Tokina lenses, would you recommend?

[Dinoboy]

Hi there,

Just wondering if anyone has experience of Tokina lenses, looking at a 16-28 wide angle.

Like this one:
https://www.ukdigital.co.uk/tokina-atx-16-28mm-f28...

Compared to a Nikon 14-24 there's obviously a sizeable cost difference.

What do you advise?

[Starfighter]

Some comments and sample pictures here.

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4330492

[Tony1963]

I suppose it depends, to a degree, which camera you’ll be using it on and what you want from it.

Years ago I had a Tokina 11-16mm on my Canon 40D, and I was pretty happy with it. Solid feeling, great colours. I would just say try one out when you can.

[RSTurboPaul]

The first version of the 11-16 is great - nice and sharp from F3.5 upwards (it's a tiny bit soft at f2.8).

Not sure how the revised version fairs but they are great for indoors and landscape shots.

[mikal83]

I have a tokina wide angle and a 200mm zoom for my old canon AE1....twas booty.

[Dinoboy]

Thanks for that guys, a US site, Adorama has them at $399.
Even with customs charges etc that's still pretty cheap.

[RSTurboPaul]

https://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/Tokina/Tokina-... might help identify bargains and past history of prices (in the UK).

[Simpo Two]

Dinoboy said:

Compared to a Nikon 14-24 there's obviously a sizeable cost difference.

What do you advise?

If you can afford the Nikon, buy it. Not only is it known as an excellent but 2mm at the wide end makes a difference. Buy good, buy once!

[eltawater]

Dinoboy said:

Thanks for that guys, a US site, Adorama has them at $399.
Even with customs charges etc that's still pretty cheap.

Plenty on MPB second hand to save yourself some cash and the wait from the US.

https://www.mpb.com/en-uk/used-equipment/used-phot...

[GravelBen]

I have the old Tokina 12-24 f4, no complaints from me (other than wanting an f2.8 for astro stuff).

The 12-24 and 11-16 are both popular and generally easy to find at good prices second hand.

[Vintage Racer]

All of my lenses are Nikon........apart from my Tokina 11-20 f2.8 DX, which is a superb lens.

Not much help if you are using full frame, but they do build a great lens!

[Dinoboy]

Using a Nikon D750.

[toohuge]

That's a good camera with a nice sensor... I am on the fence about the Tokina - price wise it's much more affordable - but the Nikon and the Tamron G2 or even G1 get really, really good reviews.

There is a new version out which looks nicely built, not sure if the optics are any different. I am always worried about serviceability of the 3rd party lenses as equipment gets older. - As the 14-24 is still a current production lens, you've got a long service history ahead of it.

I would ask - how often do you actually use this focal length? I almost bought a 14-24 - but realised I never shoot wide and I needed this lens for a trip that has now been cancelled , I looked at renting it and it's very affordable. - That might be worth considering if you're not a heavy user

[Simpo Two]

I'll update my previous post.

A second-hand Nikon 14-24. Same quality, lower price, and you'll have the lens the camera deserves.

[chrismarr]

Tamron 15-30 is worth a look as well.

I was saving for the 14-24 and got this instead for my D750. No regrets.

[Dinoboy]

Thanks very much for all the friendly and helpful replies, this section of the forum is indeed a positive place.
I've bitten the bullet and ordered a Tokina, should have it by the end of the week.
I'll have plenty of time to learn how to get the best out of it as I think it will be months before I can use it for its intended purpose.

[RSTurboPaul]

Dinoboy said:

Thanks very much for all the friendly and helpful replies, this section of the forum is indeed a positive place.
I've bitten the bullet and ordered a Tokina, should have it by the end of the week.
I'll have plenty of time to learn how to get the best out of it as I think it will be months before I can use it for its intended purpose.

What are you saying about the rest of the PH forum? lol


Hope you like it! I predict a lot of wide angle in-room shots for the foreseeable future haha

That and some cool night-time, long exposure star-trail shots if there aren't too many streetlights near you!

[Gad-Westy]

I had a Tokina 16-28 for a while (on a D810) and generally I really, really liked it. Great build quality, really feels robust and image quality is great too. But it has one major flaw. The flare you get from point light sources. I don't normally mind a bit of flare but this renders it as a sort of traffic light around the light source. It was a particular problem for me as I like shooting cityscapes after sunset and the street lights looked weird. It's a shame as otherwise I really liked it.

Nikon 14-24 is a nice lens but quite expensive and although it used to be the king of image quality, lens standards have moved on a long way and modern stuff from Tamron and Sigma is cheaper and better optically. Though the Nikon is still great if you can find a nice used one.

Tamron 15-30 and 17-35 OSD both well worth a look too.