Tokina 12-24mm lens tested

The Tokina AT-X Pro SD 12-24mm F4 (IF) DX is a lens that could easily be overlooked by buyers considering a wideangle zoom, simply because of its more limited angle of view compared to most similar lenses on the market. But perhaps because of its more modest aspirations, it comprehensively outperforms the other third party APS-C wideangle zooms we’ve tested recently, i.e. the Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC HSM and the Tamron 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 Di-II. It’s simply a much sharper lens, especially wide open, delivering consistently good results at almost all settings; it also scores well with respect to its distortion and falloff characteristics. These characteristics, coupled with the constant F4 maximum aperture, makes it much better suited to shooting interiors or in low light than similar lenses (with the exception of Tokina’s own 11-16mm F2.8), adding to its overall versatility. This from an extremely solid, well-built lens which feels like it would shrug off knocks capable of breaking less rugged designs, and which also has excellent operational characteristics; the zoom and focus rings are impressively smooth, and the focus clutch system is one of the better-implemented of its kind.

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Just Posted: Nikon AF-S DX 35mm F1.8 review

dpreview.com has released its review of the AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm F1.8 G. Nikon caught everyone a little off-guard with the introduction of exactly the sort of cheap, fast standard prime lens for APS-C that most people had given up asking for. We’ve subjected it to our extensive tests to see whether it deserves a place in every Nikon-owning enthusiast’s bag or if the attraction ends at the price tag.

The AF-S Nikkor 35mm F1.8G DX is a lens which certainly caused a degree of dismay on its release, with many Nikon fans disappointed by the decision to make it compatible with the DX format only. However the main benefit of that decision is plain for all to see - even at its introductory price the lens costs rather less than the venerable AF-Nikkor 35mm F2.0D, despite the addition of an AF-S motor to allow autofocusing on Nikon’s entry-level D40 / D40X / D60 bodies. It’s also less than half the price of the few other DX format standard primes currently on the market (such as the Pentax 35mm F2.8 Macro, Tokina 35mm F2.8 Macro and Sigma 30mm F1.4 EX DC HSM), so Nikon has managed with this lens to produce the first genuinely inexpensive (sub-$200) fast standard prime designed specifically for digital SLRs.

Within this context, the lens’s performance is very impressive. It produces finely detailed images at all apertures (although with somewhat low contrast wide open), focuses quickly and accurately, and handles well in a small, light package. In particular, it’s much sharper than typical DX standard zooms such as the Nikon AF-S 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 DX VR or Nikon AF-S 18-200mm F3.5-5.6 DX VR. The fast maximum aperture allows pictures to be taken hand-held in low light levels, while maintaining relatively fast shutter speeds to avoid blur from subject motion (a key advantage over image-stabilised, but slow, kit zooms when photographing people without flash indoors). The slightly less tangible aspects of image quality - such as resistance to flare, and the rendition of out-of-focus regions of the frame - are also dealt with nicely.

If the lens has one major flaw, it is a certain propensity to show chromatic aberration, of both the lateral kind (which can be corrected by the in-camera JPEG processing of the D90 and D300), and the longitudinal (which cannot). To be fair the latter is a pretty well unavoidable with a fast prime, but the 35mm F1.8G DX suffers from it to a rather high degree, and in particular can give some unpleasant purple fringing effects if you’re not careful.

Overall, though, it seems almost churlish to complain about these flaws in a lens so inexpensive, which gives otherwise such fine results. It’s good to see Nikon finally addressing the lack of purpose-designed, inexpensive fast primes for DX format DSLRs, and we hope they - and other companies - continue with this trend. As it is the 35mm F1.8G DX is, for its winning combination of high image quality, large maximum aperture and low price, a lens which deserves to be on many a Nikon shooter’s shopping list.

source[dpreview]