Comparison: Tamron 10-24 vs Tokina 12-24 f/4


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ZerocoolAstra

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Mar 13, 2008
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I'm searching for an UWA lens and was elated when the Tamron 10-24 came out. That was my main target until I started reading reviews that the lens was pretty soft wide open.
Although I'd likely be using it to take landscapes at around f/8 (its sweet spot), I'm still concerned nonetheless.

The Tokina 12-24 seems to garner better reviews, although it ain't perfect as well. It seems like a more solid lens though. Not sure about its pricing. I know the Tamron is about 820-850 incl GST.

Anyone who has used either or both care to share some comments? I read through nightwolf75's review of the Tammy, and his photos look quite impressive, hence my dilemma. If the Tokina is at around the same pricing as the Tamron, I'm tempted to sway that way.
I know that there's a 11-16 f/2.8 Tokina, but that seems overkill for me. Don't need such a fast lens.
 

Tokina

Resolution
Sharpness results are very good indeed, especially for an ultrawide zoom. The lens is generally very sharp wide open, improving slightly on stopping down, with F5.6 - F8 the optimum apertures. The only glitch is at 24mm, where sharpness is compromised at F4 and F5.6; in our tests this appears to be due at least partially to a decentering of the zoom group as it reaches the end of its travel. Extreme corners are a little soft at the widest focal lengths, but this is unlikely to be problematic in real-world use. As usual on APS-C, apertures smaller than F16 are best avoided.

Falloff
We consider falloff to start becoming perceptible when the corner illumination falls to more than 1 stop below the center. The 12-24mm shows only modest falloff (1.3 stops) at 12mm F4, which disappears on stopping down to F5.6. Nothing to worry about here.


Tamron

Resolution
Sharpness is generally poor wide open, and examination of the checkerboard crops shows low contrast due to halation effects (quite possibly a result of the slight decentering mentioned above). The lens improves dramatically on stopping down; central sharpness is extremely high at 10mm, but diminishes progressively at longer focal lengths; however the extreme corners remain soft at all settings. As expected for this type of lens, best results are obtained at F5.6-F11, with the optimum aperture being F8.

Falloff
We consider falloff to start becoming a potential problem when the corner illumination falls to more than 1 stop below the center. The 10-24mm shows about 2 stops wide open at wideangle (with a slightly asymmetric pattern), but this decreases rapidly on stopping down, settling at 1.3 stops at F8 and smaller apertures. This will rarely be noticeable in real-world use, and usually swamped by natural lighting variations across such a wide field of view. At 13mm and longer, falloff is essentially a non-issue at any aperture
 

Dpreview has reviews on Tokina 12-24 and Tamron 10-24. You can look at the Comparison Chart for Sharpness, Distortion and Falloff. The conclusion is Tokina 12-24 "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"
 

Dpreview has reviews on Tokina 12-24 and Tamron 10-24. You can look at the Comparison Chart for Sharpness, Distortion and Falloff. The conclusion is Tokina 12-24 "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"

yup... :) the conclusion from dpreview is what is swaying me towards the Tokina.
But nightwolf75's "real-world" test of the Tamron (including images) seems pretty convincing too.

At the moment I've been quoted $820 (Tamron) and $855 (Tokina) from MSColour, so the Tamron is cheaper and wider by 2mm, which is not insignificant.

Was hoping for some shared experiences from other CSers who have used either lens.
 

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