Tokina AF 100mm F/2.8 Macro AT-X 100AF PRO D - Nikon

As sharp (or sharper) than the Nikon 105mm and only half the price. It takes great photos of flowers and insects and also would be great for a fixed focus portrait lens or for landscapes (use your feet to zoom!). This is my second Tokina AT-X Pro series lens (the other is the 11-16 superwide) and they both perform superbly and are real bargains. I love my Nikon DSLR bodies but the lenses are a bit pricey. These are much more affordable with no loss of quality. What's not to like?

Excellent Macro Lens. Good quality build, solid feel to it. I'm just getting into photography and by no means an expert but having looked around at sample images and other reviews I opted to purchase this and I don't regret it at all. Images and colours are really good and much cheaper than similar offerings from other manufacturers. I'd happily recommend this to anyone wanting to give macro a try.

Very good lens for not a great deal of money. Had it quite a while now and very happy with the results and quality.

Excellent quality, solid, as sharp as in the reviews. A very good Macro lens.

This was the second Tokina lens I purchased, the other being the excellent 11-16mm wide angle. Once again, this absolutely delivers the goods. It is razor sharp, and pretty fast. In fact, these two Tokina lenses are the sharpest in my collection, which features a Tamron, a Sigma and a selection of Nikon DX lenses: Nikon pro lenses are too pricey for me so cannot comment on how the Tokina's compare to any of the top FX lenses. There are a couple of things I should point out, which are not necessarily criticisms but important to know when deciding whether to purchase one of these. The first point is that Tokina seem to really concentrate on delivering top optical quality at a competitive price, which they manage by leaving off some features you might expect on a modern lens. So this does not feature any kind of focus motor, meaning it will not autofocus on the 3000 or 5000 series Nikons, and there is no vibration reduction/image stabilisation. Now if you use it purely as a macro lens neither of these points are likely to be an issue, but it also makes an excellent portrait lens, where shooting hand-held with autofocus might be the norm. If you have a D7000 or above, it will autofocus, but it can be quite slow to do so and sometimes seems to lose the focus point altogether. Also worth bearing in mind that the widest aperture of f2.8 is not constant, as the lens changes length considerably when focussing at different distances from the subject. None of these issues bother me that much, and considering the price I wholeheartedly recommend this lens.

I have been using for a number of years, a Sigma70mmMacro lens which has been (and still is) good. However, I wanted to be that bit further away from my close-up and macro subjects and so I bought this. It is a great lens to use, especially with the manual focus clutch arrangement. There are lots of in-depth reviews here, so it would be pointless of me to echo them. I just wanted to add my 5 stars to the count, as I really appreciate this lens. My Sigma70 used to live on the camera but now this one does.

I wanted a macro lens for baby portraits. The Nikon 105mm was really tricky to focus in low light and it was expensive. The Tokina has great reviews on YouTube but is purely for manual focus as the AF is slow and noisy. I finally went for the sigma 105mm. The build quality was more plasticky than the Nikon but the AF and image stabiliser was better. I recommend trying all three side by side.

This lens completes my set of lenses. I'm very pleased with the quality. The lens arrived 2-3 weeks before the quoted delivery date, un-boxed but well wrapped and in good condition. Only a lens cap was missing.

If you're reading this, you probably already know about this lens. All I can really say is that everything you've read about it is true. It is one of the best portrait lenses I've ever used, and I love it's macro abilities too. I use a Nikon D5300.

Objectif Macro sans stabilisateur ni moteur interne de MAP. Ceci a bien peu d'importance en macrophotographie. Ceci entraine un rapport qualité/prix exceptionnel. Objectif assez lourd mais très bien construit. Parasoleil intégré . Bague de limiteur de course de MAP , ce qui évite à l'autofocus de trop "pomper". Le passage de Mise au point Manuelle à Auto se fait en tirant/poussant la bague de MAP ( très pratique ) . Très bon piqué. Bref , bel achat , à recommander

