TOKINA at-X 11-16mm F2.8 DXII Canon

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I shoot with a Canon T5, which has a crop sensor, so I did quite a lot of research into wide angle lenses before purchasing this one. Primarily I shoot landscape photography, so I was wanting to expand my lens collection to include a wide angle. I went back and forth between several lenses, including one of canons lower end wide angle lenses, but ultimately chose this lens because of the f/2.8 aperture being the best I could find for a wide angle lens. I wanted something that would perform well for shooting stars and milky way shots, but was still going to give me some dynamic landscape shots. I have been highly satisfied with the purchase of this lens! First and foremost: right out of the box, this feels like a quality lens. It is fairly heavy, which can be uncomfortable if you are hiking, but still such a minor con that I dont want to complain. The only other quip I have about it is how damn hard it is to take the lens hood on and off. It was so tight that the first time I tried, I was worried I was going to break something. Just takes some getting used to. I have taken this lens on several trips, the biggest one being my spring break roadtrip to Yosemite with stops in Lake Tahoe, Point Reyes, San Francisco, Sequoia, Zion, and Bryce. I really pushed this thing during that trip and I was very pleased with the results. The pictures are sharp and colorful, and right away the quality stands out. It creates such dynamic landscape shots if you get a little creative with it. Taking panoramas was a breeze. The sunburst shots turn out STUNNING with this lens, I was shocked. This lens excelled at Sequoia, and allowed me to take pictures that others had to shoot as panoramas. I mentioned astrophotography as a reason behind getting this lens. While I have not had the chance to shoot milky way shots yet, I have done star trail pictures with it that turned out gorgeous. I am very excited to try it out with the milky way. I see a lot of people saying that this is now their "go to" lens. While this lens is absolutely better in quality and sharpness than the kit lens, and it is certainly my favorite lens, it is by no means the lens that lives on my camera. It is super wide, and therefore has fairly limited applications unless you only shoot landscapes (and even then, I still enjoy using my 18-55mm lens...sometimes this is almost too wide!).

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I have a first generation Tokina 11-16 and have done hundreds of shoots with it. The original does have quite an ugly flare sometimes in certain light but you learn how to shoot around it. I ordered a second one because I do A LOT of jobs with it, didnt want to take the chance on something happening to it and be screwed so I grabbed another. I also heard the new one (this version) has a coating to reduce the flare. I must admit, while still there, it is slightly better. This lens does feel "just a bit" cheaper than the original but still a great lens. I also use it for video constantly and having the F2.8 is a must indoors. This lens will always be in my arsenal.

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Im having a hard time deciding if I want to leave this lens on all the time or my Sigma 30MM ART. Both are very different lens but both deliver exceptional pictures, easy to focus whether its auto or manual, both work well in low light situations, both deliver exceptional outdoor picture quality especially in low light. Where some people dont like how this lens moves from manual to autofocus, I personally love it. Your hand is already extended, or should be extended anyways so pushing it or pulling it is not an issue at all. The picture I attached was taken at 512PM after sunset. F2.8/ISO800/1/60

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I am very new to photography, especially using DSLR cameras. I use a Canon Rebel t7i, which is a crop sensor camera and my first DSLR. I saw reviews for this lens and I thought I would give it a "shot". Now first things first: I am certainly impressed with this lens! Especially as a beginning amateur astrophotographer. Admittedly I have only had this lens a few days now, but based on my experience thus far the build quality is nice, it feels like a sturdy, heavy lens, and it has a nice sharp and clear picture (aside from the chromatic aberration and slightly barrel distortion, but Ill get into that later). Now I took this lens out to take a test photo just to see how the lens handled in low light situations (pictured above, the bright one). The photo was taken with the aperture set at f/2.8 for 30 seconds on a tripod. When I looked on the preview on the LCD I was devastated. The picture looked as though it was one of those 3D pictures where you have to wear those red and blue glasses. The red and blue light was way out of place! I expected SOME chromatic aberration due to the refracting nature of glass, but not this extreme. I considered sending it back and looking into getting a different lens with a bit more care to correcting such extreme aberration. However, I overreacted. After uploading the photos onto my computer, they were not nearly as bad as on the LCD screen of the camera, some magenta fringing and coma at worst. Enter photo processing software (like Lightroom or darktable). Make some adjustments to exposure, tone and temperature, chromatic aberration correction, and defringing and I ended up with a decently nice, true to life photo (the darker photo ((ALWAYS SHOOT IN RAW FORMAT FOLKS)). Considering that the included photos were only a test shot, I have to say that this lens is capable of a lot! Especially for beginners who do not have thousands to throw around on lenses. It DOES suffer from chromatic aberration, but this is easily fixed, and some distortion however it is so slight it is barely noticeable! The depth of field is not great either, it goes from 11-16mm which is not a huge amount. The switch from auto focus and manual focus requires you pulling the ring down instead of flipping a switch which is not immediately intuitive, but it is not inconvenient by any means either... The autofocus IS a bit loud, however this is only a problem if you are taking video using the lens. Here is a list of pros and cons about the lens: PROS: Cheap but decently good quality for the price you pay, sturdy and heavy, Manual and auto focus capability, Sharp and clear, Great in low light settings thanks to the f/2.8 aperture, Nice wide view (again for the price you pay) CONS: A bit on the heavy side (not necessarily bad, but you may want a camera bag to carry it in), Suffers from chromatic aberration (but all lenses with heavy glass do, easily fixed in photo processing software), Slight distortion (emphasis on slight), Relatively noisy autofocus, Non-intuitive switch from auto to manual focus (minor, but still annoyed me when I first got it), Weak depth of field (just makes it less versatile). If you are just beginning or just need a decent wide angle lens, I would definitely recommend it. Do not trust your cameras preview screen to be accurate, put your photos on your computer first. I tried to be as unbiased as possible in my review, and I was skeptical at first, but this lens really is nice for price.

