Tokina AF 100mm F/2.8 Macro at-X 100AF PRO D - Nikon

I received the lens today, and was a little concerned about the condition of the Tokina box - one corner had that crinkly-crushed look (small, but still...), and the top flap was popped out of the box. After opening it, however, the lens appeared to be in pristine condition.One sour note was that this did NOT come with a USA warranty from wikideals, but I figured it was no big deal with Amazon's return/exchange policy, which is great.Took the lens for a quick test drive on my D7100... autofocus worked like a charm. The limiter switch made focusing in telephoto mode nearly instantaneous and virtually silent. Macro focus was fairly quick as well, albeit a bit noisy in comparison to telephoto focusing. Not LOUD, mind you, but fairly audible as compared to my Tokina 12-28 and Nikon 55-200.All my daylight shots were taken at ISO 100, with varying F-stops. Initial macro shots were pretty good - I was very pleased for handheld results. I couldn't see any sharpness issues that I could distinguish from depth-of-field issues.Telephoto shots were encouraging, but not quite as sharp as I'd expected.I withheld judgement on both macro and telephoto until I was able to get the camera and lens at home (I was shooting at work), and do some auto-focus fine-tuning using a very handy chart I've been using on all my lenses. As it turned out, I needed to adjust the auto-focus fine-tuning to a -8 setting for this lens to reach top performance. (Not a surprise - Ken Rockwell had mentioned he needed a -10 on his D7000 and a -7 on his D3.)FYI, I also checked DXOMark and compared like lenses before choosing this one, so my sharpness expectations were set pretty high... especially so, since my Tokina F/4 12-28mm DX lens is incredibly sharp at 28mm. (There's minor softness in the corners at 12mm if you pixel-peep.) In fact, at 28mm, my Tokina zoom surpasses all my other lenses in terms of sharpness, with the possible exception of my Nikkor Prime F/1.8 35mm. This new Tokina 100mm, however, may end up in that class as well.After fine-tuning, I ran some macro shots against a quarter on a flat surface, as well as a small dish of jewelry. Macro was outstanding, and I could clearly see depth-of-field issues versus focus issues! Wherever the focus was, was razor-sharp! I also tested a quick test distance shot from across the room (about 20 feet), shooting at a lampshade with the light on. The lampshade is cloth, and I could see individual stitches - heck, I could even see where the fabric had tiny "hairs"!I'll be taking this lens for a test drive several more times this week, but if the above results stand up, then this is likely to become my main medium telephoto lens and not just my macro lens!I'll post a follow-up on the weekend and let you all know how I feel about the telephoto performance of the lens. There's no doubt that as a macro lens, this is stupendous. :)*******************UPDATE 8/5/2014*******************After I wrote this, I couldn't help myself - I ran some more quarter and dime shots using a tripod. This time, however, I ran the F-stop all the way down to F/32... all I can say is that I am absolutely stunned by the macro quality, especially with the lens stopped down. I'm not sure there IS a sweet spot for aperture settings on this lens, at least regarding sharpness!Jury is still out as a telephoto... as I said, I'll update this on or after the weekend. :)*******************UPDATE 8/5/2014*******************No need to wait until the weekend. I decided to take the lens out and take some shots off my back deck at sunset. All my pictures were RAW at ISO 100, F/2.8, and telephoto only. Shutter speeds ranged from 1/60 to 1/2000, depending on what I was shooting... the telephoto capabilities of this lens are WONDERFUL. Bokeh is great, sharpness is great... I have NO complaints about this lens in either macro or telephoto usage.Great purchase - don't hesitate. Get one. :)*******************UPDATE 8/21/2014*******************Still thrilled with the lens, but I ended up re-doing the auto-focus fine tuning. After shooting many images as a telephoto lens, I was a little frustrated with inconsistent sharpness - sometimes it would be amazing, other times, soft when I pixel-peeped. (Macro was perfect regardless - just telephoto was an issue.) Today I had an opportunity to re-do the tuning calibration outside, where the lighting was much better. I found that I needed to increase the AF fine tuning to a -9. Just for the record, a -10 worked well in the tests... but I did some real-world shooting at both -9 and -10, and it appeared to me that -10 was the way to go - we're talking MINUTE difference here, though... although the difference between -8 sharpness and -10 sharpness is pronounced.If you buy this lens (and you should!), make sure you evaluate it for AF fine tuning if you're going to use it as a medium telephoto - as a macro, though, it's not needed.

Thanks to the low price and high quality, I think this lens is likely to be many people's first macro lens. Thankfully, it is also a truly fantastic lens in its own right, and fits an interesting niche.100mm is a good length for those starting out with macro photography, as it's not so close that you must use a tripod and rails. Similarly, at 2.8 this lens is fast enough to cover a broad range of DOF without giving such a razor thin focus area as to create mostly blurry pictures. Yes, the bokeh is very nice on this lens, but you don't want a picture that's JUST bokeh. It's also a solid addition to a fledgling lens library as 100mm is a very flattering portrait length, and the sharpness of the lens results in very flattering pictures.The focusing, as discussed in other reviews, requires a body capable of supporting plain AF lenses, or it becomes a manual focus lens. That's fine if you're using this lens exclusively for macro, but for portraits or walking around, having AF is pretty important. I'm using this lens on a D90, and the focusing is slower compared to an AF-S lens, but the only real complaint I have about the focusing time is due to the fact that it's a macro lens. I find myself usually using the AF to get close and then quickly switching over to manual. Switching to manual is incredibly easy on this lens, although it does make a noise and will jar the camera body slightly, so if you're in the middle of intense macro focusing, be sure how you plan to focus BEFORE setting up the shot.The Nikon lens equivalent does cost more, and most of what you're paying for is the VR support. VR is useless if you're using a tripod, but can be very helpful if you're looking to do on-the-fly macro or candid portraiture. It really depends on what you're looking to do. I think for many casual photographers looking to get into macro, or who are comfortable with taking a tripod for macro work, they'll already have a zoom lens with VR that covers the same range as this lens. Is it worth almost double the price for VR and faster focusing? That's up to the photographer to decide, but this lens easily matches or beats the Nikon equivalent. It's a great way to start taking macro pictures, and the lens is of such a high quality that it's likely to stay in your kit for years. The lack of VR makes it a little trickier to use as a plain walk-around lens, though.