just won a tokina atx 828 pro

been after a 2.8 lens in this length for a whilst now & put a speculative bid in & won.

anyone else have any experience of this lens??

Hi,

I had one of these but sold it earlier this year. I loved the build quality, even though it did make it quite heavy.

While I read some good reviews of the lens, the copy I had just didn’t deliver the image quality, either in terms of resolution or contrast. The issue was worse at 2.8 or 200mm but generally I was finding that most my Tamron 70-300 was giving better results. It seemed to be OK at around 100mm and f5.6, but there not much point in having that kind of lens if you have to stop it down and use a limited range.

With luck it was just my copy and yours will be much better! As I said I did read some good reviews.

I replaced it with a new Sigma 100-300 F4 EX which has been brilliant, if again a bit heavy.

Let us know how you feel about it cabstar. My only Tokina is the 20-35mm F2.8 ATX Pro, which is made from the same grade of metal as yours, and my little lens is heavy to say the least, I am sure they got the metal from some old russian tanks.......
I have read the reviews from the "other" forum, and it is highly rated.

Missed the postman today so going to collect it tomorrow. I have a shoot on Thursday night so will let you know how I get on.

Must admit I am a little daunted by ths weight of thing, I love my 50-135mm but sometimes it does fall short...

well just collected it, opened the box to find a the lens complete with hood, caps, case & the box. have shined my torch inside & can see 2 tiny tiny specks of dust. the lens is like new.
i think the seller has undersold this one.... testing later...

Just sold mine an hour ago, I replaced it with a DA* 50-135. For my style of shooting its much more convenient.

But the lens is build like a tank, I have also the 28-70 pro II from tokina. It has the same build quality.

Optics are good not stunning.

There doesn't seem to be a Tokina history site, but from what I've gleaned elsewhere the ATX badge has always been found on their top spec glass. I have one of the old 28-85mm zooms from this range and it's definitely one of the better 3rd party lenses in that focal length. Not especially fast, but light, smooth focusing, and producing sharp images.

Does anyone know if they did an ATX 80-200mm or so to partner this lens? Would seem odd if they hadn't. I know about a 70-210mm which I've been tempted by on a few occasions but I already have a Pentax-M 80-200mm so it would be a tad pointless.

Well tried it last night & was well pleased with its performance, loveley contrast, focus was faster than my DA* 50-135mm & didn't struggle to lock on.

My only gripe is the zoom ring rotates the opposite way to my other lenses & the tripod mount is a little annoying, but really like the increased reach, the hood was a little struggle to fit, will try & find a click on hood...

Shot at ISO 1600 no flash f/2.8

there is an 80-200 / 2.8 and then the 80-400 (5.6).

Bret

My only complaint with my 28-85mm is that it focuses backwards compared to Pentax lenses. It's very pleasant to use otherwise.

Were those manual lenses Bret?

nope, AF.

The ATX II 80-400 (with lens collar) is supposed to be very good indeed, which doesn't really explain its mediocre second hand value (around €300 on the German market, but they come up rarely).

Bret

I am guessing all Tokina lenses must focus & zoom the same direction then

The AF ones must focus the same way as Pentax ones, unless they've put reverse gearing in for the screw drive. The camera body is used to turning the screw in one direction to focus further away and vice versa, it'd get confused if you suddenly had the infinity and close focus at opposite ends of the scale to normal!

The 28-85mm zoom control is the same as my Pentax ones - turn to the right (when holding camera to eye) to zoom in. It's just the focus which is backwards.

same on the Tammy 10-24.

I don't like to say this, but the focus really is backwards. As is the zoom. Check out the pics on this auction: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Tokina-AT-X828-AF-PRO-80-200mm-f-2-8-Pentax-/400173606258?...

Bret

Ok, that is weird!

Tokina were founded by rebel Nikon designers weren't they? Might explain why they focus backwards.