Frogfish Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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infosecgeek wrote:
Going on a cross country drive shortly and plan on camping Yosemite for a few days. Have my finger on the trigger for the 15-30, anyone have one yet? Likes Dislikes?
I went in to buy one today ...... and came out with the Tokina 16-28/2.8 instead. I tried both the Tamron 15-30 and Tokina 16-28 side by side, exact same location and exact same (manual) exposure settings. Whilst both lenses were very sharp in the centre there was a distinct advantage to the Tokina on the borders and a visible advantage in distortion too. I was shocked and couldn't really believe it after all the positive reviews I've read of the Tamron.
It's always possible that this wasn't the best copy of the Tamron 15-30 but as it was the last Nikon mount left in the shop (they are in great demand - here in Shanghai) there wasn't another copy to compare it to. My results being substantially different from those on The Digital Picture. So either I have a great copy of the Tokina, they had a great copy of the Tamron, I had a poor copy of the Tamron or they had a poor copy of the Tokina !
I'll start a new thread once I've sorted out the shots I took in the camera mall and some field shots but it saves me about 300g in my backpack (on my scales it's 813g with both caps, I'm not sure if they have managed to reduce the weight because I know my scales are accurate but this is over 100g lighter than most reviews quote - and can be felt when having both lenses in the hand at the same time) and is also substantially smaller.
Some people may find the VR (VC) of the Tamron indispensable, but I was getting sharper shots with the VR/VC-less Tokina than the supposedly 4 stop VC of the Tamron (1/100, f5.6, ISO 800). Build quality looks identical.
Photozone seems to back up my short in-shop testing, soft corners at f2.8 so maybe not so good for the Astro guys and the Tamron a clear winner there, however from f4 a substantial improvement and at f5.6 onwards, excellent.
I'm hardly ever a spur-of-the-moment buyer, I've been back and forth 3 times this week to a shop to check out a US$100 day-use backpack ! However the startling difference in the borders/corners sold me. I've bought this lens for 3 weeks in Iceland .... if I'm not happy before I leave in ca. 3 weeks time I'll be selling it and trying to buy, a better copy, of the Tamron. But at the moment that's looking unnecessary.
Now to find the Fotodiox Wondapana 150mm filter set (not 100mm as I wrongly assumed). Lots of good Chinese versions too, Nisi (always make good stuff) and Haida for sure, probably others.
Here are some links for anyone interested :
B&H (4.5 stars from 106 reviews for the Nikon version and 4.5 stars from 83 reviews for the Canon version), it's selling for the amazingly low price of US$629 on B&H (cost to me here was US$685 whilst the Tamron I had gone in for was US$1,093) - I spent the, um, 'savings' on a Sony 28/2 for the A7
Photozone : http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/595-tokina162828eosff
Here on FM ! (score 9.1 from 7 reviews, some didn't like the lens cap - same type as the Tamron, and a couple thought it flared, note than other WA zooms ? We'll see) : https://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=424
Pop Photo : (from 2010) : 'All but flawless, this fuller-framer is in a class of its own'. http://www.popphoto.com/gear/2010/12/tested-tokina-x-16-28mm-f28-pro-fx
Tokina : http://www.tokinalens.com/tokina/products/atxprofx/atx1628f28profx/
Edited on May 15, 2015 at 02:07 PM · View previous versions
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