Customer Reviews

Tokina AT-X116PRDXN AT-X PRO DX 11-16mm Ultra-wide Angle Lens for Nikon

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I actually bought this lens from Amazon as a kit, which included a 77mm low profile UV filter and camera cleaning kit. But since all of the reviews for this lens are here, I am posting my review here as well.

I was in the market for a super-wide angle DX lens, and I had originally considered a Nikon 10-24. Then I ran across this lens in several reviews that suggested the Tokina might be a great alternative. I own several Nikon lenses, and this is the first time I did not buy a Nikon lens.

I am really glad I bought the Tokina 11-16 lens.

My first consideration was the focal length. The reason I am purchasing the lens is for a super-wide angle, so the 10mm of the Nikon vs. the 11mm of the Tokina was the most important concern. Published specifications indicate a 109 Deg Field-of-View for the Nikon, and 104 Deg for the Tokina. Doing a bit of math suggests a 4% wider image for the Nikon.

But what does that really mean? I finally found a review on-line with the same photograph taken by the Nikon @ 10mm and the Tokina @ 11mm. You could tell the difference if you really looked at the photographs close, but placing the photographs next to each other, you really could not notice the difference when viewing them "casually". It might be that we naturally look to the center of a photo, but the size difference was not enough that it drew your attention to the corners.

For a practical example, take an 8x10 photograph and trim 1/4" from each of the 4 edges (you will end up with a 7.5 x 9.5" photo). This would be the difference between 10mm and 11mm. And as it turns out, 1/4" off each edge is about 4%.

With that realization, it put the Tokina in direct competition with the Nikon lens for my decision. After watching several reviews, including one really good one on YouTube showing enlarged corner sharpness at various focal lengths and f-stops, it seems as the Tokina is sharper in the corners than the Nikon.

The advantages and disadvantages of the two lenses, as I evaluated them were:

Tokina 11-16mm Advantages:

- Faster lens: f2.8
- Sharper at the corners.
- Semi-Pro construction - feels less "plastic" than the Nikon (but it is also heavier).
- Less expensive: about 25% less.

Nikon 10-24mm Advantages:
- Wider coverage, 10-24mm vs. 11-16mm
- AF-S focusing. The Tokina is AF only, and doesn't have an internal focus motor.
- Nikon brand reputation.
- Five year warranty vs. three years.

After all of these considerations, I went with the Tokina. I shoot a lot of indoor photos so the faster lens is important to me. And the price difference didn't hurt either. Since my next lens begins at 18mm, the extended 24mm range of the Nikon didn't bother me. But only after comparing the 10mm to 11mm photographs and I could not readily tell a difference in casual viewing, I was sold on the Tokina.

But if you have a lower end Nikon DSLR, perhaps a D40, D3000/D3100, or D5000, these cameras do not have focus motors, so the Tokina will NOT autofocus with these cameras. Higher end Nikon cameras; basically D70 and above do have internal focusing motors and will correctly focus the Tokina. If you have a lower-end Nikon, you may want the Nikon 10-24mm lens as it has an internal focusing motor.

This lens is made in Japan, while the Nikon lens is made in China. I don't know if this makes a difference or not.

One thing I did find out, and this is not limited to one lens or another, is that using the camera's built-in flash results in a dark area at the bottom of the photo. Even with the lens hood off, the lens is blocking the flash. So if you need a flash, be prepared to use an external flash unit. But given the faster Tokina lens, you may not need to use a flash as often.

I have heard of others having autofocus issues with this lens, but all of those reviews were at least a year or more old, so perhaps there was a problem and it was corrected. At any rate, I didn't have any problems. There is no manufacture date on the packaging, so its hard to tell when the lens was made.

------------------- Apr 21, 2011 Update ------------------------

I have had this lens now for awhile, and have taken it on two Caribbean cruises. This is simply a killer lens, and I am very glad I bought it. It works great for internal photos on board the cruise ship, as well as landscape photos. With the fast lens, I don't usually need a tripod.

The only downside is that it is fairly heavy, but I suppose that it is well made and 2.8 glass, that is the penalty.

I see now that the lens is available in a Sony/Minolta mount.

I am very happy I bought this lens.

This is the best wide-angle lens around for cameras with Nikon DX sized sensors. It's got great optical quality, and with a maximum aperture of f/2.8 it's faster than competing wide-angle lenses.

The only cautionary note I would add is that although the Tokina lens itself is built like a tank, Tokina lens caps seem to be less sturdy. At least, that's the conclusion I reached after the lens cap on my Tokina broke after my camera dropped a few inches onto a tatami mat in Japan. In looking at the broken cap, I wasn't too impressed by its construction with its tiny fragile looking, broken plastic clips. I now have a Nikon lens cap on the lens. If you get this lens, I suggest protecting your investment by buying a Nikon 77mm lens cap for it and ditching the one that comes with the camera.

I have had this lens for about 6 month. It is an excellent lens. Construction is Nikon pro quality. It produces very good results with DX body at all apertures, of course a bit better stepped down. Edge performance is significantly better than 12-24 both Nikon and Tokina. It can also be used on a full frame cameras. I used it on D700. At 16mm it has insignificant levels of falloff in the corners, 15 is still usable.

