Review Tokina AT-X AF SD 80-200mm 1: 2.8

According provided by Tokina AT-X AF lens SD 80-200mm 1:2.8 (for Nikon) many thanks to Mad Nikolai.

Review Tokina AT-X AF SD 80-200mm 1: 2.8

Review of Tokina AT-X AF SD 80-200mm 1: 2.8

Tokina AT-XAF SD 80-200mm 1:2.8 – fast telephoto for film cameras with 2.5x zoom. I received a version for Nikon cameras for review. Like other third-party photographic equipment manufacturers, Tokina produced this lens for other systems - Canon, Pentax and Sony.

Tokina AT-XAF SD 80-200mm 1:2.8 is the predecessor of the more famous version Tokina AT-X PRO (828) 80-200mm 1: 2.8.

Tokina AT-X AF SD 80-200mm 1: 2.8

View of Tokina AT-X AF SD 80-200mm 1:2.8 with lens hood on

The Tokina 80-200 / 2.8 lens is made primarily of metal, with a huge (77 mm) front lens and a weight of 1400 grams. The focus ring and zoom are rubberized and pleasant to the touch. On the lens case there is a non-removable tripod foot, which rotates 360 degrees around the axis of the lens and is fixed with a washer-clamp. The washer can be completely unscrewed and is easy to lose. Also, on the case you can find two white marks-strips, which, when compared with the white mark-point of the clamp on the tripod foot, make it possible to quickly turn the lens into a landscape or portrait position.

The lens came to me for a review in a solid case, with a hood. The hood can be worn back and forth with complete loss of access to the focus ring, but, in principle, you can focus by rotating the hood, and with it the front of the lens, which is responsible for focusing.

Tokina AT-X AF SD 80-200mm 1: 2.8

Side view of Tokina AT-X AF SD 80-200mm 1: 2.8

But the Tokina 80-200 / 2.8’s auto focus speed failed. If the lens misses, then re-sharpening requires a lot of time. There is no focus mode switch; switching to automatic mode and vice versa is carried out by means of a switch on the camera. There is no focus distance limiter. The focus ring rotates 100 degrees, while the entire front of the lens spins and drives forward... During focusing, when reaching the extreme positions, the Tokina 80-200 / 2.8 lenses knock perceptibly, which is generally the norm for such lenses.

On the body there is a scale for focusing distance in meters and feet, the MDF is as much as 1.8 meters. The lens has an internal zoom - when the focal length is changed, the lens does not change its size. When the focal length is changed, as well as when focusing, the rear lens remains stationary, which completely deprives the lens of the 'vacuum cleaner effect' and, therefore, reduces the possibility of contamination of the interior of the camera. Also, the lens can be considered parfocal - when zooming, the focus practically does not go astray.

Tokina AT-X AF SD 80-200mm 1: 2.8

Rear view of Tokina AT-X AF SD 80-200mm 1: 2.8

It's important: auto focus with this lens is available only when using him on cameras with built-in motor focusing.

Exact list Nikon DSLR cameras with a built-in focus motor, on which this lens will focus automatically:

Exact list Nikon DSLR cameras without a built-in focus motor, on which this lens will not focus automatically:

Only auto focus and sound confirmation of focus will not work with these cameras, all other important functions, such as automatic exposure metering and automatic iris control, will work well.

You will find a lot of useful information on the types of cameras and lenses Nikon here.

Diaphragm consists of 9 petals, closes over the entire range of focal lengths to F / 32. The lens has aperture control ring (in the photo the ring is easy to recognize by a number of numbers: from F / 2.8 to F / 32). To control the value aperture of any modern Nikon cameraneed to install ring aperture to F / 32 and fix it with a special button, which is located on the lens housing to the right of the numbers. If this is not done, the 'fEE' error will appear on the camera display. This ring is needed to control the aperture on some film cameras (described in more detail in the section Non-G Nikon Lenses).

For Nikon cameras, the lens is an analog FX, AF, Non-d lens. Please note that the Tokina AT-X AF SD 80-200mm 1: 2.8 is actually does not transmit focus distance values into the camera, which may give errors in exposure when shooting with flash in TTL auto modes. IN EXIF images taken with the lens, the focus distance is always indicated 34 meters, which is a kind of stub.

Tokina AT-X AF SD 80-200mm 1: 2.8

Enlightenment of the front lens Tokina AT-X AF SD 80-200mm 1: 2.8

When using the lens on cropped cameras'Nikon DX' EGF will be 120-300 mm. At open apertures, the lens allows without problems take off. For FX cameras, the range of 80-200 mm is very convenient for a huge number of photo tasks. In particular, such fast telephoto lenses are excellent portrait lenses.

