Tokina's original 11-16mm lens has been one of its most popular selling lenses for years offering up something a lot of companies couldn't: a fast and sharp ultra-wide angle lens at an affordable price. Is this new version going to continue the trend and be a successful upgrade for Tokina?
Tokina's ATX-i 11-16 f/2.8 CF is an attempt to improve upon the previous lens' user experience while providing improved image quality and edge-to-edge sharpness. The optical design consists of 13 elements in 11 groups, 2 aspherical lenses one a “large aspherical P-MO element” and includes 2 all-glass molded Low-Dispersion (SD) elements.
The ATX-i 11-16 f/2.8 CF continues a popular trend by third party lens manufactures in the last few years to make a more modern and appealing looking lens exterior. Additionally, there is a new "One-Touch Focus Clutch Mechanism" that Tokina claims will make switching between AF and Manual mode easier. From the description, it sounds as if the focus ring slides back towards the camera to put it into manual mode.
Sample images provided by Tokina.
Although the lens looks considerably better than the older version it will be interesting to see how it compares to not only the original but also the newer Tokina AT-X 11-20mm f/2.8 PRO. At first glance, it is not clear just how much of an internal upgrade the new lens is especially compared to the 11-20mm. I really liked my original copy of the 11-16mm and could see myself picking up the newer version if it does have improved sharpness and image quality.
Pre-orders are available now, priced at $449 and worldwide sales will begin on November 8th. With Photo Plus Expo coming up next week, I'll be looking to see if they have samples on hand. I've been looking for a new ultra-wide angle lens that is small and compact but affordable to go with my 7D mark II when hiking.
I had gotten the previous 11-16 Tokina December 1st. I shot a few videos with that lens. I found the focus to be very slow. It was frustrating because i shot a model doing different poses for our book. I had the camera set to the side and the lens could not keep track of her movements. The camera was possibly about 10 feet away. Today January 28th i went to exchange the lens to see if there was a difference. There is a huge difference in speed of the focusing. I was able to walk down the street and capture the streets of NYC. I highly recommend the newer Tokina 11-16 lens. I hope this was helpful. This photo was taken while i was walking past this dog. The dog was barking at everything.