Customer Reviews

Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X116 Pro DX Digital Zoom Lens (for Canon EOS Cameras)

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What more could you want. I've used Canon's great 10-22mm and it is a nice lens but as a comparison here is what I found.

-Sharpness goes to the Tokina hands down. While wide open @ 2.8 it might be about equal by the time the Tokina is stopped down to the 3.5 that the Canon is wide open there is no comparison.

-Zoom Range obviously goes to Canon. Much more usable here than the limited almost fixed focal length Tokina. Actually you might even say that the Tokina is close to a prime. Also I liked that extra 1mm on the wide end (it is very noticeable). Myself I don't mind the limited zoom as I'm always on the wide side and don't even use the 16mm.

-Build Quality again this belongs to the Tokina as it is built like a tank as are most of the pro grade Tokinas. Canon's build quality good for this consumer designed lens but is not up to their L (pro) standards.

-CAs Chromatic Aberrations or purple fringing If you are shooting into high contrast scenes (a bridge against a sky background) this is a real problem for both lenses but the Canon is MUCH better here. This is becoming less important as PhotoShop is able to remove it effectively.

-Lack of barrel distortion goes again to the Tokina which is very slight, especially for a ultra wide zoom. It is much better corrected than the Canon.

-Focus Speed Canon with their USM is fastest but not by much. However, the Canon is quieter too. I do like the clutch system of the Tokina once I got used to it. For manual focus (and I use that a lot) the Tokina is well damped, smooth and usable something that can't be said for the Canon.

-Flare Bad in both lenses but here Canon is better as well. Contra light is a demon in both lenses and care should be taken to always use the hood. Provided with the Tokina and conspicuously absent in the Canon which will set you back another 35 dollars or so.

-Aperture Obviously this goes to the Tokina. Not only is it 2.8 constant aperture it is very usable and sharp. It gets marginally sharper when stopped down but it is SHARP even wide open. The biggest improvement is at the edges when stopped down with the center remaining very sharp throughout. To get the same performance from the canon you need to get to about f5.6 to pull in the edges with further improvement to f8.

Well to wrap it up, the Tokina is quite a lens. Couple that to a savings of about $250.00 and it is a no brainer. While no lens is perfect, and with the CAs this lens has it certainly isn't as well, it maintains great quality and the rugged build make it a good choice for me. I am a semi-pro and take about 10 to 15 thousand exposures a year. I need that rugged build. I own several Canon L lenses and this isn't out of place in my bag. I don't miss that 1mm much as with an ultra wide about 3 or 4 steps back gets in the same view. It would be nice to have the range the 22mm gives but not at the expense of the 2.8 aperture.

My recommendation. BUY IT. You won't be sorry.

1/18/2012
Please read the discussion about this lens review. It adds much to the review itself.

From the moment I pulled the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 out of the box from the rental store, I wanted to keep it.

The build quality of the Tokina is far and away better than the popular Canon EF-S 10-20mm f/3.5-4.5 lens. More metal less plastic, so it just feels like a better product out of the box. It's built more like my Canon L lenses.

The Tokina comes with the lens hood (the Canon 10-22mm does not but ironically costs more).

This lens works very well for indoor or other low light photography (sunrise/sunset). It has great contrast. I used this lens on a Canon 400D/XTi and got I felt were excellent results (I'm talking not about my skill as a photographer rather the ability of the lens to deliver consistent crystal clear and richly colored images :).

Images taken with this lens are sharp as a tack (I uploaded one however the Amazon image processing degraded it significantly).

Some possible downsides:

The zoom range is smaller that the 10-22mm lenses but I don't feel that it was a problem. I value the 2.8 f-stop over the zoom range.

The lens is a heavier than the Canon 10-22mm. I personally do not have an issue with this even when packing it into the back country but it's something to be aware of.

Also, this lens is designed specifically for 1.6 crop factor cameras (XTi/400D/40D/etc) so if you end up buying a full frame body you'll need to replace this lens.

Bottom line: I recommend this lens.

