-Good picture quality in both fim and digital
-sharp when manually focused
-well built
-AF-D lens---> great for portraits when used with Nikon flash system
-real bargain at this price(€150 2nd hand)
-Fast AF (but back focused at 2.8 - ok till f/4-5.6)
-very nice manual focus ring thx to AF/MF clutch

-28mm not wide enough for digital
-back focus issue when mounted on my D70 (subject pointed on the nose, ears are neat the rest of the face is soft)
-AF/MF clutch only works at infinity setting and is sometimes difficult to manipulate, improved on later tokinas (12-24 for example)
-design of the stop ring lock

I got his lens in july as a part of a package. It was in outstanding shape. I have decided to give this lens a chance since it has the famous "angenieux design". I have the chance to compare both lenses in a second hand shop in Brussels en they look to be pretty the same except on the finishing level (angenieux is by far better: matte paint, engraved informations on barrel...) and Lens coating (tokina is blueish, angenieux is reddish). This looked as the cheap version of a sacred monster.
This lens delivers beautiful & sharp pictures when focused manualy (back focus issue at all focal length in AF mode on my D70 FW2.0 - looks ok after f/4 thx to DOF increase) with a cold color rendition scheme (which I Liked).
However, the focal range is not very useful for digital and the performances are behind those of my other objectives. So I sold it some times ago.

Great value for film, nice lens for digital.

Customer Service

NA

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 17-35 f/2.8, Tokina 12-24 f/4, Sigma 30 f/1.4, Nikkor 50 f/1.4

build, quality, features, optics, results, and mostly the price is right..too good to be true..best buy lens.

my only complain is for those who has bad experience with atx lenses..i feel sorry for them, me?!, im one happy fotoman with atx.

im pleased to write review about this tokina 28-70mm f2.6, f2.8 atx lens. well, i have used mostly canons and nikons gears for over 25 yrs...till now, i have tried out the tokina atx 28-70mm and the atx 80-200mm f2.8, both pretty much the same in every way.both present great build, solid all metal lens, heavy and sturdy.great optics, nice features.great price..look good and do good..im very happy with the finally products came out of these lenses..for that reasons, i have sold all my nikon lenses to replace with these atx pro line..well, i've own over 20 nikon lenses..and over 15 canon lenses too.i must mention here that most all my lenses are under 500$ range..ok!.. well, im sure some one out there will say that i havent tried out those prime lenses??..come on!!, a 400-500$ lenses should be good to great!!..right?, no excuses for that..im talking about buying them used on ebay for less..obviously, these tokinas i paid a fairly low price used in excel condi too.. im pround to have these atx mounted on my fuji s2 pro...the results are stunning.. i must agreed with all the positives praises here in forum..and disagree with those negs reviews here..there are nothing wrong with these atx pro line..its pro for real.speaking from a man whos used nikon over 25 yrs here..im just being honest, thats all.no reasons to pay more..todays economy is hard enough , we dont need to spend crazy, we need to be wise on our spending.atx is deff best buy for the money..next is sigmas gold ring series..especially now that nikon and canon are made in taiwan and thailand..bummer, mostly plastic made..i dont care for plastic made lenses, i do want all metal made like atx.the results pics are either the same or better than most prime lenses.heavy lenses mean better build and take more abuses..and dependable..i dont complain about little things on lenses, all i want is great results that show on prints..thats count.we all know that, nothing is perfect in life..buy what you need and be happy with it..buy atx pro and you'll be a happy fotoman..

Customer Service

none so far..i love it. is there a 6 stars to score?, lol.

Similar Products Used:

c and n primes.

Construction, wide aperture when you don't mind a little softness, value

Two-step AF/MF switching

Despite some of the negative reviews, I proceeded to acquire this lens from eBay. I did test the lens at 50mm, and compared that to my EF50mm/2.5 macro. The Tokina 270 produced images that are softer and less contrasty from f/2.8 to f/8, I did not test smaller apertures. However, it should be noted that the EF50mm/2.5 macro costs MORE than the Tokina 270. I am certain that the Canon L lenses can easily out perform this lens. However, I got this lens mostly to shoot existing light people picture because of the convenience of variable focal length. I still use my prime lenses for macro, landscape and other types of photographs. If you want to have ONE lens for everything, you should look into Canon's L-series lenses. However, if you don't mind having a separate set of prime lenses for more critical work, the Tokina 270 is a bargain for the necessary flexibility for existing light candid photographs. Afterall, for the price of a Canon EF 28-70/2.8L, you can get this lens, plus Canon prime lenses (even macro) of various focal lengths (24, 35, 50 and 100mm).

Customer Service

Have not had any need

Similar Products Used:

Canon EF 28-90/4-5.6 USM, Tamron 28-200/4-5.6, Canon EF 50/2.5 macro, Canon EF 24/2.8, Canon EF 35/2, Canon EF 200/2.8L, Canon EF 100/2.8 macro

well-built, looks good and 'pro' if that matters to you, good at f8. Can be bought quite cheaply now.

The flipside of the build quality is it's heavy (but then it's a 2.8 zoom...) The killer is that mine was simply worse than a cheap sigma kit-zoom at a quarter of the cost.

Either Tokina QC is shocking or I must just have bad luck with them, but this is one of two Tokina lenses (the other is their 20-35 f2.8 'pro') I've used and found to be unacceptably soft. And when I say unacceptably, I mean beaten for sharpness and contrast at f4-5.6 by a plastic kit-zoom sigma wide open! It's fine at f8, but why pay the money and weight costs of f2.8 to use it at f8? My experiences tell me that at wide angle and normal focal lengths, small, fast primes make more sense, and I only use zooms at telephoto focal lengths.

