80-200 Class Zoom Comparison. Feel Free to Add Yours.

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

Give him time, Antoine. Stephan still has another five zooms that he hasn't shown anything about their performance yet.

I need to get busy. I think I still have two more zooms to put up.

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

Next to last in this comparison is the Tamron 103A 80-210mm f/3.8-4. Tamron made two zooms with this exact focal range and aperture values. The other one is the 03A. This is the later of the two and supposedly has better optical performance. In my experiences, shooting with this lens and film cameras, it performed very well. In my view, this lens is another example of a standard Tamron that performs worthy of an "SP" designation.

Please note, in the photos below, there is no example for 210mm @ f/16. I just forgot to take a pic at that setting.

Details: NEX 7 @ ISO 100, Tamron 103A 80-210mm f/3.8-4:

80mm f/3.8:

135mm f/3.9:

210mm f/4:

80mm f/8:

135mm f/8:

210mm f/8:

80mm f/16:

135mm f/16:

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

Last but not least is the Tokina 70-210mm f/4-5.6 SD. This is a very compact lens. Shorter than many 135mm lenses. But in order to achieve this compact size, Tokina had to design a lens with a variable aperture. It has Tokina's SD glass, and because of this, the red stripe, but no AT-X designation. This one-touch zoom has a very firm zoom collar, so absolutely no slippage is experienced. The lens also has a macro setting -- maximum magnification is 1:4. My example is in Pentax KA mount, so I've used it only with Pentax 35mm cameras, and it's done well. I have a K adapter for my NEX, I've just never used it on the NEX until this comparison. Let's see how it does.

Details: NEX 7 @ ISO 100, Tokina 70-210mm f/4-5.6 SD

70mm f/4:

135mm f/4.5:

210mm f/5.6:

70mm f/8:

135mm f/9:

210mm f/11:

70mm f/16:

135mm f/18:

210mm f/22:

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

I have done some crops of the point of focus in the above photos, namely the closest dragon gargoyle to the camera -- on the second tier, looking like it's roaring right at you.

Because it was a very low contrast day, and the subject itself was very low in contrast, I may have missed best focus with some of these lenses, so don't regard my examples as definitive proof one way or another. If anything, if a soft image is found that came from a known sharp lens, then I would be inclined to shoot the subject again at that setting.

So, if you're interested in these crops, I'll put them up. Each is a 100% crop from the original image.

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3754 Location: Switzerland

miran · Joined: 01 Aug 2012 Posts: 1364 Location: Slovenia

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

Stephan, I was using adapters for Nikon to NEX and Canon FD to NEX that have their own tripod mounts. So the camera wasn't having to support any weight but its own. And the lenses locked securely into place in the adapters, so there was no deflection there. The only exception was the Tamron 80-200mm f/2.8. It comes with a BIG tripod mount, so I used its instead of the adapter's mount. Still for the camera, all it had to support was its own weight.

Miran, I agree. Finding an interesting subject here in Houston is not an easy task. If the weather would have been sunny, I would have gone down to a park that has a great view of the city's skyline. There's lots of detail there and I'd be focusing at infinity or very close to it, which would give insights into how the lenses fared at infinity. Even though that cathedral was pretty far away, I wasn't able to set any of my lenses to infinity for my subject. I still had to move the focusing collar a slight amount to keep the subject in focus.

The weather is still depressingly bad. It's been over a week here with no sun. I'm beginning to think I've been magically transported to the British Isles.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Over here in the British Isles it's been so cold, gray and wet I haven't even bothered looking at a camera for a few weeks. Sad

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

The Tokina SD is indeed a very fine little lens, capable of surprising results.
A very solid, well made piece as well.
I've had one for a few decades with my Pentax film cameras, I always had it in the bag with the LX.
A nice compact lens for good light.

Eddie46 · Joined: 05 Dec 2016 Posts: 135 Location: cardiff,UK

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

Here in West Cairo, eh, um, that is, Houston, we're lucky to get anything misty or frosty early in the morning, unless we're having a good cold snap, which we haven't had in a couple of weeks -- we actually had snow one morning! But anyway, with this weather, and at these temperatures -- typically in the 50s F -- what's that, maybe 10C or so? -- it just gradually gets lighter from a dark gloom to a somewhat less dark gloom. Cool

Some of y'all have perhaps noted before how I refer to Houston as West Cairo or Cairo West. Just take a look at a globe or a map of the world, find Houston and the parallel it's closest to. Next follow that parallel eastward. You'll eventually reach Cairo, which lies on almost exactly the same parallel. Hence the name.

Luis, I'm inclined to agree with your assessment wrt that little Tokina. It appears to be very well made, and although small, is a solid and hefty little lump. I agree when you say "for good light." On a well lit day, its slower nature won't be an issue.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Big R · Joined: 29 Nov 2010 Posts: 42

Got me a cheap Tokina SD 70-210, too. Preliminary tests showed the same thing: compact lens, usable wide open, just a little bit soft on the long end. Really decent stopped down.

3dpan · Joined: 05 Nov 2017 Posts: 65 Location: New Zealand

Big R · Joined: 29 Nov 2010 Posts: 42

I read somewhere it designates an improved version (better glass? can't really remember) and it's supposed to be to 'T's (one upside down).

3dpan · Joined: 05 Nov 2017 Posts: 65 Location: New Zealand

jamaeolus · Expire: 2015-08-20

Having been to both Cairo and Houston the latitude is not the only similarity, there traffic similarities, air quality similarities... Wink

Farside · Expire: 2013-12-27

Doc Sharptail · Joined: 23 Nov 2020 Posts: 994 Location: Winnipeg Canada

This sort of confirms what I have found with the Tamron 103-A.
I agree it's worthy of the SP designation.

The other, and not on this list is the old venerable Vivitar Series 1 (Kino) 70-210 f3.5.
Apart from some slightly low contrast, it is an able performer, especially at the 210mm end.

The final variant Nikkor 80-200mm f 4.5 (n) with the baffle over the rear element seems to be decent enough in my hands, and is surprisingly good at portraiture at the 80mm end.

Of these, the Tamron sees the most use from me.
It is slightly smaller than the Nikkor, and is a better fit in my somewhat small daily carry bag.

-D.S.