Online Shops

Shopping on internet for the next lens can be challenging not knowing who to trust. This article by Bob Atkins explains very well where NOT to shop.

http://www.lensplay.com/lenses/lens_buying.html

Some of the shops that I use.

Amazon is good but not always the cheapest. If you are a Prime member, it may be worth while -- the minor difference in price can be justified by free two day shipping. Also, Amazon has one of the best return policies in the market. Watch for the changing price on Amazon. They lower and raise price (I couldn't figure out the pattern but it seems weekends are most expensive and week days are better.)

B&H has most constantly good price if you use discount code. This code was easily available on forums but I don't know about now.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/

Some of the other sites:

BuyDig -- fairly good with minimum "up sale" calls.
http://www.buydig.com/shop/home.aspx

Adorama -- decent. I shopped couple of times with good experience.
http://www.adorama.com/catalog.tpl

Onecall
http://www.onecall.com/default.aspx?BCPID=1307

J&R
http://www.jr.com/

If all else fails, I try PriceGrabber and read the rating on merchant information.
http://www.pricegrabber.com/

Hope this helps.

Tokina AT-X 280 AF PRO 28-80mm F/2.8

Tokina has been one of my old time favorite lenses as far as third party lenses are concerned. This one is no exception. Since this lens has been discontinued for some time now, it wasn’t easy finding a new one. I do not trust used lens from Ebay -- it is hit or miss in my opinion.

This is my second copy. I sold my first copy about a year ago and been looking for another one for some time now. I am not one of those pixel peeping person. I try to test all my equipment in real life situation. I look for Image Quality, Easy of Use, and Built. Tokina exceeds in the built category by far -- all the other third party lenses are left in dust :)

Size: about same as Canon 24-70mm (left to right: Tokina 28-80 F/2.8, Canon 24-70 F/2.8, Canon 24-105 F/4).

Rear element: Canon 24-70mm has much larger rear element (costs twice as much as well).

Fron element: About same. You can also see the difference between Canon UV filter (left) and B+W UV filter (right).

Now, some snapshots from my backyard… (minimum post processing)

Tech Data: http://www.thkphoto.com/products/tokina/afl-04b.html

Conclusion: Worth every penny!!!

Joshua Tree National Park

Since the active on this site has slowed down, I've decided to post more :)

I was shooting at Joshua Tree National Park over the weekend -- early morning and long exposure shot.

Indian Tiger

I was in India recently and took some tiger shots (from a moving bus through a small window opening). I wish I could have gone a real safari but this will do :)