Tokina 35-300mm F4.5-6.7 AF A-mount lens review by QuietOC

QuietOC#43021 date: Feb-25-2018
sharpness: 3 color: 4 build: 3 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 3.6	tested on: film camera: APS-C: 6MP; 10MP; 12MP; 14MP; 16MP; 20MP; 24MP full frame: 12MP24MP36MP42MP
ownership:	I own this lens
compared to:	Tokina AF 35-200 F4-5.6 Minolta AF 35-200 Xi Sony DT 18-200 Tamron 18-250 Sony DT 55-200 SAM Sony DT 55-300 SAM Minolta AF 75-300 BBC Minolta AF 75-300 D Minolta AF 100-300 APO / D
price paid:	47 USD (used)
positive:	Compact size Large zoom range Decent image quailty
negative:	Incompatibility (Maxxum 70, Sony A68) Focal encoder issues Zoom creep Noisy focus mechanism Varifocal Long minimum focus distances Borrows lens ID from Minolta 28-85
comment:	This lens seems to have debuted around 1998. Tokina described it as a "Super Mini Zoom" on the packaging. It is actually about a centimeter shorter than their earlier AF 35-200 zoom (AF352). It is not much larger than the Minolta 100-300 F4.5-5.6 zooms. It has typical cheap heavy metal Tokina construction. "JAPAN" It doesn't work with several of my cameras including the A68 and Maxxum 70. It actually prevents the operation the former camera when attached to it. It does seem to mostly work on the Maxxum 600si as well as the A5000 via the LA-EA1. The focus encoder seems to be failing at the long end. Is is better than the Tokina 35-200 at the wide end, but it gets much softer at the longer focal lengths. Since this lens is not compatible with Sony cameras, it should be removed from the database.