Customer Service

mine had an autofocus problem which was quickly and politely dealt with by the original German vendors, fotowalser

Similar Products Used:

sigma 28-80 f3.5-5.6 macro pentax FA 50mm f1.4 pentax M 28mm f3.5

Superb build quality ! Optically astonishing good !

As you would expect from such a fast lens : Heavy and bulky. A tribute to the superb build quality too.

This is probably the best choice for this focal range : Superb build quality, same aperture as (most) primes and finally the optical quality is more than you would expect from a zoom lens wide opened. Perfect build quality as most Tokina AT-X lenses. Very good AF (Minolta and Pentax AF tested). Very good as an manual focus lens too !! Optically very good even wide opened -YES that's a surprise ! I really like it !

Customer Service

not needed

Similar Products Used:

Tamron 3.5-4.5/28-70 Pentax 28-80 Canon 28-135 IS USM Tamron and Sigma 28-200/300 2.8/28 Canon, Pentax, Rollei several 50mm lenses several tele zoom lenses (to compare it at 70mm)

quality sharpness

This lens is a huge huge surPRIZE ! it is an awesome lens... I love the heft of it ... it feels like a real lens should.. I am not a big fan of alot of the plastic garbage out there and this lens just feels good ! picture quality was a great also... this lens is a keeper. right up there with my primes ! and the price is a steal.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 80-400 vr nikon 80-200 2.8 nikon 105 2.8 nikon 50mm 1.8

Sharp, built like a tank. As good as prime lens at f8-f16. Very solid at 5.6. Beautiful color. Cheap!

Softness at 2.8-4, but not unusal for a zoom lens (exception is the new VR 70-200, which might replace all prime lens in its range).

I brought this lens in 1997 when the PRO version I was out there. I really like the lens, the feel and the sharp slides for the entire time. But I did not carefully test this lens until recently since I have about 25 lenses, and it is obviously a time to get rid of some. I tested this lens against 50mm f1.4, 28mm Schneider Super Angulon PC and 70-200 VR AFS at 70mm. I used the Kodak 14n and shot downtown Philly. I am pleasantly suprised by how sharp this lens is. At all three focal lengthes, 28mm, 50mm, 70mm, this lens is as good as the prime lens at f8!, A little soft at the corners at 28mm compared to the Schneider SA PC (which is perhaps the sharpest lens I have tested). At the center this lens shows no difference ffrom the prime. The color of this lens is more vivid than that of the Schneider, similar to Nikkor 50. At 70mm, this lens is as sharp as the new Nikkor APS VR at 70mm (which has obvious red color on edges of buildings at the corner). That's when tested at f8. F5.6 is decent. But at f2.8 to f4, this lens has light fall off (not strong, better than many zoom lens) and softness. This is the lens I will keep. The New AFS 28-70 could be better, but I doubt anything can better than this at f8, which is what I normally use. Here, I am saving $1200.

Customer Service

non needed

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 24/2.8D, 35/1.4, 50/1.4D, 85/2, 85/1.8D, 85/1.4D, 105mm f2.5, 135/2, 135/2D, 180ED/ 300/4AFS, 70-200 VR AFS and many non Nikon lenses.

feel ,colours .

noisy AF ,

well ..its built like a rock !! feels like a rock . looks really great .as 4 the image taking well 2.8 a little unsharp but wait till it goes to about 5.6 ....i've got a canon 70-200 2.8 L honestly this lens did NOT disapiont me , i found it really sharp ,colour'z were great .. for the money its free ....

Customer Service

not yet :)

Similar Products Used:

canon 135mm f2 ,70-200 f2.8L ,75-300 usm is ,Various others...

very good optical performance good build quality - a treat to handle

rather heavy you´ll have to set both the lens AND the camera to MF for manual focusing

For more than 2 years now I´ve been using this lens. It´s been giving me a hard time recently: since I´ve purchased the 20-35mm/2.8D Nikkor the two lenses compete for a place in my bag. I can´t take them both with me, yet the fight is not over. This lens is tack sharp and color rendition is impeccable. There might have been "lemons" due to bad production samples out there - otherwise I can´t explain reviews that rate this lens as "soft". True, at 2.8 sharpness is only perfect around the center with a noticeable fall-off to the corners. At 28mm you´ll get slightly visible vignetting and barrel distortion to go with it. All of this begins to vanish at f4, and at f5.6 this lens is top league throughout the entire range. Color balance is perfect and vibrant even wide open. The 20-35mm Nikkor is beyond any doubt an excellent lens; it´s also about 200 grams less (believe me: it begins to count after walking for 8 hours...). And still, at 28-35mm the Tokina is up to it. So the question is: will you be using the 20-28mm range more than the 35-70mm even if the latter "costs" another 200 grams? if weight isn´t your primary concern, go for this lens: the price I paid for it was when the lens was relatively new. You´ll get it for about $250 (250€) at eBay nowadays. You won´t regret a single penny.

Customer Service

you´ll hopefully never need it...

Similar Products Used:

Nikon AF 20-35mm/2.8D

build quality

softness at 2.8/4 and even 5.6 distortion at 28mm

I sold this lens because it was too soft at 2.8 and 4. At 28mm, there is a lot of distortion. I bought this lens because of all the positive review I saw, but now I wonder how so many people can think this lens is so good. I didn't trust it anymore after all the soft images it produced. It you look at the reviews, the best feature of this lens is its build quality. It's optical quality isn't as good unfortunately. I bought a Nikkor 24/2.8 and a 85/1.8 to replace this lens and couldn't be happier.