First thing out of the box, you'll notice that this is a nice hefty lens. It's built to last and is a lot bigger than one would expect from such a short focal length. It takes fantastic pictures paired with my D7100 and I love the wide angle even more than I thought I would. There is a little barrel distortion at the 11mm mark, but it's not terrible and makes photos appear more dynamic in most settings. The f/2.8 aperture means that shooting in darker surroundings is a breeze and the focus is pretty fast and accurate as well. Tokina definitely knows how to make a great lens. I would happily buy this lens again!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
I'm a Realtor and I purchased the lens primarily to shoot residential interiors and landscapes of my listings as well as those of others for extra cash. It is a fantastic lens for this. What I don't like. It distorts the images slightly depending on camera angle but it is easily corrected in lightroom.It is so wide it has a very limited zoom range. What I do like. It's 2.8 aperature is fast enough that I can do most of my interior work without flash or having to use a tripod or stitch photos together, which saves me a lot of time. It appears to be built very solidly and seems to produce very sharp images even wide open. Overall compared to it's closest Nikon counterpart it's a great performer for the price.
Excellent ridiculously Sharp Lens @ 3.2 ... tack sharp wide open ... extremely fun with the 2.8 for DOF isolation; superb for indoors as well regardless of lighting conditions ... focus motor is not silent so you will hear the focus motor in your movies if you do not have an external mic MF to AF is old school (or maybe the usual for Tokina I would not know as I do not have any other Tokina lenses, though maybe I should if this lens is indicative of their other offerings) ... back to AF/MF, there is no "switch" for AF/MF or ability to engage MF while in AF mode ... rather you push/pull the focus ring forward or backward to be in AF or MF mode bookeh is excellent and if you are looking for a very ultra wide for your DX, this is the one, unless you do not need the 2.8 (figuring you are an outdoors only, camera on tripod, landscape person if you do not want the 2.8) ... then (and only then IMHO) you should take a look at the Sigma 8-16 4.5-5.6. The build quality is excellent and the lens is heavy (especially for its size), even heavier than I thought despite knowing the specs beforehand I have seen reviews that note lens flare to be an issue ... with a Nikon clear filter and a lens hood on (for my recent outing), I had zero issues with lens flare from the sun ... even when shooting directly into the sun through the still bare trees (spring has not arrived yet). However, when shooting with bright backgrounds, I did notice slight purple fringing in the foreground when pixel peeping (ie purple fringing on the cracks and grains of an old broken wood fence with a late afternoon sun shining through). Again this was only when pixel peeping on 16 MP images Notes: Only used this lens on a D7000 and an old trusty D40Read full review
Purchased this lens after deciding I wanted to try a much wider POV than that I got from my Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8, for landscapes/scenery and indoor/outdoor event coverage. Sharpness is as advertised; its amazing even when angled in a way that brings about that almost fish-eye POV when shooting a subject up close with fill space on either side of the frame. This is my first Tokina lens so I have nothing to compare it to in terms of quality and build, same can be said of it being my first ultra-wide zoom. Build is solid and feels to endure, makes my D90 look intimidating as compared to my Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D and even my Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8. The only thing I wish were different were the minimum 1' focus range, I wish I could get a little closer sometimes. I bought my copy used in a very exceptional condition at a great price, very happy with how much I paid for what I got. I would imagine feeling the same even if I bought it brand new.Read full review
I purchased the Tokina AT-X 116 Pro before the Labor Day weekend. The first thing I noticed was the build quality that harkened back to Tokina lenses of yesteryear with a real solid feel. I took the Tokina to the beach along with my D90 and shot a slew of photos and here are my observations. First, the lens is wide and as a result I was surprised by the reasonable amount of distortion. All wides have some distortion but this lens was very well behaved in this regard. This is not to say that you can not exagerate the effect by either being in very close on your subject or tilting the angle of the camera to the subject to exacerbate the distortion. The color rendition of the lens is wonderful and true to life at least in daylight settings, however, I can not speak to lowlight as I did not shoot anything indoors. It was a very bright sunny day and there was significant lens flare in some of the shots (as many ultra-wides are prone to). The lens hood helped in many instances but not all, but as an experiment I had with me a piece of cardboard and would hold that above the lens to block the errant light and in almost every instance short of shooting directly in to the sun I was able to eliminate or vastly minimize the flare. Of course you have to be careful where you hold the cardboard as the lens has such a wide view at least at 11mm that it might just show up in the frame(of course that might be in a cropped area making it a moot point). This brings me to the subject of filters. I was using a B+W 77mm UV Filter and at 11mm - to around 12mm there was vinegtting as the lens would pick up the filter.I would say that if you want to use the lens to its full potential an investment in the thinnest possible UV filter is needed. This also means you will have to change filters and probably not be able to stack them. Furthermore, if you are making an investment in filters do not bother with a polarizer for this lens as it will not produce the effect you expect. I tried a polarizer to see the effect and the result was patchy blue skies, unnaturally dark in odd sections and lighter in others(of course there are those who might be able to capitalize upon this for creative effect). The effect is not really visible to the naked eye or on the 3" lcd, but only comes to "light" when you blow it up on the computer screen at home. The light across a vast area for sky(wider than human vision) is actually a coming in at different angles across huge areas of sky and the polarizer enhances this affect. As for the sharpness of the image I will say that this lens produced stunning sharpness even when blowing up the images on my screen at home. I was very impressed by the level of detail it captured even out to the edges. All in all I would say if you are shooting on a DX sensor camera that the Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 lens is a steal compare to the Nikon 12-24. What it lacks in range compare to the Nikon it makes up for in bang to the buck and image quality. As for the range issue it is not that great, as I see it I have legs and I can zoom in and move in closer to compensate. I guess there could be some situations where that may not be possible, but you are not going to be shooting high speed sports so there should be plenty time to change to your 18mm - ? lens that we all have, right? So get the image and save some $$. If you are a Nikkor snob as I was, be on notice that this lens really gives Nikkor a run for its money and the money is better in my pocket!Read full review
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