On returning from Italy and evaluating my images (1200), I find this lens to be a real keeper. Photozone.de was my deciding source to purchase this lens where their review and tests indicate this is the sharpest lens in its class. CA's as mentioned there were an issue in a couple of high contrast images and easily corrected in Photoshop. Field curvature is noticable especially in the St Peters interior image above and can be minimized with camera position and focal length settings. Unfortunately I did not have a tripod and a point and shoot technique ruled. The 16mm longest fl will take some getting used to and does not provide much range. I carried a Canon 28-135mm IS for the longer shots.
The f/2.8 at all fl was nice for the darker interiors of buildings on my Canon 30D. Lens construction seems solid without any focusing issues.
New to wide lenses, flare caught me a couple of times, I'll remember to watch for it more often, I know it's common with these wide lenses.

I have posted four customer images above of Florence, a bath house in Pompeii, St Peters in Rome and a narrow street in Sorrento.

Update May 2009
Our photography group traveled to Antelope Canyon Arizona and this lens still impresses. Using a monopod for the visit there was counter to most others along using tripods. The guided tours at Upper Antelope permitted us only 3 minutes to get the shot before moving on. Although I had to use an ISO of 800 on the Canon 30D for most of the visit, the images were sharp corner to corner. DOF with this wide lens is huge so I used manual focus set on infinity and didn't worry about AF in the dim environment. I set aperture priority to f2.8 for the dark shots as most of them were. An outstanding lens.
Update November 2011
I use this with my new 5D mk11 at 16mm with minimal vignette. Most noticable faults are the CA and edge softness.

This is first lens I have ever used made by Tokina, and I have not been disappointed. For those who don't know Tokina is a company started by former Nikon engineers that design lenses made with Hoya glass. So this is basically a Nikon-like lens build with a canon mount. This is the only non-Canon lens I have.

First of all this lens is solid. It just feels like a well built lens. If you pick up the canon 10-22mm after holding this lens you will be left with the impression that the canon brand lens is cheap plastic. It does have a small range but almost works like a prime. I find myself using 11mm almost exclusively. Lens quality is excellent and it works great on a 1.6x (rebel xt). An interesting quirk is the focus ring. To change to manual focus you pull the focus ring towards you (this takes a few times to get used to, but is a much easier and faster way to change). I see they have drastically reduced the price of the canon 10-22mm since this lens came out, but this is still a fair amount cheaper for a much better built lens. The only reason I could see getting the 10-22mm at this point is that it has a larger range. The whole point of a wide angle lens is to take wider pictures. So you really are comparing a 10mm to a 11mm lens. Factor in price and build quality and this will not disappoint you.

Pros-
build quality
focus ring
lower f-stop than 10-22mm
comes with hood (add $30 to canon for this)
price compared to 10-22mm
lens quality is fantastic

Cons-
not designed to work with full frame cameras (made for 1.6 factor cameras)
less range than 10-22mm
little heavy
can't use built in flash on rebel xt because it causes a shadow

Bottom line - This is a better quality lens for less money than its Canon counterpart.

This lens yields excellent, exceptionally sharp results. I knew from reviews that the auto-focus would be a bit slower than on more expensive Canon lenses, but that's really not a big problem for me. The constant f/2.8 aperture is a big plus, particularly for interior shots (I almost never use flash). In short, the lens meets all my expectations.

I love this lens (used with my 7D), but the real reason I'm writing a review is to let people know about the AF quirks of the lens.

Here's the short attention span version:
GOOD -- "Manual AF point selection mode" & "Spot AF point selection mode"
BAD -- "AF point expansion mode" & "Automatic AF point selection mode"

A little more detail...

Spot AF point selection mode and Manual AF point selection mode:
With the center point selected, the camera and lens focus perfectly everywhere I point it, very close or the horizon. With the far right or far top af points selected, it does an ok job finding the focus. In the dozen or so tests I've done, it missed one focus attempt (at something far away), but then recovered. It always seems to nail the 3' and closer targets. I personally just keep the spot af center box selected.

