Tokina 35-300mm?

Hello, this is my first post here. I have a Maxxum 7000 with a 50mm

lens and I've been wanting to get a longer range zoom lens. There is

a Tokina 35-300mm lens that I can acquire for not too much, but I know

absolutely nothing about this lens. Can anyone tell me anything about

it, and if I would be better off just buying a 75-300 zoom and

something smaller like a 35-105? Thanks!

Zooms that span over too much will struggle to be sharp and will never be fast. Still, Tokina has a 24-200mm that has a good reputation and (in my view) a more useful zoom-range. It's rather heavy though. Even better is the Tamron 24-135mm, and a nice compination with an 80-400.

The Tokina 35-300 is one of the worst lenses ever made. Look at

photodo.com and figure out why it gets a 0.3 composite score for

sharpness! If you really want an ultrazoom, the Tamron 28-300 is

the least bad of the lot. The Minolta 35-105 is much better, and

very lightweight.

<P>If you've not used the 300mm focal length before, it's worth noting that it's outside the range that most people can hand-hold. I can manage comfortably up to about 200mm, so I find an 80-200 (or thereabouts) zoom a good walkabout lens. If you go the extra distance to 300mm, you'll probably need a tripod to get sharp images, and that slows you down sufficiently that you might as well dispense with the convenience of an all-in-one superzoom and get a couple or three lenses.</P><P> And I don't know the Tokina 35-300 but its reputation isn't encouraging.</P>

Personally I do not like the Tokina lens. My friend has one (an older model) and the zoom, instead of a turn ring, is a slide. So when he focuses on something in a downward angle the barrel moves and makes it tough to take the picture.

 

I have the Sigma 28-300 and love it. I was using the 28-200 and loved that, wanted more lengh and bought the 28-300. These are excellent lenses (imho). I am actually looking to sell the 28-200 with a skylight filter to match it. If your interested, drop me a line.

Please see: <A href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=007BdS"> http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=007BdS</A>. I got rid of mine (which didn't work on newer maxxums until rechipped) since I had a tamron 28-200 XR that I liked better