Today is Thanksgiving day here in the states, and this morning I went out for a walk in the fog with my Nikon 35mm f/2 AI mounted on my D700 for some photos of fog and came up with something random and minor to be thankful for. This Thanksgiving I’m thankful for lenses with aperture rings. As I came across this spiderweb and reversed the 35mm, the fact that it had an aperture ring meant that I could control aperture easily while reversed. Something I would have missed on a newer Nikon G lens, E lens, or Canon lens. A 35mm lens, by the way, gives 1.4x magnification when reversed.
Spiderweb — D700, Nikon 35mm f/2 AI, 1/200s ISO400
I had some success with the lens mounted normally, too. Fog makes for some wonderful atmosphere.
D700, Nikon 35mm f/2 AI, 1/500s ISO200 @f/8
D700, Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/4, PN-11, 1/250s ISO1250 @f/4
This last one was taken of my parents’ garden using the Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/4.
This review is a work in progress and will be updated
Overall: 3.5 out of 5
Optics: 4
Price: ~$600 USD
Value at $600 USD: 4.5
Competing with Nikon’s 10–24mm f/3.3–4.5 and 12-24mm f/4, Tokina has no problems holding its own.
Tokina 11–16mm f/2.8
Assorted Information
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Max Aperture
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f/2.8
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Min Aperture
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f/22
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Aperture Blades
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9
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Close Focus
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.3m/1ft
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Filter Thread
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77mm
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Hard Infinity Stop?
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No
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Built in Hood?
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No (included)
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D200, ISO100 @f/9
Image Quality
Image quality is good with a couple caveats. The lens is sharpest at f/5.6, good in the center overall, and decent in the corners. However, shooting towards the sun (and with a lens this wide you’re bound be pointing at the sun) will cause significant flares, and chromatic aberration is pretty significant, as well.
D200, ISO100 @f/8
Operation
Build quality is good, but the lens is a bit large and has a small focal range. It’s not that far off from being a prime.
My favorite part about the lens is the focus ring. You can’t just grab the ring at any time and start focusing like on AF-S Nikkors, but the ring itself pulls back to switch from autofocus (it’s the screw-type focusing which doesn’t work on the D40, D40x, D60, D3000, D5000) to manual focus. This is much easier to manage than the little switches Nikon puts on their lenses. The ring though does feel a bit cheap compared to the rest of the lens.
The Tokina is just as competent on full frame cameras as on DX, you just have to limit yourself to 15–16mm.
D700, ISO200 @f/8
Final Word
The ultra-wide perspective is an interesting one that I don’t shoot very often. This Tokina is not only an excellent value, but faster than Nikon’s DX offerings. If you’re looking to get into ultra-wide photography on a Nikon DX camera that can do screw-type focusing, I recommend this lens without reservation.
More Photos with this Lens
All photos on DX crop unless otherwise noted.
D200, ISO100 @f/8
D200, ISO560 @f/2.8
D200, ISO560 @f/2.8
D200, ISO560 @f/2.8
6.0s @f/8
D200, ISO100 @f/8
I later posted a better version of this shot, along with a tutorial for the post processing here.
I’m just putting up one shot tonight. There are several more from the day, but the rest will have to wait for my review of the Tokina 11–16mm f/2.8 (Nikon F-mount version, of course). Ultra-wide isn’t so much my thing, but I tend to prefer them portrait-oriented.
Sunset — Nikon D700, ISO200 @f/8
This lens is made for a DX crop on both Canon and Nikon, but it works perfectly competently on full frame from about 15–16mm. It’s no Nikon 14–24mm f/2.8, but it doesn’t cost nearly so much, either.
The annual butterfly exhibit is back at the American Museum of Natural History. Last time around I used my Nikkor-S 50mm f/1.4 non-ai and got this gem.
Thanks to having a D700, I was able to bring my Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/4 AIS today which I wasn’t able to do before. The lens is slow for the butterfly exhibit’s lighting, and older cameras’ high ISO performance wasn’t good enough without flash.
ISO 2000 @f/8
ISO 1250 @f/4
ISO 640 @f/4
I had a great time spending my Saturday night this past weekend shooting the celebration of Khalila’s 16th birthday. It was a huge festivity compared to any sweet 16 party i went to as a teenager, and I hope she enjoyed it as much as everyone else did! I had wanted to spend much of yesterday editing the selection of photos, but only got through a small amount as I was so tired.
The Girl of the Evening
The lighting through most of the night was rather difficult. I spent much more time with my 50mm f/1.4 than I had expected, and my Fong was indispensable. All the photos here (except the one marked otherwise) were taken at f/1.4 on the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D
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The Court
A Proud Father's Speech Nikon 80–200mm f/2.8 AF-D
Candle Ceremony
With the candle ceremony, and some of the earlier events, I did get a chance to shoot with available light only as I normally prefer. The candles added a nice warm glow to everyone’s faces.
Hula Hoop
All content © Tai Shimizu unless otherwise indicated.
