Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X 165 PRO DX Autofocus Lens

Comments about Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X 165 PRO DX Autofocus Lens:

This lens is very good. The reviews on other sites aren't great and I'm not sure why. It's not soft at all at f2.8, has great bokeh, focuses fast and renders beautiful colors. The build is outstanding and everything on it feels top notch.
It's the most used lens in my arsenal and I couldn't be happier with it. It's being used with a D7000 at the moment.

Comments about Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X 165 PRO DX Autofocus Lens:

I love this lens. I bought it because I couldn't justify spending 2x as much on the Nikkor 17-55. I have not been let down.

Comments about Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X 165 PRO DX Autofocus Lens:

I've had this lens for 5 months now and I'm satisfied! Fantastic Build Quality. The Pictures come out nice and crisp, AF is fast and smooth. I have the NIkon 24-70mm 2.8 and for the price of the Tokina I'd rather go with the Tokina. For me personally you get better value. Of course there is some weight to this lens but compared to the NIkon, it's almost the same just a little lighter. If it weren't for the price difference of course you gotta go with the Nikon, but for the price difference, which is 3x as much I'm not complaining.I'm one happy customer!!! Also, the Tamron 24-70mm 2.8 is a lightweight, cheaper, louder, slower version, but optics are equal. I hope this helps anybody trying to decide to to buy.

Comments about Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X 165 PRO DX Autofocus Lens:

I have taken literally thousands of shots with this lens. It feels good in your hands and handles great. Build quality is a huge reassurance that you made a good investment in a piece of gear that will last. Perhaps what always make me happy about this lens is the color and contrast (C&C). Focus, however, is not always there as one reviewer put it. My copy has started doing more hunting these days as well (could also be my aging D80). It's not always tack sharp, but C&C sometimes save the shot from disaster falling back on the dreamy look. It is disappointingly soft at it's widest. Side-by-side, my Nikon 18-55mm kit lens is head and shoulders sharper at 18mm than the Tokina at 16mm. If you want sharp wide shots, you'll have to back up a little and start at almost 20mm. Once you get to 20mm and stop down to f/4 the resolution is off the chain. Doesn't seem like my 10 megapixel sensor can see what this lens has to deliver here. This is where you get some of your money back. 16mm is great however for getting great fun snapshots of kids, putting the lens crazy close, right in middle of the action. You can take some okay macro shots with this lens too. Racked out to 50mm and focusing manually I can get as close as about 6 inches. Many reviewers here talk about the lens' build. I dropped mine from waist height and it landed on the edge of a brick walkway unbelievably hard. Landed on the barrel luckily. Sounded like I dropped a can of stewed tomatoes. I immediately mounted it to see if everything was okay. It focused and zoomed as if nothing had happened, and there are no marks on the lens from this wreck. As much as I shoot, it was bound to happen. Bokeh is a very pleasing and smooth wash of colors at large apertures. You will notice plenty of ghosts if your light source is in your shot or just outside of it. The shade is a hulk. I know it will probably help with what this lens already does well (and perhaps exercise some of the ghosts), but the chunkiness of it keeps it from fitting into any lens pouches I walk around with, taking a little of the fun out of it, so it gets left behind. I can't say I've ever been thrilled with this lens, but the fast (reasonably accurate) focus, C&C, sharpness, great bokeh, and ruggedness are where the lens shines. Every lens has it's limitations. I've learned to work around the few this lens has and I've been satisfied with the savings and knowing I got a pretty good value with this choice. Hope this helps.

Comments about Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X 165 PRO DX Autofocus Lens:

Purchased this lens as a general walk about lens for my Nikon D300.

Also considered the Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8G AF-S DX and the Sigma 18-50mm F2.8-4.5 DC OS HSM.

Seems I made the right choice. Lens is well built, AF is fast and colors are great.

Comments about Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X 165 PRO DX Autofocus Lens:

Built like a tank, tack sharp photos.

Comments about Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X 165 PRO DX Autofocus Lens:

I shoot sports and outdoor topics mostly ... very little portrait work, etc. The spots material is both indoor and outdoor and the f2.8 makes it much easier to get unblurred photos indoors, such as in a football stadium. The only complaint is the auto/manual focus switch is a bit oddball. You switch between the two by pulling or pushing the focus ring! But it doesn't seem to affect the quality at all ... very sharp and clear with undistorted edges which are more common with cheap lenses. It also will focus VERY close to a subject, great for photographing leaves, insects, etc. as macros.

Comments about Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X 165 PRO DX Autofocus Lens:

It gives a good result with Nikon D300, sharp , nice bokeh , quite fast autofocus.

Comments about Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X 165 PRO DX Autofocus Lens:

As an amateur level photographer, I'm looking to spend the least to get the most quality I can get. For a while I was happy with my Tamron 17-50 but decided to make the switch out of AF-S lenses and I couldn't be happier. Focus is comparably instant on the D90 and this lens is sharp as a tack compared to the Tamron. I'm glad I made the switch and wished I would have done so sooner.

