Tokina 400mm/5.6

[SidW]

In the General Board, the Pentax taken over thread drifted into a comparison of Tokina and Tamron lenses.

I bought a new Tokina 400mm/5.6 (EOS mount) in 1994 after seeing it praised for wildlife photography. Here are a couple of shots taken last June on a Canon EOS 20D body at 200 ASA.

Fulmars nesting at Rathlin lighthouse bird sanctuary, Northern Ireland.
A touch of sunshine on a shaded cliff face, 1/320s and f:6.3, steadied on a safety railing.


Seals basking 30 yards from the beach at Rathlin harbour
Blazing sunlight, 1/800s and f:10, handheld

[byuphoto]

Excellent, I take it the Tokina works at all apertures with the 20D. My Sigma will not work with the DReb but works fine with the D60. Was it re-chipped or do all Tokina 400's work with the new digitals. I would be interested to know as I know where one is cheap but no knowledge if it will work

[SidW]

byuphoto said:

... Was it re-chipped or do all Tokina 400's work with the new digitals ...

To be honest I don't know. I've always understood that earlier EOS lenses would work on EOS digitals too, and I haven't heard of restrictions. So I've gone on using EOS lenses on the 20D - this Tokina, and Canon EF 50mm/1.8, 100mm/2.8 macro, and a couple of zooms. There is the issue of scale of course, but I've had no trouble with exposure or focus.

Regarding prices, I saw yesterday that two were just sold on e*ay, one with Nikon mount for $200 (that the seller said would need upgrading for some Nikon digitals) and one with Pentax mount for $500. Mine was about $400 new in 1994.

[stingom]

Hi SidW,

Is your lens the MF or AF version?

Here are a couple of links to the same discussion thread.

www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00ImCG

www.photodo.com/product_472.html

www.photodo.com/product_488.html

I just aquired a SD/MF version in OM mount. I have not tried it yet.

Regards,
Simon

[SidW]

stingom said:

... Is your lens the MF or AF version? ...

Stingom, AF. It says SD just above the distance scale, Tokina AT-X to the left, and AF 400 CLOSE FOCUS to the right. Purchased 1994. Serial 5002292 might be a hint it was manufactured in 1992.

Byuphoto again, I strayed into a private EOS tutorial site that claimed all Canon EF lenses will continue to work on Canon digital SLRs, that early Sigma with EOS EF mount won't, and Tokina and Tamron should, but some might not. It was in the middle of the night so it never occurred to me to bookmark it, and I probably garbled the quote.