Tokina AT-X 287 AF Pro SV 28-70mm f/2.8

This is my second review of the Tokina AT-X 287 Pro SV lens. Now that I shoot digital I've had a chance to test and reconfirm my original findings of about 4 years ago. This lens is still a great value and a great lens. Shooting digital I found that the complaint I've read most about this lens regarding softness wide open is not a result of poor lens quality, it's a result of very limited dof in my opinion. In testing the lens I photographed stuffed animals at 3ft, 5ft and 15ft from a sturdy tripod mounted camera. The results showed softness wide open at 5 and 15 ft but the image got much clearer once I got to the 3 ft range. The image starting getting sharper at f3.2 and even sharper at f3.5 so in my opinion you can shoot at a fraction of a stop from maximum aperture and get acceptable results. Another finding and one I always saw when using the lens with my Nikon N90s was that the lens was and still is extremely sharp at all apertures f4 and above and very useable at close to max aperture of f3.2 and f3.5! My results in testing the lens showed that at 5 and 15 ft the lens benefited most my gradually stopping down to get good/better dof.
This was an unscientifice test and one that I needed to do to prove to myself that this lens performs very well because I always wondered about the complaints I've read here and at other sites on the web about the Tokina 28-70 AT-X Pro SV. I'm an avid hobbyist and own many great lenses and I'm also of the opinion that you can't please everyone because some people just have to gripe or compain or have the misfortune of receiving and using a bad product which fortunately has never happened to me. BTW, I also own the Tokina AT-X Pro 20-35/2.8 and the 80-200/2.8 and those lenses are even better than this very good lens!

Extremely tough and durable, I bought my lens new in 2002 and still use it.
Profession build quality.
Focus clutch makes manual focusing silky smooth.
Pro qualities at a fraction of the price.
Common 77mm filters on all my AT-X Pro lenses. Filters can be picked up at very reasonable prices on eBay. I use B&W filters which have the reputation of being the very best all purchased at very reasonable prices.

The minimum focusing distance could be closer to the 12 inch range rather than the 27 inch range.
This isn't a weakness but I'll list it anyway. The lens would really look nice if it had the crinkle finish that my other pro lenses have.

I currently own and use the following 3rd Party lenses:
Sigma 15/2.8 EX fisheye
Tokina 20-35/2.8 AT-X Pro
Tokina 80-200/2.8 AT-X Pro
AF Nikkor lenses:
24/2.8, 28/2.8D, 50/1.4D, 85/1.8. 105/2.8 micro, 300/4
AFS 24-85, 28-105D, 80-200/2.8 (1st version) and the 70-300D
AFS DX 18-70

None needed on any lens I've ever owned and I've owned and still own a bunch of them!

This lens is garbage. I almost threw in the towel because I thought the drab photos i was taking was due to a lack of skill or talent. I also thought that my SLR was broken until I did a bunch of shots with my 100mm Canon macro that were fantastic.

And to think, I originally bought the Canon 24-70L but then felt guilty because of the expense, sent it back and got this instead. Stupid.

The shots lack contrast. This lens is only OK when you use the huge hood, which makes the whole system giant and heavy. Even indoors, it will find a way to ghost. When shooting digital, it has aweful chromatic abrasion, the texture of the image is noisy, even when shooting raw at 100 ISO. I don't know if I've ever seen a sharp image from this lens. Skin tones come out puddy like and landscaps look drab.

I have continued to gravitate back to the zoom because it fits my style of shooting (for location style portraits). I like to compose on the fly depending upon the attitude of my subject. But because of the aweful image quality, I will not use this or any other zoom again. I'm retraining myself and changing the way I work with people just so I can use primes.

Built like a tank, kinda cool looking

everything but build quality. The manual focus clutch is LAME

Canon Primes, Macro, rented L glass zooms

Uh, can I have my money back?

Egy Nikon D70 vázon próbáltam ki ezt az objektívet. Vegyes benyomásokat keltett bennem. Elsore profi benyomást kelt a külso és a súly is, de kicsit alaposabban átnézve máris tovaszáll az olcsó profi objektív képe. Nyitott (f2.8) belendénél a képe NAGYON(!) lágy lesz. Mintha egy Soft-focus rendszerrel ellátott portréobjektív képét látnánk (csak itt nem lehet kikapcsolni ezt a "funkciót"). Ilyenkor a szaturáció is csak jelentos digitális utómunkálatokkal hozható elfogadható szintre. Amint zárunk egy rekeszt (f4) : Éles képet és szép telített színeket produkál! F5.6-tól ez a teljesítmény tovább javul és közel egyenrangúvá válik egy 5-ször drágább profi Nikon optikával. Ha a Tokina nem tette volna bele a 2.8-as blende lehetoségét, egy egészen kituno f4-es fényerovel megáldott varió lenne, kedvezo áron. Aki képes ezt a hiányosságát elnézni az objektívnek, annak kituno társa lehet a mindennapokban.

+ "like a professional" look and weight + Relative cheap + Sharp and good saturated (f4 and above !)

+ Extremly soft focus and bad saturated on f2.8 !!!

Sigma 24-70 HF

When I purchased my Nikon D50, I decided against buying any kit lenses. Not having reams of cash, I settled on a good value-priced yet high-quality lens. I found it in the Tokina. The build quality of this lens is what first attracted me to it. Having a Sigma DSLR for two years, I've only used Sigma lenses and have been quite happy with them, this has caused me to consider 3rd party lenses. I never laid my hands on a Tokina lens but when I did, I was sold on it. The photo quality is very good, it belies the cost of this lens. It's soft at f2.8 at 28mm, sharpens up a bit as the range is extended. At f4 and higher it is quite sharp. Colors are vivid without being over-saturated. I like the realistic skintones it produces when photographing people both indoors and outdoors. The range is good although I would like it to be a bit wider like the 24-70mm Sigma EX I considered which I also use with my Sigma DSLR and like very much. This lens compares as well if not better than the Sigma. Although it's not an HSM lens, I find the AF speed to be quite acceptable, certainly fast enough for my needs. The manual focusing ring clutch-lock takes some getting used to, I'm still trying to determine if perhaps mine doesn't work properly. It can only engage when the ring is rotated completely clockwise or counter-clockwise, at times mine won't. I rarely use MF anyway.

Build quality Sharpness at f4 and above Excellent value, the quality belies the cost

Soft at f2.8 (what zoom isnt?) Quirky method of engaging manual focus

Sigma 24-70mm EX DG

I am not really happy with this lense, and frankly, don't understand how people can be. I think for the money, it's ok, but why spend money at all for an ok lense. The focus is very soft at 2.8, the autofocus is slugishly slow to say the least, and the colors are extremely unsaturated and dull. With the help of photoshop and many hours available to touch up the pictures, you can get decent photographs, but shouldn't the artistic energy be spent on photographing the subject rather then "painting" it later. You might as well become an artist with a canvas and a brush and you may get sharper results. I am searching for an alternative for this lense that I can afford, but am scared to throw any more money at a cheap lense.

It is built like a tank. The manual focus is the smoothest I have ever seen it, and there is a reason for that, you will use it! Oh yeah, and it's cheap.

Autofocus extremely slow, images come out soft and dull, and too much post production involved.