Tokina ATX 400/F5.6 on a ElanIIE For Sports Pics

Has any one tried the Tokina ATX 400/5.6 lens. Cameraworld price is $440. It received decent reviews from Photozone. I am looking for a lens for my wife's birhtday. She enjoys taking pictures of our children playing soccer in Southern California, normally sunny days.

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Thanks..Ted

The optics are good but the autofocus is slow and noisy compared to

Canon USM lenses. I would recommend taking a look at the 100-300

f/4.5-5.6 USM, which I did use for youth soccer and found it to be

very good for that purpose. It focuses very fast and being able to

zoom is extremely helpful as "the action" comes up the field toward

you. Fot the $$ you'll save, buy a good monopod and a light-weight

folding seat. Sit at the end of the field by the goal and wait for

the action to come to you. Load up with some 400 asa print film, set

the camera to AV mode at 5.6, AI focus mode and continuous film

advance and have some fun!