Tokina ATX manual focus lenses

[ray_locke]

I am an Olympus OM photographer. I recently came across a Tokina ATX

100-300/4 in an OM mount. Anyway I grabbed it and have only put one

roll through it. My verdict is still out on it, but does anyone else

have knowledge or experience with this lens?

 

Does this lens have a good rep?

 

I know that the ATX line was the tops from Tokina. Telephoto in the

OM mount is rather limited. I have a Zuiko 200/4 and detest it. Can

never find a Zuiko 300/4.5 at a fair price and the 250 is waayyyy too

much. So did I get a gem or a dog?

[dan_fromm1]

(1) it got a rave review in Modern Photography several centuries ago.

 

(2) I've handled 3 in Nikon mount at camera flea markets, all changed focal length when held near vertical. Does yours have a stiffer zoom mechanism?

 

(3) I convinced someone (here? not sure) to get one from KEH. I think it was in Nikon mount. He reported great disappointment.

 

(4) I see you're a practitioner of "ready, aim, fire." Do you work for a major corporation?

 

(5) Why ask us whether YOUR lens is any good? Why don't you ask the lens yourself? You have the very lens in question, none of us has access to it, and odds are no two of them are exactly alike. Also none of us knows your standards. Alternatively, perhaps you should do your homework before you buy instead of, ah, seeking absolution after you've sinned.

 

Cheers,

 

Dan

[Brian]

<P>I think what Dan meant to say in point (4) was: "ready, fire, aim". I agree with his general drift. You've got the lens so you are in a better position to say how good it is than anybody on this forum.</P><P>I'll illustrate the point with my old story about my Minolta 35-70 mm zoom lens. I was persuaded to buy it in a package deal so effectively I paid very little for it. I used it and was very well pleased with the results, it was the equal of some of my prime lenses in resolution and contrast. I'm not an obsessive about lens quality but I could tell this was a good performing lens. I began reading stuff on the web about what a turkey it was and how Minolta owners should avoid it: my response was - there may be some bad examples out there but I've got a good one.</P><P>And with your Tokina, it's the one in your bag that matters - is it a good one? Only you can tell.</P>

[rob loxley]

I've got and would recommend Tokina's 80-200mm f2.8 for the Olympus OM series. It's a great performer, and Olympus never did a similar Zuiko zoom. If you shop around you should get one for $150-200 (I paid under £120).

[sknowles]

Here's a link to a review of the Minolta mount version:

 

http://users.bigpond.net.au/antony_hands/100-300mm.htm

 

It's compared to the Minolta MD 300mm f4.5 lens, the last variant of the 300mm f4.5 series for Minolta's manual focus cameras.

 

Good luck.

[ray_locke]

Thanks for the replies. For the record I am a read, aim, aim, aim, aim, aim, think about firing, aim some more, then fire kind of person.

 

But as an OM owner, you are dealing with equipment that is not very common, so sometimes you have to buy quickly when an opportunity arises. This happened to be one of those times.

 

I got my test roll back and it is pretty good. Some nice stuff but some camera shake from slow speeds (used Velvia). The shots on timer/mlu worked really nice and I even grabbed a decent bird in flight shot.

 

So Looks like I got a keeper at a fair price.

[douglas_greenberg]

Hey, I own this lens, Nikon version. It still sits in my backup camera bag in the window seat in the living room. It was displaced in my main bag years ago by a Sigma 75-300 4.5-5.6 APO zoom that I found to be superior, particularly at longer focal lengths.

 

The Tokina, a large beast that doesn't focus close but is fast for an inexpensive lens, will perform very well at its shorter focal lengths, but I found once I zoomed out past about say, 250 mm., it softened disappointingly. The contrast and color rendition were/are very good overall. So it's one of those good news/bad news things. Overall, it's a good lens, and if you got a great price, it's a steal. But I was trying to use it at its longer focal lengths a lot, and I was disappointed. The Sigma APO was just better (and smaller!) and I was willing to put up with its 1/2 to 1 stop slower maximum aperture.

 

Cheers,

 

Doug Greenberg

[marcus_erne]

Ray,

I have no experience with this lens, but I strongly recommend that you try Provia 400F with it for wildlife, it'll give you more keepers and less losses due to shake!