24-70 2.8 alternative

Well, I bought the 35-70, it should arrive in the next couple days. And I plan on buying the tokin 28-70 on ebay tomorrow. I´ll test both.
 
Those Tonkas do look interesting with ap rings and all..

Ive kind of written the modern ones off for short throw. 17-50 I had for a bit.

S
 
I've got a slightly older Nikkor ED 28-70 with manual focus option, and its full focus range is about 90 degrees. It's a workhorse, and matches perfectly with the similar-era ED 17-35 and 80-200 I have. All are 2.8s.

Edit: I just checked and the 28-70 goes from 2m to inf in about 3/4"-1" of travel at the circumfrence. It's a big focus ring though, so that's maybe 30 degrees or so?
 
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bill totolo said:
http://nikonglass.blogspot.com/2009/11/tokina-at-x-pro-28-70mm-f26-28.html

Here's a list of the various designs of the lens, and which ones rate the best.
I think it's perfect for that mid-range, sub $1000 category.
Click to expand...
I bought a Tokina 28-70mm f2.8 ATX Pro II from KEH last year. It's a well-built AF-D style lens with very smooth zoom and focus ring feel. Unlike Sigma lenses, the focus and zoom rings on Tokina F-mount lenses rotate in the same direction as Nikkors. There are subtle features I really appreciate about the Tokina - the front barrel neither extends nor rotates, making it ideal for use on 15mm rails with a follow focus and matte box. And as you zoom in to narrow focal lengths, the inner barrel retracts, providing a built-in lens hood. This helps minimize flares, which is the only pitfall I've had to watch out for with this lens.
 
Yep - Ive called them Tonka since college in the 90s, I agree they are the best third party, and focus direction is a huge boon to a nikonite like myself, I got rid of my 17-50 with my 7d mainly so the kid who bought the camera had something to shoot with.

It was indeed flarey but 17-50 is I guess a hard design to make compared to my currect 'Rng' set of 18 and 35-70 nikkors

The focus motion was nicer than a cheapo nikon G 18-80, (3.5-5 or something) but still way too short imo - like all AF lenses.

S
 
I find the Tokina 28-70 hits a sweet spot at around F/4, great contrast, very sharp, fantastic flare control. It's soft at F/2.6 but cleans up quickly once you close it down a stop.
 
I have that Tokina 28-70 2.6-2.8 I, the small hood version.

I do like it a lot. It's fairly new to me, before this I've been using an old and really beat up sigma 28-70 2.8

The tokina is reallly really solidly built, very heavy, very sturdy feeling. It's a big boy.

It's very sharp and the feel/ergonomics of the lens are miles above the old sigma I have.

Still just getting to know the lens, but love it so far
 
I'm seriously taking a look at the Tokina 28-70. Does this lens breathe at all? I know most zooms do, but is it quite harsh or soft? How is the build quality compared to the Nikon 24-70?

thanks
 
My experience from the Tokina ATX Pro II 28-70 2.6-2.8:
Very nice lens overall, feels solid. Transition from Auto Focus to manual focus is a bit ackward, long minimum focusing distance. For small zooms it appears to be parfocal (maybe it is not strictly speaking).
From 28mm to 40mm zoom range seems useable even wide open. From 50mm to 70mm very very soft-dreamy wide open, you must stop down at least half a stop to f3.5 to make it useable. In my opinion a great f3.5-4.5 lens (or f2.8-f4.0).
I have sold the lens now and waiting to collect funds to get the new Tamron 24-70mm f2.8 VC (for both video & photography on the mark III).
 
Alright, the 35-70 nikon ais finally arrived today. I´ve been testing it and I´m surprised about how good it feels considering its price.
Focus and zooming is very smooth, perfect for manual video.
Vignetting is high wide open at 35mm and surprisingly good at 50 and 70mm.
Blooming, which was my biggest fear with this lens, is great at 35mm, bad at 50mm and good again at 70mm (wide open of course). At f4, it´s clearly much better and totally gone at 5.6. ALways talking about photos, in video, it's hard to see the difference so I think I´m safe shooting wide open.
 
I have the Nikon 24-70 and the Tokina 28-70 2.6-2.8. The Tokina definitely has a different look to the image than the Nikon. Definitely softer than the Nikon wide open but shooting at 4K makes up for the softness. This whole video is shot on the Tokina.

https://vimeo.com/48813116

 
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