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Survey: What wide angle lens do you use? And Tokina 11-16?

I

iSax1234

macrumors regular
Original poster
So what wide angle lens do you use? On what camera? And how do you like it?

I have a t1i and only have the 50mm f/1.8 and am looking at an ultra wide angle. My sights are set on the tokina 11-16 f/2.8. Any thoughts on this particular lens?
 
I use a Nikkor 20mm f/2.8 AIS with an adapter on my 7D. Great for video, not so hot for stills. Someday when I'm rich I'll buy a Canon 17mm f/4L TS-E.

The Tokina sounds to be a fantastic lens. From what I've heard you really can't do any better than it on APS-C cameras.
 
iSax1234 said:
So what wide angle lens do you use? On what camera? And how do you like it?

I have a t1i and only have the 50mm f/1.8 and am looking at an ultra wide angle. My sights are set on the tokina 11-16 f/2.8. Any thoughts on this particular lens?
Click to expand...

On Canon, the clear leaders in this category are the Canon 10-22 and the Tokina. Both are considered outstanding with each having their own pros/cons.

Here's the summary from a review...

Here is my SUMMARY-ANALYSIS between the Canon 10-22 and Tokina 11-16:
Resolution (center): Tokie gets the slight edge here.
Resolution (edge): Tokie is the definitive winner here.
Contrast: Slight edge to the Canon, if pressed on it.
Shading: Tokie the much stronger performer.
Distortion (barrel): Canon by a little.
Flare: Canon by a lot.
CA: Very close, but the nod to the Canon. Both "so-so".
Build: Tokie, though the Canon is still a solid lens.
Handling: Nod to the Tokie because the focus/zoom rings are similar in size and the dampening buttery smooth.
Aperture (speed): Tokie, of course.
AF (noise): Canon takes this one.
AF (speed): Canon again, though the Tokie is a very close second.
MFD & Magnification: Canon here too.
10D/D60/D30 compatible: Tokie yes, Canon no.
Price (B&HPhoto): Tokina $570, Canon $710.
Bang for Buck: Tokina.
Click to expand...

I personally have a pre-owned Canon 10-22 on my 7D and I'm very impressed with the quality of images it produces.
 
I use the Tokina 11-16 - probably one of (if not the) best UWA for crop sensors. It works well for me since my next lens' FL starts at 17mm.
 
I own the Tokina. I read reviews comparing it to Nikon's 12-24mm and the Tokina always came out on top. Boy does it not disappoint! The quality is superb! Seriously amazing! its fast and very sharp!

Here are some of my shots with the Tokina 11-16mm. The HDRs are a little grainy because HDRs suffer from noise >_<;;

HDR
4666511261_fcd52780da.jpg


HDR
4578503734_70bb0c5985.jpg


HDR
l


This one is a tad grainy because I forgot to put the ISO back down from the night before, lol >_<;;
4545514697_0866046563.jpg


4619450770_bb24688894.jpg


This is a stitched panorama
4618840651_b652fa7c52.jpg


Hope it helps, if you need more shots, just ask! 😀

My Flickr: Click
 
Hmmm...I know I can use a Nikon lens on my Canon 😀

Anyway, I use not the Tokina lens the OP talks about, but the 12-24mm f/4. I use this lens for landscapes, usually set around f/16 of higher with my 40D on a tripod:
IMG_1909_Gunny.jpg

IMG0074b-1.jpg

RainbowPanoA.jpg

OutOfChena011709.jpg

Oops! Sorry about the last photo (too large). I had to re-edit this post.
Chena092008.jpg
 
On my D700 I use the Nikkor 18-35; on my D70 I used to use the Tokina 12-24.

I like the 18-35 very much - stopped down it's extremely sharp.

The Tokina was quite good, although my copy had a weird issue at f/8 where it would expose roughly somewhere between 0.5-1.0 stop too low (probably wasn't really f/8). I didn't pick up on that for a while so it never got fixed.
 
iSax1234 said:
So what wide angle lens do you use? On what camera? And how do you like it?

I have a t1i and only have the 50mm f/1.8 and am looking at an ultra wide angle. My sights are set on the Tokina 11-16 f/2.8. Any thoughts on this particular lens?
Click to expand...

I really find that 24mm is wide enough for me now that I use a 5D2. I often just stitch images together for landscapes.

On my 40D I used a 10-22 but not that much. I found the 17-55 to be wide enough. I did own the 11-16 but found that its range was very limiting where the 10-22 had a more useful range. Other than the limited range the Tokina is sharper, even wide open! than the canon except the Tokina being a 2.8 suffers from flare.
 
I use a Tokina 12-24 f/4 for ultra-wide, and a 17-55 f/2.8 for wide to normal. Both are exceptional lenses on my D300. Only issue with the Tokina is a propensity toward flare if you're not careful directly into sun, but it is pretty manageable with good technique and shading the lens. I just use my hand when it appears and shade the direct light hitting the lens when I notice any flaring in the viewfinder. It's a sharp lens, even wide open, very sharp slightly stopped down.
 
