The all-new AT-X 124 AF PRO DX lens is Tokina’s first lens designed for use exclusively on Canon and Nikon Digital SLR cameras having an APS-C sized sensor.
This lens gives the Digital Photographer an ultra wide-angle zoom lens that has the equivalent of an 18-36mm zoom range on a 35mm film camera while maintaining a bright constant aperture of f/4.
Professional Features:
Non-rotating 77mm filter threads mean special effect filters will not change when the lens’ focus is changed. Tokina recommends using HOYA PRO 1 Series low profile filters with the AT-X 124 PRO DX.
Fast Internal Focusing with Tokina’s One-Touch focus clutch mechanism allows the lens to AF focus faster and switching between auto and manual focus is as easy as snapping the focus ring back and forth.
2 sharp-cut aspherical elements accurately correct aspherical Aberration usually associated with ultra-wide angle lenses.
Bright, constant f/4 aperture allows plenty of light to enter the camera for shooting in a wide variety of photographic situations.
Chrome plated brass mount plate and all-metal zoom unit can stand up to regular use while advanced polycarbonate outer lens barrels reduce the weight of the lens, making it a pleasure to carry.
Built like a tank, but AF?, Sunday, 16 November 2008
Overall rating (weighted)
3.8
Sharpness
3.0
Build Quality
4.0
AF Speed
3.0
Value for Money
5.0
I'm an enthusiast, not a pro. I have a D40 which is the first thing I would grab if my house were on fire to carry out with me. I wanted to expand my lenses beyond the kit lens and the 55-200 telephoto I bought. I wanted something that was wide angle and could be used close-up for better portraits. The Nikkor 12-24 was appealing but this lense was half the cost and the reviews were compelling. I can't comment on all the techno-stuff about color shifting and correcting for this or that. The lense is extremely well-made; I've used a couple of third party lenses a photographer friend lent me and I could notice the difference when I compared the pictures they took to Nikkor lenses. I must say I am very impressed with Tokina. The lense is a Bit heavy though, and bulky. So good construction means heft, but the bulk is no biggie because I bought the lens to keep around the house, not to lug around with me to the zoo. It DOES expand the frame in tight quarters, so it's a great lens to put on for indoor shots at birthday parties and the like when you want to get everyone in the shot, even old Aunt Edna munching on her dentures in the corner. D40 owners, you will NOT be able to use the built in flash with this lens- it's too big and will obscure the flash- you have to use an external flash with it. The second thing- this is supposed to be an autofocus lens, but at least with my D40 you have to focus manually. The lens will take good pictures in low light, but focusing it in low light isn't exactly easy unless you are doing a close-up and you can focus it to infinity. I'm not sure why this is the deal, but it's good to know. Still, bottom line is, this is a very well-made lens, takes great pictures and is great for indoor photography when you want a wider frame. I'm told it's good for landscape photographs too for that reason but I'm not so much into that. Good luck!
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The only NON-nikkor lens I own, Monday, 07 July 2008
Overall rating (weighted)
4.3
Sharpness
4.0
Build Quality
4.0
AF Speed
5.0
Value for Money
4.0
Side by side it is equally as good as the Nikkor 12-24. Unfortunately, the Nikkor lens is more than twice the price. Do yourself a favor, get the Tokina and save your money for another lens or photo products.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Absolutely fantastic lens., Sunday, 11 May 2008
Overall rating (weighted)
4.5
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
5.0
AF Speed
4.0
Value for Money
4.0
I've had this lens for one year. Incredibly enough, it's more expensive NOW then it was a year ago. My Nikon lenses have plummeted in price in the past year.
It's a very comfortable lens and fairly lightweight. Nice big rubber zoom and focus rings although I would have preferred the zoom ring not to be next to the camera body.
Nice smooth zoom ring action; no loose play, grinding or resistance. Much, much better than the $1100 Nikon 18-55mm lens that I hated and returned.
Here's a wonderfully weird characteristic of this lens that I simply cannot figure out: It will focus and take a picture in a room with barely any light at all! My Nikon 50mm f1.4 lens can't even come close; the Nikon lens cannot focus even though it's several f-stops faster. You have to see it to believe it.
The only thing that the lens can't do (which is no big deal for such a wide angle lens) is the ability to manually focus after an auto-focus.
