I'm looking for a wide angle zoom and I want to know what people who have used the Tokina 19-35 think about the lens. Does it feel cheap? How's the image quality? What about the focusing speed? I had my heart set on the Canon 20-35/3.5-4.5 USM, but if the Tokina is a decent lens at half the price, I'll put the difference into the fund for the 70-200/2.8L IS. Any help would be great. Thanks, Tim

-- Tim Fisher (tfisher@beachin.net), November 13, 2001

Answers

I had an earlier version of this lens, the 20-35mm. I got rid of it when I changed from an EOS 5 to an EOS 3 and found that it wouldn't work with the EOS 3. I replaced it with the Canon 20-35.

The Canon is optically better, although the Tokina is perfectly adequate particualrly if stopped down to F8 or smaller, focuses faster and has a non-rotating front element.

The Tokina is well made, it has a metal body and feels at least as substantial as the Canon.

-- Simon Wardle (straightarm@hotmail.com), November 17, 2001.