If your also going to be shooting indoors/low light then you should get the Tokina. If your mainly going to be shooting outdoors, then also consider the Tamron 10-24 and save some money.

If money is no option again I say get the Tokina.
 
I have Tokina's 12-24 mm. Although it's not the 11-16 mm the OP is interested in, I can say for a fact that the build quality is much, much better than what Nikon and Canon offer you here. Also in terms of optics (and neglecting the price for a moment), Tokina lenses perform very well, often outperforming original manufacturer lenses.
 
the tokina 11-16 f2.8 is wonderful
sharp images wide open and usable ones all the way to f22
color is saturated
build is above average
the speed is very useful
the price is right
Its not too heavy or big
the distortion is very well controlled

you will not be disappointed
 
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 paired with a D700 body.

I love the lens; no issue with sharpness, etc. The wide angle is excellent for indoor shots of architecture, and such. The large aperture works great for low light photography. 14mm means I can often stand a foot away and still get everything in to the shot (albeit with some distort—namely with people).

The only drawback I can find is I can't put a filter on the lens as it's quite bulbous; also the front cap is just a cover (it's not clipped on and can fall off if bumped).
 
I use canon's 10-22mm

One word, dissapointing.

Read really great reviews for this lens overall, but for what it cost me (here in the UK about two years ago, around £600) its so not worth the money.

I use it on my canon 40D body (as it wont fit on my full frame 5D - how annoying!) and the results, although 'wide' are just not that great. Very soft feeling despite tripod use, and the distortion/fall off on the lens is just rubbish, so messy and I nearly always have to crop away.

For me, Ive resigned this lens from landscape work as I just dont like the feel of the results, and I just stick in my bag when im walking around cities - its best use for me is of architecture.

I'd say (image quality wise) this lens would be a superb choice for all you budding real estate shooters, where its more about enhancing 'space' than creating stunning images. Its really good for that at the widest end, can get loads into frame.

As for serious landscape work though, would really 'not' recommend.
 
I just got a canon 15-85is to use with my T2i. So far I'm very impressed with it. Overall it's much sharper than the kit lens (18-55is), and 15mm vs 18mm on the wide end makes quite a difference.
 
iSax1234 said:
I have a t1i and only have the 50mm f/1.8 and am looking at an ultra wide angle. My sights are set on the tokina 11-16 f/2.8. Any thoughts on this particular lens?
Click to expand...

As a happy Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 owner (& former Tokina 12-24 f/4 owner, now in the hands of my brother) I agree with VirtualRain's assessment.

The only areas in which the Canon 10-22 beats the Tokina 11-16 are:

- 1mm wider, 8mm longer
- slightly less chromatic aberration
- slightly better contrast when wide-open (but the Toki is an f/2.8 so it'll be about the same as the Canon when used at the same aperture)
- fast & quiet AF

Points for the Tokina 11-16 f/2.8, OTOH:

- much wider aperture (I haven't checked in a while but I believe it's the only f/2.8 ultrawide zoom for less than $1000).
- made of metal
- comes with a lens hood
- significantly less expensive than the Canon
- it's not EF-S so it can be used as a 16mm f/2.8 on full-frame Canon bodies without vignetting (I have tested this on my EOS 1n & a friend's 1Ds)

If you've already got a kit lens then you probably won't miss the range between 16 & 22mm, and the AF speed & noise really don't matter because it's an ultrawide & doesn't really need to focus very much as infinity is usually at a meter or so. If you've got a good RAW converter you can create a profile or preset to deal with the chromatic aberration if it bothers you.
 
funkboy said:
- it's not EF-S so it can be used as a 16mm f/2.8 on full-frame Canon bodies without vignetting (I have tested this on my EOS 1n & a friend's 1Ds)
Click to expand...

I don't think this is correct - in the Nikon mount it's a DX (APS-C sensor) lens, so it's hard to believe it's not the same for Canon.

Edit: I see you are specifying just at 16mm - I think that's an important distinction. It definitely is targeted at cameras using APS-sized sensors. There are a number of DX wide-angle lenses that unofficially can be used on a full-frame camera for some subset of their focal length.
 
Westside guy said:
I don't think this is correct - in the Nikon mount it's a DX (APS-C sensor) lens, so it's hard to believe it's not the same for Canon.
Click to expand...
I think he means that the Tokina can be mounted on a Canon dslr with full frame sensor. At least that's the case on the Nikon side of things: you can mount DX lenses, but that doesn't mean they have to work well on the larger sensor (they were not designed for). With the 12-24 mm, I hear you can use it on full frame sensor cameras from ~17 mm on. Due to the lack of a full frame body, I cannot confirm this 🙁

EF-S lenses will physically not mount and may damage the mirror box as far as I have heard.
 
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