Well Done, Tokina!

Like many folks, I was a bit shocked at the price of Nikon's 12-24mm lens. I was willing to pay it, but not if Tokina's version was close, better or equal! My shots were handheld, but just about every shot from the Tokina was sharper, especially at the edges at 12mm. At 24mm, the Tokina seemed to widen the gap. I was really saddened by the Nikon's performance, but the saved 500 bucks was certainly nothing to be sad about!
As to build quality? Forget it. Nikon took the day off on this lens. It feels rather cheap, nothing close to what it's price would indicate. I'm shocked that Nikon made such a plasticy item at close to a 1000 dollars. The Tokina was better in every respect, except I felt the zoom was too stiff.
How about AF? The Nikon focused faster, but frankly the Tokina was focusing FAST as well. A difference that made no difference.
How about CA? I saw little or none from either lens. On the way home I shot some branches and saw very little CA until I cropped past 200%. I'm impressed, but after reviewing my samples I did determine that the Nikon had a bit less CA at the edges.
No, I'm not going to post samples, because they were handheld and there are too many. There have been plenty of samples leaning this way and that already. If there's any logic on this at all consider this: These lenses are pretty close in REAL WORLD use. You don't do much cropping of 12mm shots, unless you didn't take care to compose correctly. In experienced hands either lens will return pro level results, BUT, the Tokina does it better, as good, or just a bit worse...for half the price. I wanted another Nikon logo on the shelf, but I feel that the 12-24 was simply outclassed by the Tokina. In tripod based tests a few days later I found the Tokina sharper than the 18-70mm Nikon Kit lens at 18-24mm at F4 and F8.
I'm keeping mine. Many thanks to the folks at Tristate Photo in NY who let me shoot away with both, then gave me a nice price of 478.00 on the Tokina.


Robert B
NY
D70, 28-200G, 18-70mm, 70-200 VR, 50mm 1.8, Tokina 12-24, SB800.