Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 on full frame: a visit to the Alhambra with a 5D2

Samuel H

Samuel H

Major Contributor
For a night visit to the Alhambra (one of the most beautiful places in the world; it happens to be in my home town of Granada, Spain), I decided to take stills instead of shooting video. First time I do this in maybe 3 years!


And it was the perfect excuse to test the Tokina 11-16mm on a full frame body (in this case, a borrowed 5D Mark II).


I'm very happy with the results. It would not be easy to find a 16mm prime with this image quality for a similar price. The closest one would be the Samyang 14mm, but for architecture the relative lack of distortion makes the Tokina a better choice, I think.


See the pretty pictures here:
http://www.similaar.com/foto/alhambra/alhambra.html

And some chart tests here, if that's what you prefer, you weirdo:
http://www.similaar.com/foto/lenstestsff/lenstestsa.html

For those too lazy to click, this is the best picture I took:
IMG_5822.JPG
 
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beautiful! :thumbsup:

i am spoiled by some of canon's tilt-shift wide angle primes, but, clearly, the tokina holds it's own. lenses aside, it truly looks like a wondrous location.
 
Nice pics Samuel! Stills are really fun to take! What other EF lenses do you primarily use?

I've heard some mixed things about the 11-16 - that there's two builds or two versions and one is definitely better than the other. True?
 
* Thanks y'all!
* Yes, it is an awesome place indeed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra
* There are two versions of the Tokina, but AFAIK they're basically the same: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?305916-Tokina-11-16mm-I-vs-11-16mm-II
* My lenses are all vintage Leitz from the 60s and 70s, this Tokina is borrowed, like the camera. The lens kit for this 5D2 is: samyang 8mm fisheye (shaved), tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, canon 24mm f/2.8, canon 40mm f/2.8 (great lens, but useless for video), canon 50mm f/1.4, canon 70-200 f/4L IS
 
Samuel, the Tokina looks really great.
For me the revelation lens has been the Canon EF 15mm f2.8. I never thought I would use a fisheye lens that much!
Basically for stills (which turn out amazing after defishing with the Hemi software that keeps people in their real shape and doesn't soften corners), but also for video in some occasions.
It is also an underrated lens.
 
Thanks!
Re: I and II: Look at the link I posted: nobody seems to know for sure, which, to me, means that if there's a difference it's a very small difference (probably, less than the usual copy-to-copy variation)
 
Thank you, good news, look forward to get one. Amazing that it does not vignette at 16mm on a full frame, I also have Sigma 10-20 F3.5 curious to test it as well on a full frame camera!
 
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apparently it does, only at 16mm, with no vignetting! Does the autofocus work normally on 5dmk3 body, for example?
 
payal_choksi said:
does this lens work on full frame? i saw at bhphoto and all the tokina 11-16 lens are for apsc bodies only.
Click to expand...

Yes, it works. With a hard vignette in the 11-14mm range, but very nicely as a 16mm f/2.8 prime.

At least in Canon. It may be different in modern Nikon bodies: the lens tells the body it is DX, and the camera switches to crop mode. I don't know if that behavior can be turned off.
 
I think not, since the 5D3 doesn't have a crop mode AFAIK. Only some Nikons. But I haven't tested that one, so I'm not sure.
 
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