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Massimo Foti Offline
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Registered: Dec 20, 2010 Location: Switzerland Posts: 275
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Review Date: Nov 13, 2012
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $900.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Superb build quality. Very low distortion for an UWA. Optically great, even better than lens that cost twice
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Cons:
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Heavy, bulky, not well suited for filters
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I was happy with Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 (first version) on my Canon APS-C cameras, so this was an obvious choice when I moved to full-frame.
It's heavy and bulky. The auto-focus isn't blazing fast, but accurate, fast enough for an UWA.
Build quality is superb, as we expect from Tokina. Image quality is great. I think it competes well with much more expensive alternatives, and I am not alone feeling that way:
http://www.lensrentals.com/rent/canon/lenses/wide-angle/tokina-16-28mm-f2.8-at-x-pro-fx-for-canon
Distortion is minimal, a great achievement in this focal range.
Compared to my Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 and Tokina 16-50 f/2.8 this one handles flares better (poor flares handling has been an issue on many Tokina lenses). I assume the new coating advertised by Tokina isn't just marketing junk after all :-)
Still I feel Canon lenses tend to do a bit better with flares.
In many ways it feels the full-frame equivalent of Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 and it deserves the same praises.
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Nov 13, 2012
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JRomie Offline
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Registered: Apr 12, 2006 Location: United States Posts: 82
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Review Date: Mar 18, 2012
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $850.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Built like a Tokina -- similar to a tank. Crisp. Amazingly low distortion, considering how wide it is.
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Cons:
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Vulnerable front element, terrible hood (on my earlier model anyway), lack of ability to use any filters.
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Very nice lens. My previous wide angle zooms included a Tokina 12-24 f4 (I had a bad copy I think; terrible AF accuracy), and a Canon EFS 10-22 (which was a fine lens, but wouldn't fit my upgrade to full frame). This is a great lens though. Fast, crisp, much lower distortion than one would expect with such a wide angle. Built like a tank too (a bit heavy as a result, if weight is an issue with you). The only thing I hesitate with as far as Tokina goes is their service and support. I didn't like the response to my 12-24 focusing issue ("it's within spec", when to me it clearly was not). With this lens, no issues; except the lens cap which they will replace for free (Though it's been 2 months so far since I made the request, and two weeks after I finally got a response to my emails, saying it should go out "this week"). But I've had no technical issues with this lens, and it fits the wide angle slot in my lens assortment very well. The inability to apply filters is a bit of an issue, but I've done okay without them, especially with the options we all have in post processing. I'd definitely recommend it to others.
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Mar 18, 2012
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Damian_pro3 Offline
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Registered: Dec 20, 2011 Location: Poland Posts: 0
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Review Date: Dec 20, 2011
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $900.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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famous Tokina build quality, excellent sharpness, colors, price
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Cons:
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rather slow autofocus, bad lens cap
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This review could be a short one, because this lens is truly amazing!
It is build like a... well, like the most of Tokina's lenses. The first time you take this lens in your hand, you realize it's worth the money you paid. It's heavy, rubber rings well made and operate smoothly, but with proper resistance, I also like the af/mf switching by pushing/pulling the front ring. Some people used to Canon's lenses would not like it, but for me it's perfect. There are only two flaws when it comes to build quality: front lens is vulnerable, but you know that when you buy this lens. I also have to admit that after half of a year of working with this lens I'm surprised by a quality of coatings - removing fingerprints is easy and I do not see any scratches, even though i have incidentally touched it many times. A second flaw is a lens cap. As far as I know, Tokina sells this lens with a new, better lens cap, but the early versions (unfortunately also mine) were equipped with caps that seems to be a bad joke - very thin, loose, falling off the lens all the time.
When it comes to lens' performance there is only one flaw: rather slow autofocus. I mean, it is not bad, but it's far for being as fast or silent as in Canon lenses equipped with USM. But the AF is quite accurate, I do not have any problems with ff or bf even though I bought it via the Internet, without having possibility to test it before purchase. Having said that, I must admit, that an optical performance is really amazing! It's really sharp, especially for being an ultra wide lens. I use it on cropped sensors (40D and 7D), so the center of image is almost as sharp as borders, but had an opportunity to test it on 5D markII and it still performed great. The color rendition is also good. F/2.8 is fully usable. When it comes to CA, it's noticeable on f/2.8, but not as visible as in Tokinas 11-16 or 12-24.
To sum it all up: I had a hard time when my Tamron 17-50 broke and had to buy a new lens. Canon 17-40 did not impress me and f/4 is too dark for me and Canon 16-35 is definitely overpriced for its performance. Both those lenses have much better autofocus, but fail in comparison with the Tokina when it comes to the optical performance. I am also used to use polarizers and gradual filters, so it was also hard to decide to buy a lens with no filter mount, but recently I made a deatachable filter thread that allows me to use Cokin/Lee/Hitech filters, so this stopped to being a problem.
If you need a FF lens, can live without ultra fast AF and filter thread, I truly recommend you Tokina 16-28. Give it a chance and you will be delighted with pictures this lens produces.
Sample shots:
http://www.pro3photo.pl/#/gallery/6/95/
http://www.pro3photo.pl/#/gallery/2/80/
http://www.pro3photo.pl/#/gallery/7/89/
http://www.pro3photo.pl/#/gallery/9/83/
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Dec 20, 2011
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Reviews
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Views
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Date of last review
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3
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18535
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Nov 13, 2012
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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100% of reviewers
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$883.33
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Build Quality Rating
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Price Rating
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Overall Rating
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10.00
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9.00
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9.0
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