Tokina AT-X SD AF 100-300mm F/4 - Review and Pics

I recently decided to pick up another lens sort of on a whim. It was meant to be somewhat of a replacement/substitution for my aging Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 AF-D. Not that the 80-200 was dying, but it certainly is starting to show it's age and has a few more lens defects than I ultimately want.

After being surprised at how well my Tokina 400mm f/5.6 was performing; I figured this lens would be worth a go. I read several pretty glowing reviews and had a hard time finding much said about it in a negative way. And for a price that's even half of what another 80-200 would run me; I had to pull the trigger on it.

I received the lens today and will be posting up a full review and several pics over the next few days. Just upon first inspection … this thing is a BEAST! Heavy and built like a tank. Grabbed just a few shots over lunch at the park. Ummm … yeah, I think it was worth it!!

More to come later …..

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So after a few trips out; this lens is absolutely out performing anything I could have hoped for. End of review …. LOL.

Seriously though; the quality, build, and sharpness are well beyond the bargain price might suggest you'd get. I'll post up specs and lens details in a following post.

Here is an example of the detail this lens has been delivering:

Put the lens through another test that goes beyond anything I expected decent performance out of …. dense fog. I mean pea soup fog. I truly thought I'd have nothing to show for most of my morning.








After a few hours it turned a bit less intense.






These are probably some of the worst conditions I've trie to shoot in. Besides my expectations, this lens truly did out perform anything I could have imagined. All of what it delivers will only get better when I get my hands on a D7100.

Looks good, nice and sharp at 300mm judging by that hawk shot. How does it do at F/4?
Also how do you rate the Tokina 400mm f/5,6?