Tokina 28-80 f/2.8 or Tamron 28-75 f/2.8

[jacob]

I can't decide between the Tokina AT-X PRO 28-80 f/2.8 or the Tamron SP AF 28-75 f/2.8. Which would you get and why?

[KaplanMultimedia]

I don't know first hand about the Tokina, but I have the Tamron and have been very impressed with it. It's not too large or heavy and the images are very crisp. Many in various forums have said it's quality is pretty close to Canon L lenses without the high cost. Owning a 70-200 2.8L, I agree the images are almost as good.

[SSquared2000]

I do not have any experience with the Tokina, but when people ask about lenses in this range, the discussion is usually around the Sigma 24-70, Tamron 28-75, and the Canon 28-135 IS. That's not to say there is a problem with the lens, just that it does not seem to be mentioned when discussing this focal range.

My personal experience is with the Tamron. It has taken some spectacular shots. I am extremely impressed. On the other hand, I also seem to have one of the rare lenses suffering from a soft focus issue at 28mm and F2.8. There are ways around this issue (thanks to fstopjojo for describing the workaround), but I think I may be sending the lens in for repair at some point.

[GeneMan88]

I love my Tamron 28-75 f2.8, but I wanted to try something else, so I bought a Tokina 28-80 f2.8 to check it out. Things I liked about the Tokina... it feels well built, it looks nice on the 10D, it's internal focusing, and internal zooming. The thing that disappointed me was the fact that I couldn't get a sharp photo at f2.8 . I tried everything, things didn't sharpen up 'til f8 . The tokina is around $600 brand new, not worth that much if you can't even get a good photo in low light. I don't know how well the Tokina works with film, but I'd stay away from it with our dSLRs. It totally surprised me that the Tokina 28-80 f2.8 was soo bad, especially when the Tokina 12-24 f4 is sooo good. What I learned from this experience, is thatThe Tamron is the way to go.

[tim]

My Tamron is a good lens, i'd be tempted to get the Sigma, 4mm at the wide end is more important than 5mm at the long end.

[SSquared2000]

Like Tim said, you may want to decide the important focal length for you. I chose the longer reach because I seem to be wanting 'just a tad longer' more often than 'just a bit wider'. If I need to go wider, I have the extra 18-28 in the kit lens.

I used the Tamron solely this weekend shooting around downtown Portland and found myself walking away from many architectural shots because 28 is just not wide enough.

[jacob]

I went with the Tokina because I got a good deal ($233) and because I dont want to worry about if the tamron will break (plastic body).