Customer Reviews

Tokina 12-24mm f/4 AT-X Pro DX AF Wide Angle Lens for Nikon Digital Cameras

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I recently purchased a D80, I found myself lacking a true wide angle lens. I have always preferred prime lenses, but even the Nikkor ultra wide primes received only lukewarm ratings.

I was one step away from purchasing the Nikkor 12-24mm f4 zoom, but every report that I read said that the Tokina was pretty much its equal at only half the price.

Frankly, I have always had misgivings about third party lenses. I tried a few many years ago and was sorely disappointed. While I'm sure that there are still some poorly made third party lenses, the high end offerings from Tokina, Tamron and Sigma really give the camera brand lenses a run for their money. I guess that computer designing has leveled the playing field.

Anyway, what about the Tokina? As far as I'm concerned, it's a keeper. While I haven't done side by side comparisons with the Nikkor lens, 13X19 enlargements from the Tokina are everything that I could ever want.

If I had to pick a nit, it would be that the Tokina shows a bit of chromatic abberation at the edges. This is easily dealt with in the RAW converter and most people wouldn't notice it anyway. As I said, I'm picking nits here.

If you're in the market for a lens in this range in Nikon mount, the Tokina is the only f4 other than the Nikkor which is twice the price. Don't be a snob as I once was. Check out the third party offerings and base your decision on the results that they deliver and not on brand alone.

i was searching for something a little "wider" for my d80 and researched the tokina, the tamron, the sigma, and the nikon. couldn't really justify paying 2x more for nikon, and the tokina's good-to-drooling reviews made it an intriguing option.

when it arrived a few days ago, it was impressive-looking, although i wish i would have gotten the usa model with the 3-year warranty for like a $50 difference. the good news is this thing is built very very solidly--it reminds me of a piece of samurai armor, with a very japanese/"eastern"-type feel to it. it's all black, with gold piping. it feels almost ancient, despite being a solid piece of tech with quality glass.

the tokina is a samurai warrior of a lens, super rugged and very heavy due to its build quality. its eye pops out at you like a bug. it's not a cheapo lens at all--amazon's third parties have it for around $500, but it lists at $899--but a very good choice for the price if you don't feel like you have to have all-nikon everything (don't think they make underwear yet, sorry). it has a useful mf/af slide right where you need it. when you slide it to mf, the distance meters kick in on the second focus ring. that's a good thing, because this lens can sometimes hunt a bit, so you may find yourself switching on the fly.

however, it's no ninja at f/4. this is not a quick lens at all, which probably wouldn't make it great for wide action shots. (for that, i went with the sigma 15mm fisheye which is still pretty wide at 22.5mm equivalent with the dx sensor.)

it's not as useful a close up lens as i would have thought--go with the $100 50mm nikkor 1.8 prime if a portrait lens is what you're after--because the wide angle takes in everything and makes the subject look farther away. but, damn, it picks up stuff not visible to the naked eye. the bug eye gives excellent depth of field, and photos have a 3-d quality to them. you can get around the f/4 a bit because the large area of the glass lets in a lot of light, which makes it better at nighttime/low-light conditions than you might think, as long as your subjects aren't moving too fast.

after i got it, i shot a historic victorian from a third floor balcony with no flash and iso 1600 that came out amazing. it picked up stuff i didn't see in the viewfinder, and lent it a nice soft hue picking up all the available light from around it. then i went and shot some sunsets of the bay area from lawrence hall of science that were awesome, postcard or poster quality. no retouching necessary. worked just as good with no flash as with in-camera flash; some non-flash shots came out better--just set auto iso and no worries.

maybe not absolutely necessary for a casual point-and-shooter, unless landscapes are your thing, but for semi-pro to pro, it's a good addition to the kit for those times when the 18-70 or 28-80 isn't wide enough. you can work around the slowness by hitting burst, but interestingly the burst doesn't work with all settings.

once it's in your kit, you'll find yourself seeking out opportunities to let this lens's abilities rise to the forefront--is it guiding you, or are you guiding it?

the tokina wants you to take your time and compose a nice shot, not dash off a quick flick. so if you're planning on shooting people or live stage shots, though, you're gonna have to get pretty close (if you want them to be recognizable): set up 3-7 feet away, set the AF to "C", fire off a burst, and hope for the best. but for, say, a group of people in front of a landmark or monument, this lens is ideal dialed to 12mm with the infinity setting on mf. or you could do af and let the lens work for you.