Want even better performance photographing outdoors? Turn the auto-focus off, set the aperture to about f11 and the distance between 7ft and infinity. Everything will be in focus.
Even though it's an inexpensive lens, don't cheap out and get a lousy filter. Pay the $50+ for a good multi-coated 77mm UV filter.
For landscapes or working in tight areas or crowds, you simply can't beat this lens.
If Nikon put their logo on it and charged $1200, people would rave that it's such a great lens.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
tokina 12-24 f4, Wednesday, 19 March 2008
Overall rating (weighted)
5.0
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
5.0
AF Speed
5.0
Value for Money
5.0
i did a lot of research on super wide angle lenses and the consensus seems to be that this tokina is comparable in quality to the nikon 12-24, but for almost half the price. i bought this lens just before a short trip to austria and italy. the results were spectacular. the lens is sharp and contrasty, and did well in a variety of conditions. i was able to get sharp images of the architecture in venice AT NIGHT without a tripod. (at f4 and iso 1600). sure it would have been easier with a tripod, but i was travelling light. highly recommended.
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Great lens, Thursday, 07 February 2008
Overall rating (weighted)
5.0
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
5.0
AF Speed
5.0
Value for Money
5.0
The Tokina is an awesome lens. I'm not able to compare it to the Nikkor, but for what I use it for, it gets the job done very well. It's an awesome lens, and on my D50, you can really capture such a wide scene. It also focuses a lot closer than any of my other lenses.
I would certainly recommend this to a friend.
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
Tokina 12-24mm f4 AT-X Pro DX AF wide angle lens f, Sunday, 20 January 2008
Overall rating (weighted)
4.3
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
4.0
AF Speed
3.0
Value for Money
5.0
The Tokina 12-24 mm f4 AT-X Pro DX AF wide angle lens for Nikon is very well-built and sharp.
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
Not perfect, but pretty good, Sunday, 25 November 2007
Overall rating (weighted)
4.0
Sharpness
3.0
Build Quality
3.0
AF Speed
5.0
Value for Money
5.0
This lens makes a good impression of being solidly built, and in return it's relatively heavy for its size. No flimsiness here.
On most of the focal range, the optical quality is quite impressive: sharpness good at f/4, and excellent at f/5.6; no noticeable light fall-off ("corner Vignetting") at any aperture - bravo!; Barrel Distortion at 12 mm but gone at 18 mm and above.
The biggest optical drawback is at the level of Lateral Chromatic aberration ("purple fringing"). In situations of a dark object interfacing with a very bright one, color fringes will be noticeable if you enlarge the image. Still, looking at a photo in "normal" size (or at a large photo from the "normal" distance required to look at a large photo), the LCA will not be noticeable. I'd rather have some LCA that can only be seen on close examination than light fall-off in the corners that will be obvious no matter how one looks at the picture.
Sharpness is clearly less good at the 20-24 mm end wide-open. At those focal lengths it is necessary to stop down to f/8 to obtain good results.
The Sigma 10-20 mm has a clear advantage over this Tokina 12-24 mm in the extra 2 mm on the wide end. However, from measurements I've seen, the Sigma is a much less good performer at the level of light fall-off in the corners. Which one to choose becomes a matter of taste and purposes.
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
The Wide-Angle Lens Nikon Should Have Made, Friday, 02 November 2007
Overall rating (weighted)
4.8
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
5.0
AF Speed
4.0
Value for Money
5.0
So far I am very pleased with the results of this Tokina lens with my Nikon D80. Accurate color, little/no noticeable distortion, excellent sharpness. I recently had a 20x30 enlargement made of a photo I made with this lens, and it looks flawless. Sharp edge-to-edge, no noticeable distortion, beautiful color. What more can you ask of a digital camera lens?
Nikon makes a wide angle zoom that covers about the same zoom range as this Tokina. The Nikon is about double the price of this Tokina. From my experience with this Tokina, it would be extremely difficult to convince me that the Nikon zoom could possibly be worth the extra money. This Tokina is so good, I can't imagine how the Nikon could be good enough to be worth an extra $500. And, this Tokina feels like a very high-quality piece of machinery; metal construction, smooth-as-glass zoom and focus action.
The only warning I would give potential buyers of this lens concerns the use of filters: filters will cause you to have vignetting unless you use a filter with a very slim, low-profile frame. I am using Hoya Pro 1 Digital filters with my Tokina, and they are vignette free.