Two similar lenses with rear-facing lens hoods when focusing on MDF. You can see the overview of the second lens - Tamron SP AF LD 70-210mm 1: 2.8 67DN »

Two similar lenses with back-to-front hoods when focusing on MDF. You can see the review of the second lens - Tamron SP AF LD 70-210mm 1: 2.8 67DN

On F / 2.8, the Tokina 80-200 / 2.8 is not particularly strong, as the 'classic' Tokin software 'appears, and the sharpness' floats' over the entire range of focal lengths. However, if you cover the aperture at least to F / 3.5, then the sharpness increases markedly. Nevertheless, no one forbade me to shoot on F / 2.8, while I got wonderful volumetric photos, where the sharpness was not very important. Tokina 80-200 / 2.8 is interesting for its good pattern, it is only a pity that the lens suffers greatly from chromatic aberration.

The copy from my review was constantly 'falling off' (as they say, when the camera stops 'seeing' or 'understanding' the lens during shooting). To bring the functionality back to normal, I had to remove the lens and put it back on the camera several times. Most likely this is an obvious drawback of my instance and directly when working with Nikon D700. When I shot on Nikon D80 и D7000 There were no problems.

Here link to the archive with the originals - 210 MB, 23 photos, photo parameters in the archive and in the gallery are indicated here.

Tokina AT-X AF SD 80-200mm 1: 2.8

It looks like Tokina AT-X AF SD 80-200mm 1: 2.8 on a film camera

Catalog of modern Tokina lenses can look at this link.

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Results

Tokina AT-X AF SD 80-200mm 1: 2.8 is a solid lens, but slow focusing and not the best sharpness at F / 2.8 make you look for other alternatives to the native flagships of the 70 (80) -200 (210) class. But on the secondary market such a lens can be found for only 300-400 USD.

Material prepared Arkady Shapoval. Training/Consultations | Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Telegram

Add a comment: Anton

 

 

Comments: 21, on the topic: Review Tokina AT-X AF SD 80-200mm 1: 2.8

  • Anton

    Thanks so much for the review.
    I recognize the Tokin drawing. Looks like my 28-70.
    In 80-200 softness appears in the entire range of focal or closer to the long end? At 28-70, for example, up to 50 mm, the lens is very sharp, at 70 it starts to noticeably soft.

  • Maksim

    I am the owner of this lens. I really like the drawing, but at first I suffered with it. Until I got used to the fact that there is a lot of softness at 200 - either clamping to 4 - 5,6 or setting the focus to 180, then everything is fine.

  • anonym

    and vivitar 70-210 will be better in drawing even though there is no constant aperture of 2,8

  • Hleb

    I liked the photos from this review. Real and natural color reproduction.

  • Do_Oraemon

    Yeah, for such a price is a pretty good alternative to native glasses. And about the build quality in Tokyo, I generally keep quiet - as always pleasing.

  • Artyom

    Thanks for the review .. I would also like to see the tests of the manual version

  • Alexey

    Have you ever shot 80-400 on Tokin? If so, what can you say about this glass?

    • Amatich

      Fine glass!

  • Leonov Sergey

    Good day! What about Tokina AT-X 80-400 1: 4,5-5,6 ?? I did not meet him in your reviews. I am the owner of this glass, your opinion is interesting))

  • Maestro

    Arkady, please advise what is better to choose: native 80 200 2.8 (ІІІ), or Tokin from the review + native AF 85mm 1.8 for change?

  • Kalhoznik

    I have Tokina AT-X AF SD 80-200mm 1: 2.8, non-autofocus. The drawing is excellent, the colors are bright and natural. At 200 mm there is a slight drop in sharpness, but this is noticeable only when comparing images at high magnification. I’m bastard from the lens, I did not expect that there would be such a picture quality. It is quite comparable with the Nikkors of the more expensive series 80-200 and 70-200 (compared with 80-200mm / 2.8). There are no words about mechanics at all: just fine. For video, a very convenient glass.

    • Ivan

      Did you write down the reviewer? In general, there is no information about your trombone !!! Or write here - interesting!

  • anonym

    You are fool! “Classic Tokin software”? trash your lenses

    • anonym

      Your grandfather goof chilean

  • Igor_K

    Considering the interest in the manual version of this lens, I will share my experience of using it. The optical schemes in manual and autofocus versions are identical, so there is practically no difference in the drawing. Constructive - as monumental as a tank, dust does not "suck". At the long end, at open values, soft, CA, XA are present in sufficient quantity. At 80-170mm everything is much better. Nikkoru 80-200 \ 2,8 is noticeably inferior in terms of the picture, but also noticeably wins in price. The nature of the back blur - I was not personally impressed, which is quite unexpected for Tokina. Having in my "arsenal" 8 lenses with similar RFs, I rarely use this "Tokin" due to its significant weight and dimensions. Of the alternatives close in price, I think “Olympus 65-200 \ 4” and “Vivitar Ser. 1 70-210 \ 3,5 (Tokina)” are more preferable despite the lower aperture ratio. At the same time - this lens is definitely worth its current money! Examples shot with Canon 40d.

  • Alexander

    I also bought a purely manual option, uchus))).

    https://ibb.co/9yJ4dVF

    • Nicholas

      Awesome photo! In the comments of other people, the pictures are specifically soft, but your sharpness is excellent. It looks like it was taken from different lenses

  • Alexander

    After:
    https://ibb.co/hdrvzQJ

  • Still

    Well, it's not worth it IMHO 300 and 400 for sure

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