Salisbury's Spire...

...taken from the top of the multi-story carpark.

Been away from Blip for most of today - my cold really took hold and (no mention of that dreaded man-flu) I was in bed for most of today with it.

After a dabble with Netflix I took pity on a very old lens that I bought back in the 1990's and which was gathering lots of dust. I had bought it for my film camera (Nikon F100) back then and used it a couple of times on my old FX digital D700, but never on the DX D7000.

Back in the days when fast constant f2.8 standard zooms were rare, even amongst Nikon and Canon, Tokina produced quite an ambitious 28-80mm f2.8 ATX-Pro. All metal, it weighs a hefty 850g. It never fared that well on full-frame at open aperture and without its lenshood (no longer available and unique design) it always suffered flare and ghosting, against strong sunlight. This can be an inherent design problem with fast zooms anyway especially one designed and made 25 years ago.

After a clean up and polish, it all worked nicely on the D7000, with correct EXIF data, focussing and metering. I then noticed that a late bit of sun had emerged.

Having been indoors for over a day, this was my only chance to escape and so I lobbed on my coat and took the lens out for a bit of a spin. The sun soon went in and then it rained. I noticed the bank of cloud moving eastward and guessed and hoped that it would leave a clear sky behind. Sunset had gone but there was a nice glow behind. Took a few from the top of the carpark, and as you can see, the old Tokina performs well enough when the light isn't strong and I got some nice-ish street shots with it on the way home after too.

I did buy my Sigma EX 24-70mm f2.8 as my fast standard when I went digital and as an all-rounder, is a better performer and better handling too, over this Tokina. I guess that Ebay beckons for the 28-80mm now, as I have reassured myself that it works satisfactorily, but is superfluous to requirements.

Hope to get some Blip looking and commenting now but after my galavanting getting these shots, I might suddenly find my energy levels reduced to zero.

Lens is Tokina 28-80mm f2.8 ATX-Pro

DERELICT THURSDAY CHALLENGE, again, tomorrow! Don't forget (I did!) - tag all entries Derelict Thursday