Help to decide between sigma 8-16 or tokina 11-16

[sparkd]

Hi I'm considering my next lens, which I want as a wide angle one. I currently use a nikon d5100 and a kit lens 18-105. I also process a nikon 50mm f1.8g.

im drawn between a Sigma 8-16mm F4.5-5.6 DC HSM Lens and a Tokina AT-X 116 PRO DX II 11-16mm f/2.8.

what is important is that the lens has:

1/ an internal focus motor to work with my d5100
2/ the best hand held image quality when shooting night/low light landscapes
3/ minimal distortion
4/ Cost no more than £500 GBP



Whilst I'm aware that the lower 2.8 may be better for night shot, my use will be 50% night scenes including indoor use and 50% daylight.

i would appreciate your suggestions

 

[Propsguy]

I have the tokina and I find it very useful on a crop sensor. Distortion is easy to manage and it's tack sharp even at F2.8, and I find the large aperture extremely useful for low light shooting... both stills photography and video. I don't have experience with that particular sigma option, but I have purchased and returned a couple of sigma lenses previously, and I am not personally a fan of their build quality (although they have improved recently with some lenses). I can also use the tokina at 16mm on my full frame camera with no issues, so it's very versatile.

 

[sparkd]

I have the tokina and I find it very useful on a crop sensor. Distortion is easy to manage and it's tack sharp even at F2.8, and I find the large aperture extremely useful for low light shooting... both stills photography and video. I don't have experience with that particular sigma option, but I have purchased and returned a couple of sigma lenses previously, and I am not personally a fan of their build quality (although they have improved recently with some lenses). I can also use the tokina at 16mm on my full frame camera with no issues, so it's very versatile.

Thank you for your comment, I guess it's a matter of determining whether 8mm to 11mm use will be more use than being able to drop down to f2.8

 

[dudley_53]

I am using the D5100 as well and considering both lenses you mention. While the 8mm Sigma is attractive due to the ultra wide angle ability, not having the capability of adding filters puts me off.

 

[hamlet]

I would go with the 11-16. The superior aperture just makes more sense.

 

[lonewolfsx]

I've heard a lot of great reviews about the Tokina, for a while there it was incredibly popular with DX shooters to the point where it was out of stock basically everywhere. The f/2.8 really provides for some normally impossible wide angle shots, but for the *most* part wide angles have such a deep focus field that it's relatively useless. I've never used the Sigma, but have had good experience with their lenses in general and they do know what they're doing when it comes to ultra wide angles. The photozone review of that lens (Sigma AF 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM (DX) - Review / Lab Test Report - Analysis) shows that it is a pretty good performer, especially with sharpness if you can deal with the lower aperture. The 10-20mm f/4.5-5.6 also performs very nicely if you need to fill that gap. Overall... the Tokina 11-16mm is basically a scaled down Tokina 16-28mm and the Sigma 8-16mm is a scaled down Sigma 12-24mm. I'd be more inclined to recommend the Sigma for general wide angle usage.

Don't forget to check out the Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, it is barely slower than the Tokina and covers quite a bit more range with similar optical quality.

One additional note: the Tokina will definitely be better for indoor shooting though, even if only for the autofocus abilities of f/2.8.