Tokina 19 - 35 is it worth it?

[Honestman]

D30 user looking for a wide angle lens.

Have heard the above described as the 'Plastic Fantastic' - should I buy this at £149 new? It should work great with the EOS 100 I am buying (yes a film SLR buyer) as a back up.

if not what is the alternative / price

Thanks

Tim

[slejhamer]

Be very careful - there are TWO Tokina 19-35mm lenses, and they are roughly the same price! One is reportedly pretty bad, with glass made by Cosina and is the same as the poor-performing Vivitar and Phoenix.

The other is the "real" Tokina lens with glass made by Hoya - that is the "plastic fantastic" lens that you want. Supposedly it is not quite as good as Tokina's 20-35 f/2.8 but costs less than half the price.

Here is an interesting (but obviously not scientific) comparison:
http://www.canonians.com/wideanglecompare.htm

Sure, it's not quite up to par with the 17-40mm L lens, but for the price? Not bad at all.

And another review: http://www.ephotozine.com/equipment/tests/testdetail.cfm?test_id=116

I've read elsewhere that the Tokina does suffer from severe edge distortion. However, on a digital SLR with a crop factor, this problem is minimized because you are only using the center portion of the lens.

P.S. I'm not sure if this applies where you are, but Tokina is running a rebate offer on this lens right now, at least in the US. This brings the cost to US$169 after rebate.

[chris maddock]

Be very careful - there are TWO Tokina 19-35mm lenses, and they are roughly the same price! One is reportedly pretty bad, with glass made by Cosina and is the same as the poor-performing Vivitar and Phoenix.

The other is the "real" Tokina lens with glass made by Hoya - that is the "plastic fantastic" lens that you want. Supposedly it is not quite as good as Tokina's 20-35 f/2.8 but costs less than half the price.


The good one has the designation AF193 on the box - at least, mine does and it's a good one.

KRs
Chris

[fwhitesides]

I used this lens on my Nikon F4 and it performed very well. There is some visual distortion at the edges when at 19mm, but it's not too noticeable unless you are shooting architecture shots. I shot a ton of great landscapes while in Alaska with this lens, and I was very pleased. It is very likely I will pick one up for my DRebel as a cheap way to get wide.