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>I've not used the Tokina, but I have tested their 400mm lens and found it
>satisfactory -- not superb, but quite good. I have the Nikkor 80-200mm
>f/2.8D and I have mixed feelings about it. It is optically superb.
>
>In AF mode it is super to use, but its manual focus mode is a pain in the
>ass. While most lenses switch from AF to MF by the switch on the body,
>the 80-200 has a ring on the lens that switches from AF to MF. If you
>take the lens off an AF camera and put it on, say, an F3, you have to
>remember to switch the ring from AF to MF. If you put it back on the AF
>camera, you have to switch it back to AF.
>
>Also, in MF mode, it's a true one-touch zoom -- i.e. the same ring focuses
>and zooms the lens. The problem is that if you skooch the zoom to zoom in
>or pull back, you stand a very good chance of changing the focus.
>
>If I had it to do over again, I'd try the Tokina before I'd buy anything.
>Shoot a roll of test slides with it and shoot a roll with the Nikkor.
>Shoot wide open, at mid apertures and stopped all the way down. Shoot at
>80mm, at 200mm and at some mid-range focal lengths. Shoot some brightly
>colored subjects so you can compare color rendition. Make sure you use
>good film for this, like Sensia or Velvia. I haven't tried Elite II, but
>I have used Ektachrome E-100 and it will also do a good job.
Being a manual-focuser, the awkwardness noted above does not bother me,
but may bother some.... Also, I work fast, and two-touch zooms are a
bother for me - I am constantly shifting between two rings, when one can
do the job nicely.... (and many zooms shift focus slightly when zoomed,
so focus needs to be touched up, anyway). In addition to the hints above
for lens checking, I would STRONGLY advise checking Tokina lenses at
different distances, especially close ones - the (older) Tokina zooms
that I have tried shared one characteristic: good to excellent infinity
performance, with noticeable degradation at mid-distances, and unusually
poor close-focus performance (this may no longer be true with newer
Tokina designs).
Hope This Helps