Anyone compared Nex-6 w/16mm+UWA and w/Tokina 11-16mm?

Started Jun 10, 2013 | Discussions thread
Forum MemberPosts: 63
Re: Anyone compared Nex-6 w/16mm+UWA and w/Tokina 11-16mm?
In reply to tbone45, Jun 14, 2013

I have the Tokina 12-24mm and I know the 11-16mm has both a bigger aperture, and slightly better performance.

There's no denying the 16mm is ultra-portable and I keep it as a backup lens when I go to work everyday. My daily lens is either the Minolta MD 24/2.8 or the Konica Hexanon AR 35/2 - so the 16mm is there should I need to suddenly whip out an ultra-wide.

However, if I know the weather will be good for shooting, or I have a project in mind, or if I go on a hike, I will ALWAYS take the Tokina. For cityscapes, landscapes or tripod-assisted long-exposures the extra across-the-frame sharpness and lesser distortion on the Tokina is invaluable.

If ultra-wide is your thing, if you rarely need to take other lenses, and if convenience isn't such a big issue I'd stick with the Tokina. If you use other lenses and really value portability the 16mm is a useful lens - but you will sometimes have a nagging feeling you would have done better with the Tokina especially when you get a great shot. This is especially so with the 11-16/2.8 since it's sharp even at 2.8. I'm rarely happy with the 16mm until after F5.6 - at least with my sample. What's more with the Tokina, I've always got that much more room to crop (due to extra detail) and the edges are also much sharper.

So really it's down to you - what's normally in your camera bag, what you shoot and your performance requirements.

If you adapt the 11-16mm to NEX using Nikon mount, you might want to take a look at my thread here . Most adapters for Nikon-G lenses don't have the F-numbers, I had to make my own scale. What I found strange was that my Tokina had a slightly higher light transmission compared with the 16mm at F/4.

I've also posted some shots from the 16mm where I've tried to give it a good go . I'm sure you can find a lot of other posts using the same lens. Do take note that all of the 16mm shots were without tripod, which may have affected the sharpness of some of the shots - but I do see significant differences between the lenses on a 21" monitor - without pixel peeping. Some people have suggested using the UWA adapter - although very good, reviews do show the weak edges on the 16mm are still visible.

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