I am not sure why most of the ppl say it have a focusing problem, it work very smooth and fast with my EOS 3.
The price is really affordable and if you are not willing to spend US$1000 for EF2-70 F2.8
This Lens is great for you.

A little bit heavy..
relatively slow focus if you compare with USM lens. Flare is also a problem.

This Lens is good for beginner which wont spend a whole month salary on a lens.
Relatively GOOD quality, add a CPL for higher sat.

Customer Service

Never Tired

Similar Products Used:

EF85-70mm F2.8

Great range for a single lens; sharp at both ends

Autofocus could be faster

This is a great lens! I tend to take photographs in wooded or shaded areas, and having a wide-angle zoom with f2.8 at one end is a godsend! Having this baby attached to my Nikon F4 using Fuji Astia film has allowed me to take pictures in environments with low lighting that I couldn't take before. My only problem with this lens is that the autofocus isn't nearly as fast as my Nikon 50mm f/1.8 prime, but that OK: I rarely use autofocus anyway!

Similar Products Used:

None

1. Superb build quality.
2. Clear contrasty when shut down.
3. I like the mechanical "clutch system" that allows u to toggle btwn MF and AF
4. No noticable trace of distortion

1. Very soft at f/2.8 to f/4.0 at all focal lengths

I typically like to travel light with at most 2 lenses. The intended purpose for this Tokina purchase was to shoot portraits and for its speed (f/2.8).

The first test roll using this lens was really dissappointing. Refusing to believe in the pic quality from this roll, I reshot another test roll. I was embraced with the same dissappointing results.

Pics shot at 80mm f/2.8-4.0 was, I would say, horrid. Light falloff at corners was very severe, as were colour loss and sharpness. Only at f/5.6 were the pic quality acceptable. I tested it at 50mm and yielded the same horrid results.

As u can see, that immediately negates the original intention of the purchase - to shoot sharp pics WIDE open.

Someone who previously reviewed this lens(here) is right in saying that there're no points of sharpness on the entire frame of the pic. NIL. Zilch. Zero!

And if I really want to shoot at f/5.6, I can easily achieve very good results with my Canon 28-135mm, at all focal lengths!

Without deliberation, I returned the lens. Pity that the built quality was so good.

Potential buyers of this lens - be FOREWARNED.

Customer Service

Pictures taken wide open were so soft that it was sent back to warranty centre for testing.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 50mm f/1.8
Canon 28-135mm IS
Canon 28-105mm
Canon 100-300mm
Tamron 28-200mm Super II

Built like a tank. I use a Nikon F100 and have experienced none of the problems posted by other reviewers. I bought mine in september 2000 and it survived a trip in the Andes, Aruba (high temperature and humidity differences) and performed excellently. Like most lenses using some aperture will help in sharpness, but hey maybe that will give you the bandwith you want in sharpness anyway.

It has relatively fast autofocus for a non motorized lens of this size. Please gif it an honest competitor when you test it for autofocus speed. It will never stand up to a AFS or HSM/USM lens of a light weight lens like the F50 1.8.

I have to agree that it is rather prone to flare. But, I usually try not to shoot into the sun anyway.

Furthermore the aperture lock mechanism could use some reengineering.

The bottom line is that you get a lovely lens for this money. My pictures are sharp. I didn't experience any loss of light in corners and the contrast is good too. It's build like a tank and feels just right on my F100 where it does a good if not excellent job. I am sorry to hear of problems fellow F100 users have had, but I would indeed recommend this lense to anyone.

Customer Service

None, and hope to keep it this way

Similar Products Used:

None!

If you have a Nikon F100, DON'T BUY THIS LENS!!!
I shot only 3 rolls whith this lens, the pics were incredibly sharp and had good contrast but then it didn't autofocus anymore.
Also, the focus sensors of my F100 don't function when this lens is attached.
It is build like a tank but this "tank" has serious problems.

The "PRO" in the lens' body means "PROBLEMS".
Again, IF YOU HAVE A F100 DON'T BUY THIS LENS

On January I bought what I thought would be a perfect gear: A Nikon F100, Nikkor 80-200 f2.8, SB-28 and Tokina's 28-80 f2.8.
The 3 Nikon products are superb and I was impressed with the pics I took using Tokina 28-80: good colors, good contrast, excellent sharpness and no trace of distortion. My dreams became nightmares after the 3rd roll of film. The lens didn't autofocus.
I received the "fixed" lens just 6 days ago and couldn't take one single picture because it has the same problem: It doesn't autofocus on my F100!!
After 2 months of evaluation and service I expected much more than this, they didn't fixed the problem and my lens now has a strong distortion at the corners.
No more Tokina!!

