Tokina 11-16 Review

The week before Thanksgiving I picked up a couple of new lenses.  I always cruise the Craig's List ads for photo and video looking for good deals and I have found quite a few.  The gentleman selling these lenses had switched to FX format (full frame sensor in Nikon language) and didn't need the DX lenses so he was listing them for a really good price.  They even had the original boxes so how could you go wrong.  I haven't had a lot of time to shoot with them, but I thought I would do a preliminary review on the 11-16 mm super wide zoom.

The full name of this lens is Tokina AT-X 116 Pro DX II
It comes with a petal style hood

It is a solid piece of glass and quite heavy. That could be a turn off for some, but really if you are buying this lens then you have a special need for it such as real estate, or group portraits.  it zooms very smoothly and focuses fast.  There is a little noise in the focus motor but not a big deal in nearly all settings.  It has the Tokina push-pull ring to switch from auto to manual focus and I really like that feature.  No fumbling for a little switch to change to manual focus.  

The lens is very sharp with not as much distortion as you would expect at 11mm.  Keep in mind again, it is a DX lens with a crop factor on a Nikon of 1.4, Canon would be 1.5 if I am remembering correctly.

Below is a picture of my parlor which is about 10' X 10' taken with the Tokina at 11mm with no distortion correction, straight as shot in camera:

Below is the same shot of the room with the 18-55mm kit lens standing in the same spot zoomed out to 18mm:

You can see the benefits for real estate work.

Just for reference, below is the same shot taken from the same place with a 35mm prime:

Another big plus is the fact that this lens is f 2.8 so I expect it to really shine in low light situations (no pun intended).

Other than the weight, one other drawback is the fact that it takes 77mm filters and I don't have anything else that takes that size.

The other drawback is that due to the size of the lens, it casts a shadow on the floor if you use the on-camera flash.

So to sum it up, if you have a need for a super wide angle lens, check out the Tokina 11-16 mm f2.8 Pro DX II.  It is a very solid, smooth working lens. A lot of glass for the money

Especially if you can find a good deal on Craig's List

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