I was in need of a normal lens after selling my 18-55mm with my D40. I wanted a prime now so I decided to buy either Nikon's 35mm f1.8 or this Tokina 35mm f2.8. I zeroed in on Tokina because of it's close up capabilities though it was expensive compared to the Nikon's lens.The build quality of this lens is superb, it seems to be an all metal construction.This lens is actually heavier than my Nikon 55-200mm VR by 5gms. This lens does not have a built in autofocus motor so you need atleast a D90 grade camera with in body motor to drive the lens' focus mechanism.
This Tokina is super sharp at all apertures. The lens is in it's elements while shooting closeups. The minimum focusing distance of this lens is awesome. You only get 1:1 magnification at closest focusing distance; your subject almost touches the front element at this point. This is surely not much practical. The focus goes to infinity just after 5 feet. The focus ring has decent travel between two extremes so it is easy to manually focus if so be the need.
This lens also features Tokina's unique focus clutch mechanism. This means there is no auto-manual focus switch neither there is manual focus override. Instead to put the lens into manual focus from auto mode, one has to pull the focus ring towards the camera and vice versa. The system works fault free but I think that manual override should have been provided whilst in Auto mode.
The lens still features one switch which limits focus operation. The front of this lens extends while close focusing.
The low light capability of this lens is also good due to large f2.8 maximum aperture. But in my recent visit to Ajanta caves I sorely missed the VR capability as flash photography is not permitted. I used my VR 55-200mm Nikon lens to photograph the paintings. The D90 coped superbly in the dark and the colours were great though using high ISO settings.
Overall performance is great of this Tokina lens and you should buy it if you have interest in close up shots and need a normal lens too for general use. This lens communicates beautifully with my D90 and I never need to shift the program to adjust the shutterspeed or aperture.
