This Tokina lens is a relatively old design. It has a rotating front element, the lens extends a bit depending on focal length and while focusing. I have bought that lens as a kind of temporary replacement. I sold my Sigma 70-200 2.8, because I didn't use the lens a lot... but after selling it, I discovered I needed the range and the speed a few times. I could find a cheap copy allowing me to wait for the moment I'll buy a 70-200VR (6 times more expensive). The lens is well built, heavy and a bit slow to focus (no internal motor). Optically speaking, it is an excellent lens but with a slight softness fully opened. Best performance starts at f4 and above.
Pros
- can be found very cheap (compared to
other similar lenses)
- optically very good
- comes with hard carrying case, and lens caps
- excellent build
- heavy and stable
- good tripod mount
Cons
- rotating front element
- no sun hood provided (screw type needed)
- AF is bit slow to recent norms
- slightly soft fully open
- pretty heavy (like most lenses in
the category)
This lens is working pretty well for
sports like indoor tennis
(low light shooting, imposing to select a pretty high ISO value, f2.8 -
fully
open - very thin DOF, speed higher than 1/320 sec. Overall conclusions:
recommended. Highly usable and at a very reasonable price. (I paid more
than 6 times more !! for the Nikkor 70-200 2.8 VR)
A few examples (tennis - Kim Clijsters)
