fritz@hpfclp.UUCP (fritz) (03/28/85)
I'd like some opinions on the Tokina 35-200 f3.5 zoom, and on Tokina
optics in general.
I've been looking for quite some time for a zoom for my Nikon FG. I had
planned on getting two zooms to fill the range 28-210. I have several
friends who have Vivitar Series 1 28-90's, and they are ga-ga over it.
That, along with the new Series 1 70-210 (which seems to be quite a nice
lens) would fill the bill quite nicely.
However, so far I'm not all that impressed with the Vivitar 28-90. It's
mighty big and heavy for a lens with its specs (f2.8, 1:3.8? macro).
I'm not sure about the quality of Vivitar's optics; several salesdroids
have made deprecating remarks about the fact that Vivitar just buys its
lenses from other manufacturers. The new Series 1 70-210, however,
looked quite good in the recent Modern Photography tests.
I heard a few good things about the Tokina zoom, and went to check it
out. I was able to compare it side-by-side (visually, no film shot)
with the Vivitar 28-90. One thing that surprised me somewhat was that
the V. 28-90 f2.8 is about the same size & weight as the T. 35-200 f3.5.
Drawbacks of the Tokina include 1) a "click-ring" to put the lens
into close-focus mode, 2) slower (3.5 vs 2.8), and 3) as inexpensive as
this thing is for such a long lens, I've gotta believe that something
(optics, mechanics) suffers.
Would anyone out there with strong opinions, pro or con, about the
Vivitars, Tokinas, or other lenses please MAIL me their info? (Our news
connection is flaky, and I'm in a bit of a hurry to get a zoom before
making a trip to Yellowstone in May.) Optical quality (sharpness,
contrast) and mechanical durability are important to me. Other zooms
I've looked at include Cosina, Tamron, Access, and Sigma. I'm pretty
much staying away from Nikkor because of their limited zoom ranges and
gawd-awful prices.
Thanks for any help!
Gary Fritz
Hewlett Packard Co
Ft Collins, CO
{inhp4,hplabs}!hpfcla!fritz