Tokina 11–16mm f/2.8 Nikon F-Mount Review

This review is a work in progress and will be updated

Overall: 3.5 out of 5

Optics: 4

Price: ~$600 USD

Value at $600 USD: 4.5

Competing with Nikon’s 10–24mm f/3.3–4.5 and 12-24mm f/4, Tokina has no problems holding its own.

Tokina 11–16mm f/2.8

Assorted Information

D200, ISO100 @f/9

Image Quality

Image quality is good with a couple caveats. The lens is sharpest at f/5.6, good in the center overall, and decent in the corners. However, shooting towards the sun (and with a lens this wide you’re bound be pointing at the sun) will cause significant flares, and chromatic aberration is pretty significant, as well.

D200, ISO100 @f/8

Operation

Build quality is good, but the lens is a bit large and has a small focal range. It’s not that far off from being a prime.

My favorite part about the lens is the focus ring. You can’t just grab the ring at any time and start focusing like on AF-S Nikkors, but the ring itself pulls back to switch from autofocus (it’s the screw-type focusing which doesn’t work on the D40, D40x, D60, D3000, D5000) to manual focus. This is much easier to manage than the little switches Nikon puts on their lenses. The ring though does feel a bit cheap compared to the rest of the lens.

The Tokina is just as competent on full frame cameras as on DX, you just have to limit yourself to 15–16mm.

D700, ISO200 @f/8

Final Word

The ultra-wide perspective is an interesting one that I don’t shoot very often. This Tokina is not only an excellent value, but faster than Nikon’s DX offerings. If you’re looking to get into ultra-wide photography on a Nikon DX camera that can do screw-type focusing, I recommend this lens without reservation.

More Photos with this Lens

All photos on DX crop unless otherwise noted.

D200, ISO100 @f/8

D200, ISO560 @f/2.8

D200, ISO560 @f/2.8

D200, ISO560 @f/2.8

6.0s @f/8

D200, ISO100 @f/8

Posted by tai on 2009-11-22 19:43:37. Comments (2) | Tiny link