raymond_luk Posted January 2, 2004 Share Posted January 2, 2004 Something I have not been able to find on-line. Anyone with first hand experience on the color rendition of the newest (ie. current) Tokina 28-70/80 f2.8 lenses or the Sigma 28-70 f2.8 lenses in comparison with Nikkors? My collection of Nikon lenses are remarkably consistent in color rendition on film. My previous experience with Sigma's were that they were greenish compared to my Nikkors. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland_larson Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 I came across a Taiwanese photo website, one of the many Chinese's answers to photo.net, who are about to celebrate their 20-millionth hit (since June 1999). They do have comprehensive reviews for both lenses you mentioned. http://www.photosharp.com.tw/cameratest/sigma28-70ex_1.htm http://www.photosharp.com.tw/cameratest/tokina280pro.htm In fact their equipment reviews are very well written, and those for Japanese products often beat Hong Kong to be the first reviews to come out in the world. Chinese savvy readers may sometimes find the Taiwanese writing style a bit emotional, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_henneberger Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 Yeah, and english savvy readers may sometimes find the Taiwanese writing style a bit UNINTELLIGABLE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland_larson Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 Judging from Raymond's last name, I guess there is a good chance that he being a Chinese from Hong Kong, hence the links for a Chinese website :) Being bilingual since 10, I enjoy reading Chinese as much as English. For the curious- minded but not yet ready to learn a second language, the "Translate Channel" of Sherlock under Mac OS X can be the next best thing to render some unintelligible foreign text into something marginally comprehensible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_h._hartman Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 Roland, I�m still locked out. I�m on Win2000. I located the site through Google.com and there was no friendly offer to translate. Anymore suggestions? Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland_larson Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 photosharp.com can be contacted at service@photosharp.com.tw for permission of reproduction, and I guess their moderators will be more than happy to take care of the translation if they know photo.net is interested in their equipment reviews. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aleksandra_duric Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 If you go to <A HREF="http://www.altavista.com">Altavista</A> and choose the translation feature, you can get an idea. What I've gathered is that resolving power at f/2.8 is bad enough on the Tokina that the Sigma might be a better purchase, while at f/8, they're fairly comparable. But don't quote me on this - I'm trusting Altavista's translator! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Stone Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 Roland is right, Sherlock translates to and from several languages. A word of caution about using it can be demonstrated by translating from English to Chinese, and then translate that same Chinese back into English. A general idea can be had, but specifics are sometimes iffy. There's always more than one way to say something, and some things can be taken the wrong way, or not as intended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland_larson Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 Thanks Alek :) I would say that it is consistent from what I understood, but they also added that the difference between both lenses is marginal : Sigma has a high price/ performance ratio while Tokina excels in build quality, hence the 4 star merit for both. At the street price in Hong Kong, you can almost buy both of them for the price of the Nikon 28-70. Anyway, I own none of them ... By the way, I noticed that the translation engine for AltaVista is Systran, the same gear for Sherlock of OS X, and so I believe Windows users should have the same access in term of translation facilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland_larson Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 ... and thanks Carl. Well, I used to believe I'm bilingual until I try to do some serious translation -- being able to read and comprehend a certain message is one thing, being able to translate it for a native reader is another. We owe much to those ingenious people who worked out the translation engines and make them available on line, for free. Back to square one : Raymond, don't worry too much about the color consistency with indie optics -- go for one and shoot to decide whether you're going to like it, because you are the only one who is qualified to judge in this regard. To play safe, you can either go for the geniune Nikkor, or start tweaking with PhotoShop. I believe the latter is THE way to go for most of us in the near future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland_larson Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 ... and thanks Carl. Well, I used to believe I'm bilingual until I try to do some serious translation -- being able to read and comprehend a certain message is one thing, being able to translate it for a native reader is another. We owe much to those ingenious people who worked out the translation engines and make them available on line, for free. Back to square one : Raymond, don't worry too much about the color consistency with indie optics -- go for one and shoot to decide whether you're going to like it, because you are the only one who is qualified to judge in this regard. To play safe, you can either go for the geniune Nikkor, or start tweaking with PhotoShop. I believe the latter is THE way to go for most of us in the near future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 You guys didn't learn Chinese when you were kids? :-) This is the conclusion from that Taiwan web site (my translation): "Both 3rd-party lenses [sigma 28-70mm/f2.8 EX and Tokina ATX Pro II] have fine perfomances, but they have different goals. The Sigma has good 'performance for the price' in mind while the Tokina displays strong lens construction. For the demanding photographers, there is room for improvement for both. We give them both four stars. Hopefully our detailed tests and comparison can provide you some help." On their first page, that site assigns 4 stars for their recommendation, 4 for resolution, 3 for control, and 4 for value for the money. There is a chart on the 2nd page on resolutioin. It looks like the Sigma is below average at both center and edge at 70mm/f2.8. It is best at 28mm and good/very good at 50mm. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland_larson Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 <You guys didn't learn Chinese when you were kids? :-) > I did, half-baked by today's standard though. Thanks Shun for your excellent translation :) By the way, I would say that photosharp.com is hinting the Nikkor is still THE lens to beat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilbert_c1 Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 Guys, the webmaster of the website you are referring to he's a Canon fan and I think he's trying not to piss off Nikon users so he's always very "kind" when writting about Nikon's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymond_luk Posted January 7, 2004 Author Share Posted January 7, 2004 Thanks for the contributions, everyone. Special thanks to Roland for actually addressing the question :-). I use photoshop, but find it difficult to get rid of color casts to my satisfaction. I can get great color, a part of me just likes to be able to switch lenses knowing the pictures will have the same look. Nikkors (at least the ones I have) are remarkably consistent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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