Tokina 16-28 f2.8: Your views about this lens

payal_choksi

Well-known member
Hello Friends,

i have been looking for a uwa lens for quite some time now. Thought of going for 17-40 f4 as the 16-35 is out of my budget. But somehow, i find 17-40 at the wide doesn't give the feel of wide angle even though it is only 1 mm less from the 16-35.

I came across tokina 16-28 and read good reviews about it. At the 16mm wide, it feels and looks wide. Barring the flare issue that this lens possess, it seems to be good choice.

i wanted to know the first hand views of anyone who has used this lens.

i would be using it with my 5d mark III.

kindly drop in your views,

regards,

:thumbsup:
 
Not a very popular lens, not sure why (probably because it doesn't take filters). I tried to start a similar thread here, didn't get even one reply.
 
from the reviews, i find only one flaw with this lens and that is it's weird lens flare besides being heavy. its also claimed to be sharp. I am planning to buy. Hope someone gives his/her views about this lens here.
 
I'm still on APSC, so I use the Tokina 11-16mm. It's a top notch lens, but it would only work as a 16mm prime for you on full frame. I'd imagine other Tokina lenses are great as well, but I can't really comment.
 
I have one, and happy with the results. Good contrast and very sharp lens. It will not cover a full frame sensor like the one found on the 5d MK III. It's designed for APS-C size sensor. It's the equivalent of a +- 16-24mm (full frame). For a 5d the closest thing may be a 16-35mm Canon (which is more expensive...).

L.
 
novoluc, I think you may be confusing this lens with the 11-16? The 16-28 is indeed a full frame lens and thus will work fine on the 5DMKIII.

I have one also, haven't used it that much but was quite satisfied when I did use it (and haven't experienced the flare issue described above, but I generally used it with a matte box so perhaps that helped).
 
FWIW the Tokina 11-16mm will cover a full frame sensor at 15mm & 16mm, which is still pretty wide on a full frame camera.

thanks david for the info. but i would rather get tokina 16-28 since it will cover a wider range from 16 to 28. getting 11-16 and only use 15-16mm would limit it's use.
 
thanks david for the info. but i would rather get tokina 16-28 since it will cover a wider range from 16 to 28. getting 11-16 and only use 15-16mm would limit it's use.

Yes, if you are only ever going to use full frame cameras.

I shoot with multiple size sensor cameras, so this lens is very handy.
 
That's the thing with the 11-16: if you already have a set of full frame lenses that covers 24-180mm, as is my case, adding the 11-16 I can get 16mm on FF, and 11 and 16mm on APS-C, which means in both systems I can go as wide as I will ever want to go (that is: I don't need a 11mm for FF but I may need it for APS-C, and I already have a 24mm and a 35mm that cover FF).
 
If you're really agonizing about a lens, see if LensRentals carries it and rent for a weekend. Really the only way to know if it works for you. Try to rent for a gig so it's paid for and you can test it real-world (just make sure you have a backup if it sucks!)

I rented one of the Tokina F4 wide zooms for a music vid, it was for outdoor steadicam only... very happy with it but the F4 made me rething buying.
 
If you're really agonizing about a lens, see if LensRentals carries it and rent for a weekend. Really the only way to know if it works for you. Try to rent for a gig so it's paid for and you can test it real-world (just make sure you have a backup if it sucks!)

I rented one of the Tokina F4 wide zooms for a music vid, it was for outdoor steadicam only... very happy with it but the F4 made me rething buying.

Why did the f/4 make you reconsider it? Did you need f/2.8 for some reason?

I also want an UWA zoom for flying shots. I considered the 16-28mm which seems very sharp and wide. But the Canon 16-35mm f/4 IS might stabilize the image better. It's twice the price and one stop slower, but has a few other advantages over the Tokina.

I might just get the EF-S 10-18mm for my crop camera, but that lens is really slow at f/5.6. At least you don't need to worry much about keeping your subject in focus!
 
From my experience it's a really nice lens. It's pretty sharp wide open, I had a chance to compare it on Nikon systems to the Nikkor 16-35 f/4, and was much better in terms of sharpness, distortion and general image quality (even at f/2.8 compared to Nikons f/4).
 
From my experience it's a really nice lens. It's pretty sharp wide open, I had a chance to compare it on Nikon systems to the Nikkor 16-35 f/4, and was much better in terms of sharpness, distortion and general image quality (even at f/2.8 compared to Nikons f/4).
Nice. And thanks for posting.
 
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