Excellent build quality, sharp, fast, manual focussing is well damped for an AF lens.

Focus clutch, while providing great feel while focussing manually, is a pain to switch.

Been very happy with this lens. Looks and feels great, performs excellently, tough as nails. Redesign the focus clutch system though, it's pretty lame. If you like to focus manually on your AF body, get this lens.

Customer Service

None needed yet.

Similar Products Used:

None

Solid build

Does not work correctly on the new eos-3
distortion.
Flair

I bought this lens after readin all the great reviews. This lens does not live up to the standards reviwers gave. It has severe distortion problems at the wide. Better to stay with the name brand lenses.

Customer Service

???

Similar Products Used:

None

Optical quality, photo results, durability, and AF speed.

Sliding the AF/Manual focus ring from AF to manual is sometimes diffcult, and has cost me a few "moments" of potential photos.

For the past 12 years, I have used only Nikon brand fixed focal length lenses (mostly manual focus). I was stubbornly opposed to zooms, especially those manufactured by companies other than Nikon because my past experience with zooms was negative: I consistently encountered zoom photos that were inadequate for newspaper publishing.

Upon learning that several third-party vendors had mastered zoom optics to equate with the optical quality of fixed focal length lenses, I decided to investigate. It was the Tokina ATX-Pro AF 28-70 f/2.6-2.8 that convinced me to go ahead and experience a personal photo equipment paradigm shift. Normally, I would have gone straight for a Nikon lens, but the closest Nikon had to offer at that time was limited to a wide angle of 35mm. From what I had read, Sigma and Tokina currently offered the best in the 28-70mm f/2.8 range. Both Sigma and Tokina have built very durable lenses. The Sigma lens comes with a very nice case, and sells at a lower price. While focusing and zooming both lenses through an N70 body at a camera store, I determined that the Tokina lens displayed a sharper focus.

I took my new Tokina lens along with my N70 and F3 out to the mountainous and canyonland regions of West Texas for a week long nature photography excursion. I also piggybacked the lens and F3 on my Celestron Ultima 9.25 telescope for lengthy exposures of the Milky Way. The results were astounding. Color and sharp results convinced me that Tokina has truly mastered optical quality that was previously found only in high quality fixed focal length lenses.

My next lens purchase will be the ATX-Pro 80-200mm f/2.8. If it matches up to my Nikon 180mm f/2.8 ED, I'll be selling the Nikon.

Customer Service

n/a

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 28-70 f/2.8 - looked through it when shopping for the Tokina...compared the two on the same body and determined th

Enourmous sharpness at f5.6/f8. Beats easily anything I ever experienced (including all the Nikon standard-zooms!) and produces fresh, crisp colors. If your after image quality this one is a must. Goes soft at f2.8 - but then, this is only to be expected. Slight vignetting at 28mm, but again...

MF ring clutches only in the exact position the lens was previously focused at. A bit fumbly. But then, considering the overall quality of the lens, this complaint is rather weak.

Absolutely superb modern lens, features IF, fixed front mount and a hard to beat price/value ratio.
Everything you need, really.

Customer Service

Don´t reckon I´ll get to check it out.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon AF-S 28-70 f2.8
Sigma Ex 28-80 f2.8

WOW. Well built, clean, and very clear. Excellent photos. Fast Lens with great versatility.

Auto to manual focus ring is a little clumsy.

Works great with my Minolta Maxxum 7. Excellent clarity. Quick auto focus. A great all around lens for all photographers.

Similar Products Used:

Minolta, Nikor

Comfortable to use, nice range and fast. Also a realtively cheap lens compared to the Nikon or Canon version. Quality is good, just as a expect from Tokina. I also like the overall "feel " of the lens. I tried the Sigma version on this lens and didn't like it at all

Noisy, and clutch from auto to manual is really a pain to use

For the price you can't beat it. It's a nice "standard" lens to have in your bag. If your a perfectionist, it isn't the Canon "L", but it's way less also.

Customer Service

5 year waranty, you can't go wrong

Similar Products Used:

Canon version
Sigma Version

Superior Optics
Large Apreture
Solid Build
Real touch of MF

AF /MF switch is kind of tricky.

Woooooooooow, what a lens!!! The very best of its kind. The sharpness and the contrast are as good as, if not better than, any well built "Standard" lens. Distortion is exceptionally well even compare to 28mm fix focal length lens.

Tokina does a very fine job in the focusing design. The autofocus is reasonably fast, given the size of the lens. A real blessing is actually the manual focus. One thing about the modern date hi-tech autofocus lens is the "touch" of those tiny plastic focusing ring. Those tiny plastic focusing ring are practically good for nothing. Sure enough, Tokina has successfully delivered the magic touch of the traditional manual focus lens with modern date autofocus convenience.

There is only one wish. I wish Tokina can make a little bit wider zoom range, and I am not talking about the new 28~80mm. I hope that the lens can reach 100mm or above in focal length. 70mm is kind of limited.

Customer Service

None is needed, so far.

Similar Products Used:

Minolta 28~85 f3.5/4.5 MD
Minolta 35~70 f3.5 MD
Nikkor 35~135 f3.5
Tamron 28~135 f4/4.5
Tamron 28~105 f2.8

rigid build
fast focusing
rather cheap

larger filter size
heavy
coating not excellent
very severe flare

good for the money. although personally i can see the lens coating is significantly inferior to nikkors, anyhow the picture quality turns out to be more than satisfactory, even on slides. flare is a major problem, even not including the sun in the picture...

the rigid build is so attractive.

Customer Service

nil

Similar Products Used:

nikkor 50/1.4 and 1.8

*Fast
*Sharp
*Build Quality

*Weight

Excellent lens, sharp and fast. Colors were great. The weight is a lot if you are going very far. AF was very quick on my N90. Loved it, but it just didn't work for me on long trips.

Customer Service

None

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 24-120
Sigma 28-105

Well Build like a rock; very sharp; fast (f2.6-2.8); price.

None compared to other lens in the same range that deliver similar performance.

This is a beautiful lens and I wonder how many people know about it. Most people like me always go directly to Nikon thinking that only Nikon can make the best lenses for their camera. Check this out first if you are looking for a lens in this focal length. I compare this lens to Nikkor 24-50 f3.3-4.5, which I use for more than a year and love its sharpness and light weight. Its range is a little bit limited, however. Therefore, I tried the new Nikkor 24-85 f2.8, which I paid $480 (after rebate, see my review). I returned it after two weeks because it is just not as sharp as the 24-50 mm and I had to pay nearly $100 more. The Tokina lens is far sharper than the 24-85, similar if not slightly better in sharpness than the 24-50 and the build is superb. It fits nicely in my palm and the manual focusing ring is big and easy to turn. The lens is very bright when look out through the viewfinder. I tried to shoot it wide open and the images suffer only slightly. There is little or no distortion through out the entire focal length (the Nikkor 24-85 by contrast has significant distortion at long and wide). I did not try the Nikkor 28-70 f2.8 AF-S lens which I believe is a notch better than this lens. However, the Nikkor is more than twice as expensive and weigh a lot more. For the price I paid and for the results it delivers; the Tokina lens is a winner! Before you buy the Nikkor 28-70 f2.8 AF-S, try out the Tokina at the same time! The Nikkor 24-85 gives a better range with the trade-off in the optical performance; moreover, it is more expansive.

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 24-50 f3.3-4.5; Nokkor 24-85 f2.8