Automatic AF point selection mode and AF point expansion mode:
The camera & lens does a beautiful job focusing up close, 3' or closer. However, if I point it at the horizon, it tells me it's focussed but it has actually set the focus around 3'. I have no idea if this is a problem with my specific lens (or lens + body) but it wouldn't surprise me if this is typical behavior (and possibly body combination). My 7D focusses perfectly everywhere with a 24-70L.

Assuming this problem isn't my specific lens, it would be interesting to know if the Canon 10-22 has the same AF focus limitation. If the Canon wide doesn't have this problem, it could be an important part of the decision making process between these two competing lenses.

Hope this helps somebody else out there. If it weren't for the fact that I intend to use this lens A LOT at night, I'd probably go with the slower Canon 10-22 (and hopefully not be really disappointed to discover it too can't focus on infinite using the automatic AF modes ;) ).

Also, I found this review to be very helpful in my decision making process:[...]

Oh, and after you're done shopping for lenses, don't forget to get out there and actually take some pictures!

First off it must be said that this lens rivals the quality of most of Canon's L series glass. Build quality, including focus movements and zoom movements are silky smooth, focusing is just a bit louder as it does not use a USM or equivalent motor, but as a wide angle with a very short focal range such focus technology isn't necessary.

Sharp as a tack, and really really wide with very little barrel distortions, this is not a fish eye lens.

Only downfall of this lens, though not really specific to this lens but should be considered when looking to shoot Ultra Wide in general, is that it is tough to manually focus using the viewfinder since photos have so much content and usually you will be focusing on something quite small.

The 0.3m minimum focus distance is plenty close for taking somewhat awkward portraits and getting close to objects while taking i nthe background. But for those new to shooting wide, you will feel the urge to get closer for 'normal' compositions.

Beware those with small camera bags, this lens is big! especially with the supplied lens hood, be prepared to make a nice fat slot for it. (and correspondingly spend a big chunk of change on a good protector)

I bought this elsewhere, but I would like to share my experience with this lens here:

For $300 less than the Canon lens, you get better build, larger, constant aperture, sharper image, lens hood included, and a better warranty. This is my second Tokina lens; the first being the 35mm f/2.8 Macro, which I love!

Indoor shots with low light and no flash is possible with this lens. I took shots of friends gathering for dinner at the local Cheesecake Factory without flash to great results. The wide angle allowed me to get close and still have the group in the shot.

The pop-up flash creates a dark spot on the bottom of the image, so I would recommend using a hot-shoe mounted flash or those bounce card attachment for the pop-up flash(I got the Zeh Bounce card for $12- only use indoors with a ceiling of 12 feet or less)

I am still learning how to properly shoot with an UWA, but my main uses are for group shots during family parties and points of interests when I travel.

The minimum focus distance of 12-13 inches means that I find it hard to "fill" the shot with a small object set to a backdrop without the object being in focus.

In terms of weight, this thing is heavy in a good way. On my T2i, it does get a little front-heavy. I would assume that on a 50D/60D/7D it would be more balanced.

The focus is quick and not annoyingly loud (not USM silent, but good).

Flare and CA are the biggest enemies- I still find myself including light sources unintentionally, which I must work hard not to do!

In conclusion, if you're on a budget and don't mind going for a third party UWA, then the Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 won't disappoint!

Was a bit leery, buying a non-Canon lens... but this lens is awesome - great solid build, feels great. The images = wow! Excellent IQ, with very good colors and contrasts. Some have complained a bit about the relatively short 11- 16 range, but IMHO, while more would be handy, I would rather have the quality that this lens brings than sacrifice anything else just to expand the range. Some very good and interesting shots are possible with this lens, a great lens.

PS: amazing how much the price fluctuates here on Amazon... three to five hundred swings in price, there is a lot of demand for this lens - so if interested, wait a bit and may see price reduce some, so that shouldn't pay more than six hundred or so.

I purchased this lens just before a nice Caribbean vacation. It produced fantastic pictures for me. The low light f/2.8 lens gave many opportunities for hand held pictures in such conditions. In every case the pictures were crystal sharp. I highly recommend this lens for the EOS Digital Canon cameras which it fits.