This is the best alternative len for both Nikon & Canon 105/100mm macro! I have been using this lens for almost over an year now & I'm not even disappointed with the purchase! So, let's jump into Pros & Cons! Cons- 1) Auto Focus- This is manual lens so it will only work with bodies having autofocus motors. So, Nikon D3000 & D5000 series won't work. You will have to manually autofocus. And now even D7500 doesn't have Autofocus motor so, it won't work with camera, if only you will use manual focus. My next big take on this lens, the autofocus is not the fastest since it's a screw drive lens. It's good but not even close to 24-70mm. However, once it locks focus it stays & doesn't shift. I use it with Nikon D850 & D500; both cameras have best autofocus & the lens work great with them. 2) Noise- Yes, you read that correct! Noise! While autofocusing, the lens make quite a noise; which maybe a deal breaker if you're photographying wildlife or macros in general. However, I like the noise of autofocus somehow! 3) No VR/Image Stabilization- Biggest Draw Back of the lens is no image stabilization; which is critical for macro shots as we have to shoot in very deeper DOF. But I suppose people considering this lens does know this. 4) I can't say about other reviewers but for me in particular the back cap of the lens i.e lens mount cap is very loose. Even a slight rotation opens my rear lens cap easily. 5) No Weather Sealing- Since this lens is like oldies so, there is no weather sealing; except there is a weather gasket at the rear of the lens. 6) The Auto-Manual Switch- I don't know if it's me; but while shooting I several times by mistake switched from Auto Focus to Manual Focus accidently. Maybe my lens holding technique is wrong!? Can't say! 7) No Case with this lens but I can take it since I can spend another 2k & get a decent case for it rather spending 68k over Nikon/Canon ones & getting trash pouch case! LOL! Pros- 1) Sharpness- This lens is sharpest I have ever owned till date! It even beats Nikon 24-70mm that too with quite a fair margin. I tested it with both my Nikon D850 & D500 both showed the best sharpness & the quality you will be looking for in expensive primes! 2) Quality- Image Quality is simply outstanding! The quality of images this lens produces even on my DX Nikon D500 is so good that I have to edit/retouch so little! 3) Build Quality- Damn! This lens is a tank! The only lens which I own having all metal body is Nikon 24-70 which is wopping 8x costlier than this! This lens has taken a lot of bumps but it still works like I got it first day. It's all metal even the manual/autocus ring! Even my Nikon 24-70 doesn't have that! 4) Price- This was the best lens decision I ever made after Nikon 200-500mm. This lens with the cost to IQ ratio (Image Quality) which is delievers is unbeatable. I would never spend 68k over Nikon 105mm trash as spending that much money over that lens with almost same IQ as this!? No! I would rather buy this lens 10 times rather spending on Nikon/Canon one! And believe me, the quality this lens is delivering at just more than 1/2 of the cost of Nikon/Canon ones is unbelievable. 5) Hood- Even the hood is made of metal! I really wanna laugh at Nikon/Canon for making plastic hoods & still charging 68k! 6) 9 blade Aperture- I don't know if anyone here knows this fact; but the more blades a lens has the smoother the bokeh will be. This lens has 9 blade aperture which is really good for the price one would pay for. Bonus Tips- 1) If you want to achieve faster autofocus use the lens limiter button. 2) If you are shooting macro, shoot in live view & turn on peeking (Most Cameras have nowadays). It will help you a lot & would help you to know where the focus will be. 3) Get a case for this lens. Spending another 2k won't hurt & this way you can protect your lens. 4) Cover the lens with lens cover or use DIY method like I do & use old socks to make a lens cover. I'm advicing you this because this lens has moving components. It's not an internal focus lens rather while focusing, the barrel of the lens extends quite a bit; so to keep the lens safe & make it dust proof (sort of) use lens cover/DIY Method. That's it folks! I hoped my review would help your purchase decision. Also, just a side note; if anyone is confused between Nikon/Canon & this lens; I would suggest to get this lens as the price to IQ ratio is not even close for what you would be paying for Nikon/Canon. However, if weather sealing & VR/Image Stabilization is really impirtant for you then you may skip this lens. But, mind you for less than 1/2 the cost of Nikon/Canon you would be getting Oldie which is still a Goldie! And yes, it's that good! Feel free to write me down if someone has any querry!