Comments about Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X 165 PRO DX Autofocus Lens:

Its my hobby to take picture since 1993 with my old Nikon FM-2 and F-5. I bought this lenses few days ago, to be mounted on my newlyy d-300s as a replacement for my old Nikon d-50. i have indoor or outdoor trial to get me familiar with this kinda heavy (but very firm in my grip) lens. The result was sharp, natural and i suggest everyone (hobby or pro) can consider this "tank" to be part of your Nikon as well.
The more i use this lens and see the result.... the more i love it!
Value for money....... For sure

Comments about Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X 165 PRO DX Autofocus Lens:

i've had this lens for about a month now and i'm not too thrilled about it. i've paired it up with my canon xsi as well 7d and it's the same thing, the focus just seems to be out of whack. at first i thought maybe it's a bad copy but it does take shots in focus. for example if i took a picture of a tree 4 times, with the exact same settings 2 out of 4 would be in focus and the other 2 would be soft. i don't have any other recco's i've read reviews about the tamron and sigma but they go both ways. i have the tokina 11-16, which is GREAT and i'd definitely recommend it. the 16-50mm on the other hand i cannot say the same. who knows maybe it's the best out of the tamron and sigma, but if that's the case then maybe it's worth it just to save an extra $400 and go with the OEM lens.

Comments about Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X 165 PRO DX Autofocus Lens:

Pros : sharp, fast focus, excellent light for 2.8 aperture, good price vs. quality compared to similar lens in Nikon,the 50mm works great for portratis
Cons: external zoom
Best uses : general all day use, good for landscape on 16 mm and for portraits

Comments about Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X 165 PRO DX Autofocus Lens:

Seems great so far. The zoom is a little close to the body, but not uncomfortable. The autofocus is fast. A good alternative to the more expansive Nikon lens.

Comments about Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X 165 PRO DX Autofocus Lens:

I've only had the lens for a day but being able to take indoor shots with out overexposure from a flash is great.

Comments about Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X 165 PRO DX Autofocus Lens:

Bought this lens to have a pro-quality lens for landscape photography and low-light situations. Used it recently with a Nikon D-300 body on a trip to Las Vegas and Zion National Park and came away with some great shots. Auto focus was fast enough and was quiet enough. Focus was nice and sharp, even hand-held, at slow shutter speeds. In fact, on several occasions, I took bursts of photos, in hopes that one would come out well. Didn't need to. They all came out well. Used it as an all around lens during the trip and I came away impressed. It is a bit heavy, but it should be. There is a lot of glass in there. One has to be carefull at the shorter focal lengths, as there is some distortion, which is more obvious in close-ups. Colors appear to be true. I am very satisfied with my purchase.

Comments about Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X 165 PRO DX Autofocus Lens:

I was looking for a lens with an excellent price-quality.
Tokina is a very good lens ,well built, even if this results in a considerable weight of the lens.
autofocus is precise not too noisy, although
a little slow.
The color rendition is excellent throughout the aperture.
I am not a professional photographer, but since I replaced the kit lens with the tokina my photos have made a considerable leap in quality. Good for street photography and landscapes.

Comments about Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X 165 PRO DX Autofocus Lens:

I really love the mechanical quality of the Tokina lenses and I purchased this as a high qulity, higher speed general purpose lens to complement my 18-200mm Nikkor and 12-24mm Tokina lenses. As expected the mechanical quality is very good except that the lens barrer does have a little bit of play to it even at the wide-angle end and there were what appeared to be some minor barely visible scratch marks on some internal lens elements. Optically, the lens was outstanding at all focal lengths when stopped down to f4.0 or f5.6. The bokeh was very pleasing at all apertures. Focus on my D200 was accurate and fast. Noise was not a problem. Wide open, the images were somewhat soft especially at the 16mm and 24mm settings but a little extra contast and sharpening in post-processing largely fixed this issue. I ended up returning this lens to replace it with the same item due to aforementioned lens element scratches and more importantly, the images were softer on the right edge when shooting at the more wide-angle settings. I am now anxiously awaiting the replacement lens.

Comments about Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X 165 PRO DX Autofocus Lens:

Good lens for its use, feels good to use, rugged. Very good that it takes 77 filters, so i can have one special effects filter to share between my other lenses. Very good manual focus ring, though the zoom ring could be a bit more distant from the body, and a little wider. The contrast is ok, not so good that some nikons.

Comments about Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X 165 PRO DX Autofocus Lens:

I found this lens to be very interesting, solid and incredible build, very beautiful esthetically. As far as quality its very good. havent time to test it so well thought.

Its a good lens for walkaround, bokeh uses and wide playing.

Comments about Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 AT-X 165 PRO DX Autofocus Lens:

I use this lens in my custom sports poster business. It's great for portraits and gives me the versatility to capture wide angle shots. The 2.8 creates a nice boca for those close-ups.