After reading Ken Rockwell's thoughts on this lens, I decided it was probably the best bet for what I needed. I shoot mainly landscape shots for publication and needed lots of wide angle. This lens has performed very well so far. It is very well built, sturdy and solid throughout. The images are sharp with only predictable distortion at the 11mm end. I really appreciate having a lens this fast for indoor work as well.I have no hesitation in recommending this lens.

I compared it with Nikkor, Sigma and Tokina's very own siblings before finally decided on this lens. I own a Nikon D300S an a D90.

It was perhaps one of the most sought after lens of the time; I have waited for months before finally received this Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 UWA lens. This review is written months after I owned it. I took it with me for a trip in Mt. Rainier National Park and also Acadia National Park.

First of all, it is very well build; heavy and solid feel in my hand. The weight balance well with the D300S, and not too bad with the D90.

Secondly, this lens has excellence IQ even at the largest aperture of f/2.8. The images from this lens are very sharp; at wide aperture, it gives you a nice mild smooth bokeh.

Third, it has a fast auto-focus. It performs very well even under low light condition.

This is a superb lens for taking landscape photos; however, because of the lens distortion, where nearer subject is closer to you and farther subject to farther from you, it is also excellence for taking photos with exaggerating effect. Having said that, people who haven't dealt with ultra wide angle (UWA) before would probably need a bit of practice especially when human subject is involved. I once asked a waiter to take a few group photos for us in a restaurant and the images came out are either with big face/small body or small head/fat body.

This is a great lens, and is intended to it's specific use. Two notes for people who want to buy this lens: -

1.) Unlike some other lenses, this lens has very limited range. If you need to be able to zoom in a bit closer, you need to compliment it with another lens. This is not a walk around lens.
2.) It does not have an internal motor. So, if you own a camera without an internal motor (e.g., D40/X, D60, D3000, D5000, etc.), you need to manual focus.

Overall, this is a superb ultra wide angle lens, and to me, it is certainly worth months of wait. At less than $600, and with its build and image quality, this is perhaps the best value for money UWA lens available in the market.

Lens is well built, feels solid in the hands. Autofocus is perfect on my D90. I had to return a Tamron 17-50mm because it was front focusing and was skeptical about getting another non-Nikon lens, but this is just perfect.

I shoot house indoors for real estate (as a hobby). Pictures are excellent even at maximum aperture and there is no need for flash even in dark rooms like home theatre.

Outdoor shooting is quite good with contained flaring and unnoticeable distortion. I use the included protection and have a inexpensive UV Tiffen filter on.

I bought the Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 for my Nikon D90 DX for
cityscape and landscape photography which always have
a magnificent vibe when they are taken through ultra-wide
angle lenses. I wasn't willing to pay more than double
the price for a Nikon UWA because I usually get into
this line of photography for only about 10% of the time.
But man that 10% is well spent with this lens on my D90.

With that being said, this fine piece of "reasonably priced"
well built glass does deliver excellent images comparable
to Nikon glass. The sweet spot of which being 2/3 within the
center at f2.8. The manual/autofocus switch-ring actually came
really handy for me at several occasions specially when I
bother to take advantage of the D90's HD video capturing feature.
You will get the cinema peripheral vision framing.

I recommend pairing this lens with a circular polarizer with
the hood on when shooting outdoors under sunlight. This thing
takes in light darn fast. Under low lighting condtions, you can
easily shoot under low ISO and still get sharp images.

One thing though, it's pretty heavy for a short zoom lens but
that's what you get when you purchase good quality glass.

GO GET IT!

This lens works exactly as advertised. The build quality is very high. Feels solid and precise. The focusing ring felt a bit rough (very slightly) but i suspect that's just some gears / bearings wearing in a little.
If you're looking for fast wide-angle shooting in DX format this is it.

This lens has the POTENTIAL to be a great lens, and it probably is! The build quality is great, the manual focus clutch is a great idea and at first glance it seemed to produce great pictures with very little barrel distortion or chromatic aberrations.

However, I just returned from a 3 week photo trip in Europe where I used the lens a lot in both indoor and landscape environments and for planned shots and spontaneous opportunistic shots. When putting the results through PP in Aperture 3, I noticed what appeared to be general softness in most shots at apertures f/5.6 and below throughout the focal range, and at a variety of speeds from 1/3s to 1/250s, and at ISOs from 200 on up. At a 100% crop under the loupe I discovered that in fact all the problem shots suffered from the same problem, which appeared to be a front focussing and de-centered bias, with the actual focus spot (spot focusing set on a Nikon D300s) appearing to be in front of, higher and to the left of, what had been intended within the planned DOF that I had wanted through the selection of aperture etc.

This could possibly be adjusted through the AF Fine Tuning option on the the Nikon D300s, but not the de-centering issue though.

I suspect I had a bad copy of the lens, and it was only 6 weeks or so since I received it, I returned it to the vendor, Cameta Camera, who immediately offered to replace it with another lens from a later batch (GREAT Service!). This is on its way to me now, and I will do some test shots when I get it.

I have every hope that it will be as great a lens as people think - and, as I say, I suspect I had a bad copy.

You've read all about this lens, you know you want one, the problem is finding one for sale! I just started checking Amazon early every morning for about a week... suddenly there it was. 17th Street Photo shipped it to me, and I had it in two days. I cancelled my back orders at two other places. I've found Amazon frequently will have an item unexpectedly sooner than anticipated, just ignore their 'ships within' time and keep checking. And the lens is super wide, super sharp, super fun.