I bought my Tokina 12-24 through Amazon merchant 17th Street Photo, and their service was exemplary: fast delivery, USA lens warranty (not grey market), sturdy shipping container, unopened factory pack.
Many of the other big New York-based photo equipment retailers have less than great customer service reputations, and very few of them seem to be members of the Better Business Bureau. But, 17th Street is the exception to the rule that you had better hold on to your wallet when dealing with the big NY photo houses.
17th Street IS a member of the BBB, I checked. You can check any retailer's complaint record and BBB membership status at http://search.bbb.org/.
I have been very pleased with this purchase and with 17th Street Photo, and I would buy this same lens from them again without hesitation.
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Great lens for a great price!, Wednesday, 24 October 2007
Overall rating (weighted)
4.0
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
4.0
AF Speed
4.0
Value for Money
3.0
I was looking for a wider lens for my D200, and have no regrets getting the Tokina 12-24mm f/4. On 35mm format, it would translate to 18-36mm, which is a great range. It is also a constant f/4, which is unlike other wide angles in this range for DSLRs. Price wise, it is much cheaper than the Nikon 12-24mm f/4, but in terms of performance, it is almost comparable. Unless you have that few hundred bucks more to spend on the Nikon, this Tokina would work beautifully! The build of the body is good and sturdy.
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Excellent Quality Lens, Thursday, 20 September 2007
Overall rating (weighted)
4.5
Sharpness
4.0
Build Quality
5.0
AF Speed
4.0
Value for Money
5.0
An outstanding lens that renders professional quality images. Very fast focus, very sharp, superb build quality. Highly recommended
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Great Lens - Terrible Packaging, Saturday, 15 September 2007
Overall rating (weighted)
4.0
Sharpness
4.0
Build Quality
3.0
AF Speed
4.0
Value for Money
5.0
This appears (so far) to be a great lens. I am using it on a Nikon D50 and get sharp, finely detailed photos each time. While at f/4 it may seem a little slow, I cannot see where this would be an issue for a wide-angle lens as you are unlikely to use it for action type photography.
Be very careful with any filter choices, as this lens will vignette easily. The Tiffen filter I purchased was terrible for this, whereas a Sigma filter has worked OK.
It is a very large lens (nature of the beast) so beware if you expect to carry this in a relatively small bag - particularly with the hood attached - even when reversed.
The construction quality appears good. Not up at Nikon metal lens or Sigma 'DG' grade lenses, but more robust than than the Nikon 'G' series lenses.
The worst thing about the lens is the packaging, which when ordering via a mail-order company, such as Amazon, could easily be an issue. The box is thin cardboard, with separate cardboard liner to protect the lens. My lens had obviously been shaken around within the packaging, dislodging the lens hood and marking the lens barrel, but not too heavily. I checked the lens and the amount of dust and debris on the lens was not something I would expect. If you do order this lens ensure that you check it before accepting delivery in case of more severe damage. Again in comparison with Nikon (even the 'G' series lenses) and the Sigma 'DG' lenses this packaging comes up short.
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Better than Nikon (?), Friday, 14 September 2007
Overall rating (weighted)
5.0
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
5.0
AF Speed
5.0
Value for Money
5.0
I originally bought the Nikon 12-24mm lens, it was expensive. I took it home and found that it simply was not sharp. I may have gotten a bad copy of the lens. I was disappointed and returned it. A month later I decided to try another copy of the lens. However, after reading about the Tokina, I decided to try it instead. I am extremely pleased. The photos are very sharp. I found no chromatic abberation as reported by other reviewers. Colors are well balanced and saturated. I can't fault it in any way. The lens is solidly built. I highly recommend it. However, before you buy any lens, be sure to read the Amazon reseller's return policy. Some of the camera stores they sell through charge a 15% restocking fee for returns.
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Great Lens, Friday, 10 August 2007
Overall rating (weighted)
5.0
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
5.0
AF Speed
5.0
Value for Money
5.0
I've had this lens for about six months now and find it to be very good. The build quality is amazing. However, with the 1.5x crop factor, it's not as wide as I would like. The weight and finish of the lens gives it a very professional feel.
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Great Lens, Thursday, 31 May 2007
Overall rating (weighted)
4.8
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
5.0
AF Speed
4.0
Value for Money
5.0
I can say nothing bad about this lens It shoots great clear shots