Customer Service

I sent the lens for service on 05/29/01 and they returned it on 07/20/01. Mr. David Roberts (THK's representative)wrote: "The only information that I have
is that the rear element group was replaced due to not meeting
specifications. Unfortunately, we could not comment on what caused the
issue, only that it did not meet Tokina's requirements. Please feel
free to contact us if you have any other problems."
I think Tokina must improve their requirements, because it was returned with the same problem and I observe a huge, almost unacceptable, distortion in all focal lenghts after replacement. It's impossible to have a straight line even at 80mm.
DONT BUY THIS LENS

Similar Products Used:

many others

Sharp at 65mm and under at apertures of f4 and above.

Good looking.

Too soft at 80mm at f2.8 thru f8.0.

This lens stopped auto focusing completely in the middle of my testing, so had to return. (See customer service.)

Excellent lens if not used near or at 80mm, or wide open...and if it does not quit auto focusing entirely.
Great for the beginner; somewhat limited use for professionals.

Customer Service

I'd like to make a request: I need to hear from others who purchased this lens from B+H and DID NOT recieve a warrantee card with their shipment.
I did not recieve one, and now am having trouble getting B+H to accept it as a return.

Thank you.

Similar Products Used:

None

Superb build quality.
Excellent optics.

Aperture lock mechanism ‘unlocks’ too easily.

I bought this lens together with a Nikon F80 a few months ago.
When you take a look at all the previous reviews, the major complaints are 1) focussing problems 2) poor optics when used wide open and 3) AF speed. Here’s how I feel about these topics :
I cannot judge what is happening in combination with an F100, but on my F80, I have experienced no problems whatsoever with focussing. I do believe however that the problem with an F100 does (or did) exist, there just seems to be too much ‘hard’ evidence.
Then there is the AF speed. For me, the lens is fast enough. I also had the possibility to test the Nikon 28-70/2.8 AFS and I must admit that that one is faster. But on the other hand, how many times do you use a standard zoom lens for action photography ? I use it in 99% of the cases for landscapes or portraits, and it doesn’t happen that often that a nice little cottage or a tree suddenly moves to the right or the left !
The picture quality is excellent. It is one of the sharpest lenses I ever possessed. Could it be that a lot of people who are complaining about it have forgotten the basic laws of lens construction ? A 2.8 lens will always have a very shallow depth of field and one should not mix up this fact with a lack of image sharpness. Secondly, it is a golden rule that a lens produces best results when stopped down 2 to 3 stops. “What is the use of having a 2.8 lens if you have to stop it down to at least f/5.6 to get excellent quality ?” a lot of people might ask, but they forget that the same goes for a 3.5-4.5 standard zoom lens so that good results are only obtained starting from f/8, so the difference remains.

Isn’t there anything bad about this lens ? For me, the most annoying thing is the aperture lock mechanism which unlocks too easily. By the time you discover the problem (my F80 refuses to take the picture in such conditions), a great shot might be lost. But apart from that, I sincerely belief that this is one of the best zoom lenses you can buy, and with the money saved compared to the Nikon 28-70/2.8 AFS, I almost can buy myself a Nikon 80-200/2.8 (not the AF-S version, as I doubt I will need the extra AF speed very often)

Customer Service

None needed yet.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon AF-S 28-70/2.8

Excellent optics
Nice construction
Non-rotating filter thread
The near limit is a remarkable 0.5m
Constant f2.8 brings brighter finder image

Flare when the lens is pointed towards the sun (but who cares?)

I purchased it on December 2000. since then,
It has almost always been attached on my
Fuji Finepix S1 pro digital SLR.
(it becomes a strange 42-120mm f2.8 lens with this body)

I have shot many pictures with it
and I'm always very pleased with superb results.

Sharp, Good color rendition and
Color fringing is undetectable.

My favorite lens.

Customer Service

n/a

Similar Products Used:

Nikon AF24mmF2.8D,
Nikon AF50mmF1.4D

nice build, clutch is cool

horrific flare problems, soft optics

if you want a professional lens do not buy this tokina. i am selling mine. flare is a problem not only shooting into the sun, but anywhere near the sun. shooting wide open is not an option, either, as the optics are quite poor. don't even think of using it near 80mm. but the flare is truly awful. what a disapointment. i will never buy another tokina product again, even though i've owned some tokina lenses that weren't anywhere near this bad. as far as i'm concerned, they've ruined their reputation with this lens.

Customer Service

n/a

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the best nikon and canon lenses