to the excellent lens hood provided. Lens is solidly built and balances very well on my Nikon F80. This lens was a replacement for a Nikon 24-120 mm lens which I never really liked and was eventually sold. Zooming is slightly on the hard side and on my example changing from AF to MF was not so smooth, but otherwise an excellent lens which I highly recommend.

Customer Service

Not needed yet

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 24-120 mm Nikon 80-200 f4 Nikon 50 mm Tamron 28-200 mm

2.8 aperture build feel looks

Tokina's past shows they always need a while to get things right but usualy do that can and does put a bad taste in people's mouth

atx PRO sv af there my friends is the problem with this lens Tokina is marketing this as a PRO lens and it is not! when you tell people there getting a "PRO" lens you better give then one or you will end up with reviews like i'm reading here if Tokina marketed this as Atx lens it would be getting rave reviews! if you market it as a PRO lens you open yourself up to a whole different leage of reviewers. "Im off my soap box now" For $300 bucks a 2.8 aperture lens you can't beat it. great for general pics. good solid construction. not very good close focusing. best at F/16. very soft at F/2.8. if you need a 2.8 lens you can't beat the price, falls short of a pro lens(see pop photo's review) great general lens wouldn,t use for pro work

Customer Service

good on phone

Similar Products Used:

canon 2.8L ect

2.8 app nice looking lens

very hard zooming unusable

A "pro" lens for less then $300? to good to be true? YES!! I to must agree with the last two reviews Tokina needs to improve Quality Controll!! Or get one!! my lens too very hard to zoom(cant use) focus ok sharpness ok colors cool this lens is nothing special! every year or two I stray to an off brand try it and most times send it back. this one to sent back. will stick with canon 28-135is usm untill i can swing a the 28-70L from canon A 1 rating harsh? a lens must give you something to be worth something three reviews three bad lenses I don't like playing the return to you get a good one game! canon 28-105 better optics and $100 less

Similar Products Used:

canon 28-105,28-135,28-80

Price. Built quality. Fast (f/2.8). Little distortions.

Contrast. Color. Poor quality control and inconsistent built results between samples.

OK... I don't disagree with the previous review but 1 out of 5 stars for a $300 lens may be a little too critical. I spent a lot of time reading reviews and contemplating about buying this lens vs. the Canon 28-70L or the new 24-70L. In the end I decided that for $300 (three times less $$$ than the Canon 28-70L, and even less than some of the better non-PRO zooms) I couldn't go too far wrong. I got the lens from B&H. The lens arrived DOA from the factory. An internal problem with the lens mount caused the lens to stop functioning at the 28mm end (no AF and no aperture control). It also had very pronounced and visible barrel and pincushion distortions, clearly evident in the viewfinder of my EOS ELAN 7E, at both the wide and long ends of the lens respectively. B&H was great replacing the lens promptly. The second sample was just fine. No problems at all and the distortion was well within what I expected (very little). My first impression was how well this lens is built and how naturally it balances on my ELAN 7E with the BP-300 battery pack attached. The fixed geometry of the lens makes it strong, protected, and a delight to use -- although the front element is not fixed but moves with the zoom barrel inside the outer portion of the lens. It is a very comfortable combination of size, weight, and balance with excellent zooming and MF feedback from the respective rings. AF is quite fast (better than I expected) and it does not hunt. Optically, the lens is good but not PRO standard. It lacks that three dimensional quality that PRO zooms and prime lenses give you. Color is on the cool side. I did not notice any significant flare problems, probably because the supplied lens hood seems to work well. Wide open, the lens is about as sharp as my Canon EF 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 USM II at f/4. Stopped down, the sharpness increases quickly with best results around f/8. Still out of about 400 shots using various types of print film, I have not yet seen those contrasty three-dimensional pictures that I have learned to expect from my PRO lenses. Contrast and sharpness are two equally important characteristics of any lens. The TOKINA 287AF is sharp but it is not contrasty and that makes for dull, uninteresting pictures. Overall, the lens is worth its money. Certainly a viable alternative for budget photographers, but if you can afford L glass, then don't even think twice about it. In my opinion, the strengths of this lens are 1) its price, 2) the fast constant aperture that gives you usable results wide open, and 3) the very good feel and built quality of it (best I've seen yet in this class and price!) -- although you need to watch out for TOKINA's quality control and apparently large percentage of substandard samples that make it to store shelves. I am glad I got this lens because it gives me a lot of low-light flexibility and acceptable optical performance for a price that is in most cases lower than that of good mainstream non-PRO zooms. I expect to use it professionally for weddings and other events, but I will never leave my primes too far away from reach and will still try to save for the Canon 24-70L. Since I believe that every product here should be judged primarily on what it offers for its price -- regardless of the manufacturer's hype -- I give it a good rating. If the price was in the $500-$600 range (as the TOKINA AT-X PRO 28-80mm f/2.8 for example), my rating would definitely be significantly lower. My only regret is not having used or tested the previous version of this lens which has received excellent reviews and which -- according to TOKINA -- is optically the same as the new AT-X 287AF model.

Customer Service

Tokina representatives from Southern California always respond promptly to questions and comments.

Similar Products Used:

Many wide-angle zooms from Canon, Pentax, Tamron, Tokina, and Sigma.

didn't find one (speed)- but with todays great films is that all it used to be?

VERY HARD ZOOM quility control

Got this lens in error orderd the AT-X Pro 270af per reviews on this site(was told by Tokina's customer service that this was not in the country yet)But I had it thought I would give it a try. I am trying to upgrade a Canon 28-105(very good lens)Looking for those (WOW)pics I should be getting after all these years! First This lens is plastic not like other Tokina's the filter threads were all stripped out the zoom was almost stuck (needed 2 hands)very large but I like that Took one roll side by side with canon 28-105 outside inside and with flash same shutter& app. tokina had trouble focusing outside searched alot! inside no problem wrote on back of prints and showed them to 3 people ALL 3 picked canon 28-105 every time for sharpness and color sent lens back for refund just got canon 28-135is after one roll I thimk I found my (WOW)lens Again bought from reviews on this site And photodo.com's lens tests

Customer Service

very nice on phone

Similar Products Used:

canon 28-105usm canon 28-135usm canon 85 1.8usm tokina 80-400 (love it!)