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Great wide lens. The auto focus is smooth and quiet. The manual focus while a little confusing to use at first works well and allows for easy settings to infinity. Works great for astrophotography as well as in low light.

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I have owned this lens for about a month now and have taken it on two backpacking trips. I have really enjoyed shooting with this lens - buy it when it goes on sale! (Ive been using it on my t3i) Pros: Love the ultrawide Very sharp (even wide open) Cons: Autofocus isnt very fast (I use infinity focus a lot, so this doesnt matter to me) Chromatic aberration (fix with PS) I would definitely recommend this lens. It is very fun to shoot with.

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I bought this lens for astrophotography/ landscapes. The wide angle is super nice with a bit of chromatic aberration from what I could tell. But hey, for the price. It’s unbeatable. I was skeptical about the crispness of my shots, but to my surprise they were sharp. Now I don’t consider myself a professional by any means. if I did and I was taking photos for a business, I would bite the bullet and go with the professional lens from a name brand retailer. But again I’m not a pro with a business(yet) and the price was too enticing to pass up. The only nit picky complaint I have is that the auto focus motor is a bit winey but definitely not a deal breaker. If you are looking for a fast apature, wide angle lens, this one will suit a hobbiest just fine. It’s also heavier than it looks. If you are free handing this for a long period of time, you might start to feel fatigued

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I bought this lens to round out my needs for quality glass wide angle and video on my Canon 70D. I do a own a couple of high end L Canon lenses, but only when research and high end reviews proves there really is nothing else close to the performance and price...which is less and less these days with all the fantastic 3rd party lens manufacturers who have stepped up their game., but the widest lens I owned was a 24-70mm. It just seems that fairly often I find myself needing just a bit wider than that. I read a bit about this lens before the purchase and it seems a lot of people are very happy with this lens. I never really considered Tokina. My loss! They are truly a contender, and now I own my 2nd...their 2.8 macro lens now joining my bag. Right out of the box you can tell that this is a solid piece of equipment with quality glass. It is definitely not the cheap plastic you might expect. If you need a 1.4, buy something else, but if you can work with a 2.8 for your wide angle needs as most of us can, do not pass up a serious consideration of this lens, especially if you are a crop sensor user.

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The one thing that makes this lens completely unacceptable is at f2.8 and 10mm; the chromatic aberration is WAY bad. If you stop down there is less and it isnt as bad out at the zoom end at 16, but that kinda defeats the purpose of why you would have this in your bag to begin with. Im simply not happy with it.

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This is my first non-Canon lens and it is a winner, given the focal length I am very impressed with how sharp the images are. It has a very solid build and it feels very nicely balanced on my 7DM2. I have taken photos in a number of different situations and only had one with a sun flare. Vignetting is negligible. I find the ring to adjust between Automatic and Manual focus to be a bit clunky and it will be interesting to see how it ages. When the lens is focusing it is a bit noisy but that is of no concern to me. The last comment from me is that I am really surprised at how little distortion you get in this lens, obviously at the edge of the frame things get stretched and you can get a fun-house mirror look if you try. But even at 11mm images lines stay pretty straight.

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