Your reaction seems to be the same as most of us. I had the Tokina lens at one point and based on size/weight and optical quality, the Tamron is a real winner. It is mounted on my *istD quite often.
One other suprisingly decent little lens is the Sigma 55-200/3.5-5.6 DC. Very small, quite sharp and good manual focus. Also very cheap. Mine is part of a small travel kit when I don't want to lug around the Tokina 80-200/2.8. Bruce Thursday, November 4, 2004, 2:12:46 PM, you wrote: DS> I was a little leery of this lens because it was so much DS> smaller and less expensive than the 28-70/2.8 ATX. DS> It is smaller and lighter, it's also beautifully built. DS> Zoom and focus (including MF) are firm and smooth. DS> AF is quiet and fast, and on the "D" that viewfinder sure DS> is bright! DS> It's a very good looking lens and so far the test shots DS> I've taken have been very sharp, well exposed, with DS> accurate color. DS> Flare control seems very good and Boket is quite DS> pleasing. DS> Focus to 13" (.33m) at all FLs is respectable. DS> This will probably become my standard lens very quickly, DS> replacing several slower short zooms. DS> The ATX at 810 grams would not have gotten lugged DS> around nearly as often as this one at 300 less. DS> Between this, the 16-45 and a Tamron MC7 TC a good DS> multipurpose kit won't be bad to carry around at all. DS> Thanks to all who suggested it. ;-) DS> Don
