1-Build quality (made in Japan). 2-Better than average sharpness. 3-Accurate color capture. 4-Ratio Price/Quality 5-All-in-one lens (28-200mm)

1-Focus ring has a small range (fine focus difficult) 2-Split-image rangefinder black-out if not looking in-line with it. 3-A little bulky and heavy but you can forgive it you only need to carry one lens. 4-No zoom lock mechanism.

I've bought this lens for 3 months now, I've always used the 50mm f/1.8 that came with the Canon AE-1 kit, at first I tried to find second hand Canon lenses but they're on the pricey side, so I've bought a new Tokina 28-200mm. The first thing I noticed when I took it out of the box was the build quality, all metal with a lot of rubber and a very nice detail, the back hood when pressed against the mount rotate automatically into position (very nice touch). Continuing with the outside, everything have a quality feeling and sounds nice (the aperture ring), but not everything is good, the focus ring has a small range which makes it fast to focus but dificult to fine focus which conjugate with another feature that I will write about in a while sometimes makes focusing a nightmare. Zooming is pleasing and smooth but the lens when full extend is quite big, and no zoom locking system which means it will extend when it's facing down. The FD mount is not quite as good as the Canon one because in the original lenses they rotate as one while in the Tokina they have yet another ring which is small but after a little practice don't bother much. The front of the lens rotate when focusing so no polarizing filters. When I looked through the viewfinder (Split-image rangefinder encircled by microprism rangefinder at center with a fresnel matte screen on the AE-1) I've noticed that the split-image turns black if your're eye is not perfectly aligned with it which doesn't happen with my Canon lens, plus the small focus range makes focusing at least a slow task if you want a perfectly focused image. Now moving on to the glass, it's good, sharp and good colors not as good as a prime L lens (I've never seen or tested a Canon zoom L lens) but far better than the FD Zoom 35-70mm f/3.5-4.5 or the 70-210mm f/4 and all in one lens, kudos for Tokina. The best of this lens is from 35mm to 150mm f/8-11, at big apertures the image is a little softer and in some situations edge softness / falloff / chromatic aberrations is noticeable but only on large prints and not a serious issue, you just have to know how to stop down the lens. I don't do technical test so I can't tell you how much is the barrel or pincushion distortion but It's not noticeable in 99% of the photos. This lens possesses a macro mode which I haven't tested yet. In conclusion for the price this lens is awsome, not perfect but for 159€ (about $175) is a very good value for money indeed.

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I never need it and I hope it keeps this way.