Do you remember your first favorite lens? It probably wasn’t the kit lens that came with your camera. It was, most likely, either your first portrait prime, or your first landscape wide-angle zoom, or whatever lens allowed you to truly fall in love with your favorite genre of photography.
Milky Way setting over Mt Whitney Switchbacks illuminated by headlamp, 2014
Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 DX, Nikon D5300 | Click here for our in-depth Milky Way workshop!
Havasu Falls Star Trail | Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 DX, Nikon D5300
Click here to learn about how to capture a star trail photo like this!
For me, and probably many other landscape and nightscape photographers who first got into digital photography 10-15 years ago, that first lens was the legendary Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 DX.
It was sharp as a tack, and unlike both the Canon and Nikon name-brand competition, it offered a constant f/2.8 aperture. In fact, the Tokina stood alone among APS-C lenses as the only f/2.8 ultra-wide zoom available, until Tokina themselves released the bigger, wider-range 11-20mm f/2.8 DX. (Click here to read our review of that lens!)
Well, Tokina has now announced their newest APS-C f/2.8 ultra-wide zoom, the 11-16mm f/2.8 ATX-i CF.
It will be available (shipping) starting on November 8th, and will cost a mere $449. That’s a pretty incredible price for such a good optic; despite the age of the optical formula itself, everything else about the lens seems to be extremely modern, from the new design to the glass coatings.
Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 atx-i CF Press Release
The Tokina atx-i 11-16mm F2.8 CF is re-designed for an improved user experience and better image quality. The constant F2.8 aperture lens provides excellent edge-to-edge sharpness and resolution. Reduces flare and ghosting, while maintaining excellent contrast and color. A new waterproof top coat also makes it easier to clean.
Great for Gimbal Work Too!
Popular among cinematographers too, because the lens provides a wide cinematic feel, minimized breathing, no edge distortion while panning, and the overall weight and internal focus design makes it an ideal choice for gimbal work.
Advanced Optical Design
The new Tokina atx-i 11-16mm F2.8 CF incorporates a complex optical design, with 13 elements in 11 groups. Using 2 aspherical lenses including a large aspherical P-MO element and 2 all-glass molded Low-Dispersion (SD) elements, the lens effectively suppresses chromatic and spherical aberrations. The front element provides super-low distortion and low light fall-off for straight lines and minimal exposure vignetting. Perfect for architectural, landscape, astrophotographers, and cinematographers.
One-touch Focus Clutch
The One-Touch Focus Clutch Mechanism makes switching from AF to manual focus (MF) simple. While in AF mode the user only needs to snap the focus ring back toward the camera to engage “real” manual focus control. This gives photographers an authentic tactile MF feel with hard stops on either side of the focus range like traditional manual lenses. Additionally, the directional rotation of the focus ring matches the direction of proprietary Nikon and Canon lenses.
Focus Ring Rotation
The directional rotation of the focus ring matches the proprietary direction of Nikon and Canon lenses.
Package components:
Lens body, BH-77B Petal-type Lens hood, front cap, rear cap, multi-language manual, 3-year USA warranty card.
FOCAL LENGTH: 11-16MM
APERTURE RANGE: 2.8-22
OPTICAL CONSTRUCTION: 13 Elements / 11 Groups
ANGLE OF VIEW: 104 – 82°
FILTER SIZE: 77mm
WEIGHT: 1.2 lbs
MINIMUM FOCUS DISTANCE: 11.8 IN
APERTURE BLADES: 9
MAGNIFICATION: 1:11.6
FOCUSING TYPE: AF
DIMENSIONS: 84 X 91.7mm (Canon) / 89.2mm (Nikon)
US WARRANTY: EXCLUSIVE 3-YEAR USA WARRANTY
LENS HOOD: BH-77B
If you don’t have a wide-angle zoom for your Canon or Nikon DSLR yet, this one is going to be hard to pass up!
