Tokina 16-50

Bsimon

Hello All,

I just finished a rental period with the 17-55 Nikor 2.8 and it was fabulous!

Needless to say it would be stretching the budget a bit.

I have had Tamron Lenses in the past however the Robust Build quality of Tokina lenses has me intrigued.

Does anyone have any personal experience with the Tokina 16-50? Build quality alone would be worth the $100 difference in price assuming all other aspects were equal.


All of the searches online yeild preference toward the Tamron and I have to think it is partially due to the late arrival of the Tokina in the US. People had time to fall in love with the Tamron.

Any first hand insight to this lens' performance is greatly appreciated!

Bsimon

Well, after reading and reading all day I decided on the Tokina. It should be here Friday. I will let you all know how it performs

DsrtVW

I have not use that lens but I can vouch for the build and quality of the 50-135mm f2.8 ATX pro DX lens they make. It is wonderful. I have the 17-55mm nikon and it is superb. I am saving up for the 11-16mm Tokina.
It would be better if they had internal focus motor to make them quieter but for the price you cant go wrong
D300 50-135mm f2.8. 1/500 @ f9 ISO 800

Bsimon

Excellent! Thank you for posting. Like I said my 16-50 should be here friday and will post results asap.

One thing to note so far and I havent even gotten it yet....On BH's site it claimes 'zooming does not change overall length' I didnt think this was an internal zoom lens and I thought it would extend so we'll have to see when this copy comes. If it is truely an internal zooming lens that would be over the top awesome but im not holding my breath.

Scott_Quier

Bsimon wrote:

Excellent! Thank you for posting. Like I said my 16-50 should be here friday and will post results asap.

One thing to note so far and I havent even gotten it yet....On BH's site it claimes 'zooming does not change overall length' I didnt think this was an internal zoom lens and I thought it would extend so we'll have to see when this copy comes. If it is truely an internal zooming lens that would be over the top awesome but im not holding my breath.

Nope - check out the pictures of this lens in this review. They clearly show the lens does, indeed, grow as it zooms.

Bsimon

Yep, thought that was the case. Thanks for the clarification.