Elsiss Loc: Bayside, NY, Boynton Beach, Fl.

Thinking about getting this lens. Good reviews out there. What thou sayeth?

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Ken Rockwell loves it - http://www.kenrockwell.com/tokina/12-28mm.htm - so do I - but I do not own it .......

kibbles304 Loc: Indiana

I own it and it does very well on the Nikon D500. However, I did get the nikon 17-55mm and have not taken that lens off the the camera! Just a thought.

CO

I looked into the Tokina ultrawide zoom lenses earlier this year. LensTip.com does extensive lens testing. Almost all of the Tokina ultrawide zooms suffered from bad ghosting and flare. The 12-28mm f/4 is one of those. I purchased the Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di II VC HLD lens. It has very well controlled flare and ghosting. Its HLD (High/Low torque modulated drive) focusing motor is very accurate. It's also fully weather sealed and has vibration compensation.

Here is a link to the ghosting and flare testing of the 12-28mm lens.

https://www.lenstip.com/381.9-Lens_review-Tokina_AT-X_PRO_DX_12-28_mm_f_4_Ghosting_and_flares.html

User ID

It’s a great range. I use the Nikkor and Canon 10-24 (on Sonys), but regardless of brand of lens, the images from that FL range are remarkable. Whichever version proves to be your best buy, you’ll have a fascinating new tool in your bag.

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

I just ordered the tokina 11-16 f2.8 nikon mount on ebay used for $280. I saw a video shot with the lens and was quite impressed. Maybe another option to consider.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

What is your intended use for this lens? I ask because when I was looking for my extreme wide angle, I found a disproportionate number of them for sale on a wide variety of sites It appears that a lot of folks think that they need one until they find out that they don't. Make sure you have a plan before you buy. Extreme wide angle photography is almost a different animal, raising all kinds of new little nagging challenges that require some study and practice to learn to deal with. Once conquered, though, they are challenging, fun, and rewarding to use.

I ask your intended use, because if it is night sky photography, the f/4 max aperture is likely to be be fairly limiting. f/2.8 lenses (at least) are considered to be the benchmark for that genre. An f/4 lens can be made to work, but the loss of that stop of sensitivity will make post processing more difficult. Depending on which Nikon camera you have, it could be the difference between very nice and marginal results.

Beyond these general comments, the only other thing I would caution is to pay attention to the level of distortion in the edges and corners. Stitched panoramas are a natural application and extension of extreme wide angle lens, and too much corner distortion can impact the ability to assemble panoramas.