Sharp, well-built and an absolute bargain
I decided to buy this lens after reading a review of the Mark II version in a magazine, where the Tokina won out over Nikon, Tamron and Sigma competitors. I did a bit of searching and found out that the only real differences between the Mk I and the Mk II are extra optical coatings on the II. For the money I saved getting the earlier one, I can do without those anyway.
First things first, as with any Tokina lens, is just how solid the thing is. It's just so weighty and substantial, and it feels so... expensive! The materials are excellent quality and it feels far more satisfyingly robust and tight than any other ultra-wide I've tried.
Secondly, the zoom and focus rings are pleasingly 'mechanical', by which I mean that you can feel metal moving against metal as you turn the focus ring, and feel the mechanical resistance directly through the zoom ring, like you can when you're shifting gear on an old Mazda Eunos Roadster. Wonderful!
The push/pull AF/MF mechanism won't be to all tastes, and to be honest I still haven't made my mind up about it. Part of me likes the simple switch on my Canon 24-105mm f/4L, but the clunky action kind of fits the rest of the lens: chunky, heavy, solid and industrial. Brunel himself would have loved this lens.
Enough about the handling. Let's talk image quality. Ultra-wide zooms often prove a bit useless at their widest, which kinds of defeats the object, but this one really does perform. It's sharp right across the frame at 12mm; impressively so, and it holds onto that sharpness right up to about 18mm or so, before it tails off slightly towards 24mm. At any rate, if I had a decent lens starting at 17mm, say the Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 IS, then I'd use that for beyond 17mm. Still, I have to re-emphasise the AT-X 124's excellent optical peformance below that. Colours are rendered well, and contrast is very good. There is a little chromatic aberration, but nothing major. The only substantial mark against it below 18mm or so is that it can be very eager to produce pronounced starburst effects when shooting directly at light sources. Sometimes I don't want them, but they tend to appear quite strongly as many-rayed bursts of light even at around f/13 or f/14. It's great for when you do want them, though!
The Mk I comes with lens hood BH-777, the inner surface of which is covered with a velvety black material, making a classy and upmarket touch. It really is an absolute pleasure to use this lens. You do notice the 2mm loss next to, say, the Canon EF-S 10-22mm, but you'll pay about 60-70% more for one of those, and I for one would question whether it was really worth it. I paid £270 for this, and it's an absolute bargain for the product I've come away with. I've been very impressed all told, and I can't see myself selling it.
It's not quite perfect, but it's not that far off, and for the price I'd say it was extremely difficult to better.Read full review