I received the lens today, and was a little concerned about the condition of the Tokina box - one corner had that crinkly-crushed look (small, but still...), and the top flap was popped out of the box. After opening it, however, the lens appeared to be in pristine condition. One sour note was that this did NOT come with a USA warranty from wikideals, but I figured it was no big deal with Amazon's return/exchange policy, which is great. Took the lens for a quick test drive on my D7100... autofocus worked like a charm. The limiter switch made focusing in telephoto mode nearly instantaneous and virtually silent. Macro focus was fairly quick as well, albeit a bit noisy in comparison to telephoto focusing. Not LOUD, mind you, but fairly audible as compared to my Tokina 12-28 and Nikon 55-200. All my daylight shots were taken at ISO 100, with varying F-stops. Initial macro shots were pretty good - I was very pleased for handheld results. I couldn't see any sharpness issues that I could distinguish from depth-of-field issues. Telephoto shots were encouraging, but not quite as sharp as I'd expected. I withheld judgement on both macro and telephoto until I was able to get the camera and lens at home (I was shooting at work), and do some auto-focus fine-tuning using a very handy chart I've been using on all my lenses. As it turned out, I needed to adjust the auto-focus fine-tuning to a -8 setting for this lens to reach top performance. (Not a surprise - Ken Rockwell had mentioned he needed a -10 on his D7000 and a -7 on his D3.) FYI, I also checked DXOMark and compared like lenses before choosing this one, so my sharpness expectations were set pretty high... especially so, since my Tokina F/4 12-28mm DX lens is incredibly sharp at 28mm. (There's minor softness in the corners at 12mm if you pixel-peep.) In fact, at 28mm, my Tokina zoom surpasses all my other lenses in terms of sharpness, with the possible exception of my Nikkor Prime F/1.8 35mm. This new Tokina 100mm, however, may end up in that class as well. After fine-tuning, I ran some macro shots against a quarter on a flat surface, as well as a small dish of jewelry. Macro was outstanding, and I could clearly see depth-of-field issues versus focus issues! Wherever the focus was, was razor-sharp! I also tested a quick test distance shot from across the room (about 20 feet), shooting at a lampshade with the light on. The lampshade is cloth, and I could see individual stitches - heck, I could even see where the fabric had tiny "hairs"! I'll be taking this lens for a test drive several more times this week, but if the above results stand up, then this is likely to become my main medium telephoto lens and not just my macro lens! I'll post a follow-up on the weekend and let you all know how I feel about the telephoto performance of the lens. There's no doubt that as a macro lens, this is stupendous. :) ******************* UPDATE 8/5/2014 ******************* After I wrote this, I couldn't help myself - I ran some more quarter and dime shots using a tripod. This time, however, I ran the F-stop all the way down to F/32... all I can say is that I am absolutely stunned by the macro quality, especially with the lens stopped down. I'm not sure there IS a sweet spot for aperture settings on this lens, at least regarding sharpness! Jury is still out as a telephoto... as I said, I'll update this on or after the weekend. :) ******************* UPDATE 8/5/2014 ******************* No need to wait until the weekend. I decided to take the lens out and take some shots off my back deck at sunset. All my pictures were RAW at ISO 100, F/2.8, and telephoto only. Shutter speeds ranged from 1/60 to 1/2000, depending on what I was shooting... the telephoto capabilities of this lens are WONDERFUL. Bokeh is great, sharpness is great... I have NO complaints about this lens in either macro or telephoto usage. Great purchase - don't hesitate. Get one. :) ******************* UPDATE 8/21/2014 ******************* Still thrilled with the lens, but I ended up re-doing the auto-focus fine tuning. After shooting many images as a telephoto lens, I was a little frustrated with inconsistent sharpness - sometimes it would be amazing, other times, soft when I pixel-peeped. (Macro was perfect regardless - just telephoto was an issue.) Today I had an opportunity to re-do the tuning calibration outside, where the lighting was much better. I found that I needed to increase the AF fine tuning to a -9. Just for the record, a -10 worked well in the tests... but I did some real-world shooting at both -9 and -10, and it appeared to me that -10 was the way to go - we're talking MINUTE difference here, though... although the difference between -8 sharpness and -10 sharpness is pronounced. If you buy this lens (and you should!), make sure you evaluate it for AF fine tuning if you're going to use it as a medium telephoto - as a macro, though, it's not needed.

I have owned other Tokina lens and this one is as well made and a delight to use. There are two reasons anyone would consider buying a 100mm macro rather than use their telephoto lens or a 50mm macro. 1 Greater working distance from your subject so you don't block the light or scare the butterfly away. 2nd point softening the background out of focus to separate it from the item in focus. One thing this old pro missed (when I ordered it, opps) was that the autofocus only works for Nikons that have a motor built into the body. The lens has no motor in it. Unfortunate, but I have used it both ways and frankly autofocus is not always a good thing. Many times switching to manual, which is easily done by moving the focus ring in and out, gives better control with that narrow depth of field. Buy extension tubes and a TTL flash with a cable and your set.