Never used this lens, but I have 3 manual focus Tokina 'A' zooms in the 28-70/85mm range, and they are all superb in regards to image quality. The colours and contrast are nice, and they are sharp wide open at all focal lengths. Try shooting a modern (non-DA*) zoom wide open and see what you get
Oh, and the focus rings are like butter; a real joy to turn with just one finger, while the others are on the sturdier zoom ring.
If you don't mind manual focusing, you'll love the IQ of this lens...if it's like mine!