summary:
wide enough for most dslr users (18mm equivalent)
solid, tank-like build quality and "eastern" feel to it.
great landscape lens. will make you seek out panaoramic shots.
no noticeable focus problems except for the occasional hunt.
excellent clarity and available-light shooting.
great in low-light conditions w/ iso boosted and no flash.
not that fast at f/4 so not great for action.
lens hood makes it look like a godzilla monster, but needed probably in extra-sunny conditions becasue the lens is so freakin' huge, also you might want to dial down the exposure (-1.3 to -1.7 on the d80.)
no case supplied; big and bulky in a bag, even w/out the hood, not great for a small bag if you want to fit anything else in it.
also make sure you get ultra thin filters; other reviewers pointed to vignetting problems if you don't use them.

would have been a 5 if it was a little faster and a little lighter, but not a purchase i'll regret. worth the money if you're serious about building a nice kit or are into landscaping, architecture, or real estate. could probably workfor weddings too as long as subjects are sitting or standing. not a great choice for sports photography, except maybe a team picture.

I originally bought the Nikon 12-24mm lens, it was expensive. I took it home and found that it simply was not sharp. I may have gotten a bad copy of the lens. I was disappointed and returned it.
A month later I decided to try another copy of the lens. However, after reading about the Tokina, I decided to try it instead. I am extremely pleased. The photos are very sharp. I found no chromatic abberation as reported by other reviewers. Colors are well balanced and saturated. I can't fault it in any way. The lens is solidly built. I highly recommend it. However, before you buy any lens, be sure to read the Amazon reseller's return policy. Some of the camera stores they sell through charge a 15% restocking fee for returns.

So far I am very pleased with the results of this Tokina lens with my Nikon D80. Accurate color, little/no noticeable distortion, excellent sharpness. I recently had a 20x30 enlargement made of a photo I made with this lens, and it looks flawless. Sharp edge-to-edge, no noticeable distortion, beautiful color. What more can you ask of a digital camera lens?

Nikon makes a wide angle zoom that covers about the same zoom range as this Tokina. The Nikon is about double the price of this Tokina. From my experience with this Tokina, it would be extremely difficult to convince me that the Nikon zoom could possibly be worth the extra money. This Tokina is so good, I can't imagine how the Nikon could be good enough to be worth an extra $500. And, this Tokina feels like a very high-quality piece of machinery; metal construction, smooth-as-glass zoom and focus action.

The only warning I would give potential buyers of this lens concerns the use of filters: filters will cause you to have vignetting unless you use a filter with a very slim, low-profile frame. I am using Hoya Pro 1 Digital filters with my Tokina, and they are vignette free.

I bought my Tokina 12-24 through Amazon merchant 17th Street Photo, and their service was exemplary: fast delivery, USA lens warranty (not grey market), sturdy shipping container, unopened factory pack.

Many of the other big New York-based photo equipment retailers have less than great customer service reputations, and very few of them seem to be members of the Better Business Bureau. But, 17th Street is the exception to the rule that you had better hold on to your wallet when dealing with the big NY photo houses.

17th Street IS a member of the BBB, I checked. You can check any retailer's complaint record and BBB membership status at http://search.bbb.org/.

I have been very pleased with this purchase and with 17th Street Photo, and I would buy this same lens from them again without hesitation.

This appears (so far) to be a great lens. I am using it on a Nikon D50 and get sharp, finely detailed photos each time. While at f/4 it may seem a little slow, I cannot see where this would be an issue for a wide-angle lens as you are unlikely to use it for action type photography.

Be very careful with any filter choices, as this lens will vignette easily. The Tiffen filter I purchased was terrible for this, whereas a Sigma filter has worked OK.

It is a very large lens (nature of the beast) so beware if you expect to carry this in a relatively small bag - particularly with the hood attached - even when reversed.

The construction quality appears good. Not up at Nikon metal lens or Sigma 'DG' grade lenses, but more robust than than the Nikon 'G' series lenses.

The worst thing about the lens is the packaging, which when ordering via a mail-order company, such as Amazon, could easily be an issue. The box is thin cardboard, with separate cardboard liner to protect the lens. My lens had obviously been shaken around within the packaging, dislodging the lens hood and marking the lens barrel, but not too heavily. I checked the lens and the amount of dust and debris on the lens was not something I would expect. If you do order this lens ensure that you check it before accepting delivery in case of more severe damage. Again in comparison with Nikon (even the 'G' series lenses) and the Sigma 'DG' lenses this packaging comes up short.

I've had this lens for one year. Incredibly enough, it's more expensive NOW then it was a year ago. My Nikon lenses have plummeted in price in the past year.

It's a very comfortable lens and fairly lightweight. Nice big rubber zoom and focus rings although I would have preferred the zoom ring not to be next to the camera body.

Nice smooth zoom ring action; no loose play, grinding or resistance. Much, much better than the $1100 Nikon 18-55mm lens that I hated and returned.

Here's a wonderfully weird characteristic of this lens that I simply cannot figure out: It will focus and take a picture in a room with barely any light at all! My Nikon 50mm f1.4 lens can't even come close; the Nikon lens cannot focus even though it's several f-stops faster. You have to see it to believe it.

