On the Tokina 20-35 f 2.8 zoom This lens is apparently optically very fine, exceptionally close to the Nikkor in quality. It is also very solidly and professionally made. Someone put it right when he wrote that this lens is certainly up to professional standards in optical and build quality. It has one quirk that needs to be understood before one buys it. In playing with this lens, I found this quirk tricky and frustrating. It also raised durability questions for me. I hope I can remember the details of this correctly. Basically, to make the lens AF faster, Tokina has made it possible to operate the lens in two modes. The front barrel of the lens slides back and forth between a mark that says AF and one that says MF. When the lens is on AF, the lens AFs very quickly but the distance scale on the lens does not turn. When one wants to use the lens in manual focus, one not only has to shift the body from AF to MF but one also has to move/slide the barrel of the lens back a bit to the MF mark. One can then focus the lens manually, and the distance scale turns. When the lens is on MF and the body is on AF, the lens will AF, but more slowly than when set on AF, and the distance scale turns. The tricky part is that when switching from MF to AF the lens will move at any point from close focus to infinity. But to shift back from AF to MF, one has to put the lens back at the same place it was when one moved it before or the lens won't shift. (Actually I may have this backwards, but the consequences are the same). Onless one has a very good memory, this results on some repeated trial-and-error pushing against whatever holds the lens in place that I don't think can be good for the lens. I guess one could always leave the lens on AF, or always shift the lens at the same place, to sort this out, but the effect was not good for me. Your mileage may vary, but you ought to know what you are getting. Seemed unnecessarily fiddly and awkward to me. In spite of the bargain price of the Tokina, this feature really annoyed me. I decided to hold out for a used Nikkor 20-35 which finally turned up for me. Still too much money, but probably worth it. -- John N. Wall email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] WWW: http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/users/j/jnweg/html We are not revitalized or transformed as often by a change of circumstances as we are by a change of perspective.
