Fred A. Miller wrote:
Peter Patershuk wrote:


Hi all,
Could you please give your opinions on the Tokina 80-400 II lens for a
serious armature. I can't afford the Canon 100-400 or the Sigma 80-400 image
stabilized lenses. The other lenses I am looking at is the Sigma 70-300 APO
macro, Tamron 70-300 LD macro, Tokina 24-200, Tamron and sigma super zooms.
Or just go with the Tamron 24-135. I realize that I am all over the place on
what I am considering but just trying to get best quality for the dollar. I
already have the Digital Rebel with the 18-55 lens. Thanks Peter.


Peter, from personal experience, save your money and buy Canon lenses -
they're worth it! Sigma ISN'T consistant, and construction ISN'T anywhere
near as good as Canon.

Fred

The thing to note is that the digital rebel, like the 10D and D60 has
a pixel spacing of 7.4 microns, and a resolution similar to fine
grained fuji velvia (iso 50) film. Thus you need sharp lenses
or you will simply get soft images. For example, the canon 100-400
gives ok but soft images on the above canon cameras (and with
velvia on 35mm cameras). Cheap zooms will probably not be any
better. If you were using the lenses on film cameras with 400
speed film they would perform OK relative to the film resolution,
but not with the digital sensors. If you are looking for a telephoto,
I recommend from experience (having bought canon 70-210, 100-300 IS,
and 100-400 L IS lenses, then the 300 f/4 L IS) the canon 300 f/4
L IS lens (about $1,100 mail order). It is very sharp and you can
use a 1.4x TC and still have autofocus. The IS is well worth
the price as you can hand hold from moving platforms, like
cars, boats, horseback.

Roger
Photos, digital info at:
http://www.clarkvision.com