The only thing that the lens can't do (which is no big deal for such a wide angle lens) is the ability to manually focus after an auto-focus.

Want even better performance photographing outdoors? Turn the auto-focus off, set the aperture to about f11 and the distance between 7ft and infinity. Everything will be in focus.

Even though it's an inexpensive lens, don't cheap out and get a lousy filter. Pay the $50+ for a good multi-coated 77mm UV filter.

For landscapes or working in tight areas or crowds, you simply can't beat this lens.

If Nikon put their logo on it and charged $1200, people would rave that it's such a great lens.

I was looking for a wider lens for my D200, and have no regrets getting the Tokina 12-24mm f/4. On 35mm format, it would translate to 18-36mm, which is a great range. It is also a constant f/4, which is unlike other wide angles in this range for DSLRs. Price wise, it is much cheaper than the Nikon 12-24mm f/4, but in terms of performance, it is almost comparable. Unless you have that few hundred bucks more to spend on the Nikon, this Tokina would work beautifully! The build of the body is good and sturdy.

This lens makes a good impression of being solidly built, and in return it's relatively heavy for its size. No flimsiness here.

On most of the focal range, the optical quality is quite impressive: sharpness good at f/4, and excellent at f/5.6; no noticeable light fall-off ("corner vignetting") at any aperture - bravo!; barrel distortion at 12 mm but gone at 18 mm and above.

The biggest optical drawback is at the level of Lateral Chromatic Aberration ("purple fringing"). In situations of a dark object interfacing with a very bright one, color fringes will be noticeable if you enlarge the image. Still, looking at a photo in "normal" size (or at a large photo from the "normal" distance required to look at a large photo), the LCA will not be noticeable. I'd rather have some LCA that can only be seen on close examination than light fall-off in the corners that will be obvious no matter how one looks at the picture.

Sharpness is clearly less good at the 20-24 mm end wide-open. At those focal lengths it is necessary to stop down to f/8 to obtain good results.

The Sigma 10-20 mm has a clear advantage over this Tokina 12-24 mm in the extra 2 mm on the wide end. However, from measurements I've seen, the Sigma is a much less good performer at the level of light fall-off in the corners. Which one to choose becomes a matter of taste and purposes.

I did TONS of research on this lens, like i always do before i buy a lens. When compared to other lenses close to the tokina range "12-24", sigma's 10-20mm, sigma's 12-24mm, tamron and nikon's wide angle lense, tokina's 12-24mm lense was overall rated the best in all features of the lense. its the sharpest, cheapest in price, and looks good! one thing people didnt like about this lens is that its a heavy lens! Personally, i dont mind a heavy lens. The weight lets me know that the lens is built TOUGH! is very sturdy, and feels like a pro-lense!

its great for taking nature/senic shots, and its fairly sharp, even though the reason why i rated it 4 of 5 stars is because i had to send my lens back to the company to get fixed because the photos were of horrible quality. now that i fixed it, the photos are a little more of better quality, but not as much as i wanted it to be. Do not forget that there are many "bad copies" out if this lens, so you might have to return one or two of them before you receive good copy.

I'm an enthusiast, not a pro. I have a D40 which is the first thing I would grab if my house were on fire to carry out with me. I wanted to expand my lenses beyond the kit lens and the 55-200 telephoto I bought. I wanted something that was wide angle and could be used close-up for better portraits. The Nikkor 12-24 was appealing but this lense was half the cost and the reviews were compelling. I can't comment on all the techno-stuff about color shifting and correcting for this or that. The lense is extremely well-made; I've used a couple of third party lenses a photographer friend lent me and I could notice the difference when I compared the pictures they took to Nikkor lenses. I must say I am very impressed with Tokina. The lense is a bit heavy though, and bulky. So good construction means heft, but the bulk is no biggie because I bought the lens to keep around the house, not to lug around with me to the zoo. It DOES expand the frame in tight quarters, so it's a great lens to put on for indoor shots at birthday parties and the like when you want to get everyone in the shot, even old Aunt Edna munching on her dentures in the corner. D40 owners, you will NOT be able to use the built in flash with this lens- it's too big and will obscure the flash- you have to use an external flash with it. The second thing- this is supposed to be an autofocus lens, but at least with my D40 you have to focus manually. The lens will take good pictures in low light, but focusing it in low light isn't exactly easy unless you are doing a close-up and you can focus it to infinity. I'm not sure why this is the deal, but it's good to know. Still, bottom line is, this is a very well-made lens, takes great pictures and is great for indoor photography when you want a wider frame. I'm told it's good for landscape photographs too for that reason but I'm not so much into that. Good luck!