The Tokina 100mm f2.8 Macro FiRIN delivers great image quality at the expense of sounding like a cordless, handheld drill.
When the Tokina 100mm f2.8 Macro FiRIN was announced, I was overjoyed at the fact that the company was working to create a different focal length than current options on the market. While Sony has its own f2.8 STF lens, I’m pretty sure most journalists and photographers can take it or leave it. But with the Tokina 100mm f2.8 Macro FiRIN, the company is providing another focal length at a more affordable price point. Tokina’s glass has always been solid–in fact their parent company, Hoya, makes the optics for many lenses that you’re probably using. But they’ve always been a tad quirky. Sometimes I’ve encountered tactile issues, while in the case of the Tokina 100mm f2.8 Macro FiRIN I found my ears consistently meeting the unpleasing sound of a loud motor–a thing that I believed to be buried in the past. If you tend to be a bit more tone-deaf or have worked on construction sites, you’ll probably be able to get over it.
