Tokina 12-24 vs Canon 10-22...

[placeonthecorner]

So ive got my new 30d, and i have the 17-85mm and the 50mm 1.8.. now i want to get a super wide angle to do some landscape etc... ive looked at these 2 lenses and i was wondering if anyone had any experience with either of them.. my budget is around £400-500 ish...

 

[Nekoism]

I use the Tokina on a Nikon for architectural photography and I find the CA is pretty bad. The distortion in vertical lines can get severe. The center of the lens is pretty sharp but the quickly blurs as you get closer to the edge. All this can be corrected in Photoshop of course. The images I produce need to be large so take that into consideration, it may be that printing smaller is not an issue.

The plus side is it's wide view. Smooth focus. Built solid.

The only reason I use this lens is the wide view. Basically I would not pick this lens up again if needed replacement.

 

[Big Mike]

I read tons of reviews and considered all the UWA (ultra wide angle) lenses before I eventually bought the Canon. The Tokina gets pretty good reviews and they all say that it's built like a tank. The Canon almost always gets the best reviews...but it's a fair bit more expensive than the others. In the end, it came down to the extra 2mm. You may not think that 10mm is really wider than 12mm...but really it's a difference of 20%...which is pretty significant.

That eliminated the Tokina and the 11-18mm Tamron. It was between the Canon and the Sigma 10-20mm for me...and I went with the Canon for the better image quality and the USM focus. Yes, it was more expensive but I don't regret it.

 

[placeonthecorner]

then the canon it is!!.. and here is a quick novice question - ive seen some amazing landscape panoramics with this lens.. is there special software for fixing the distortion so that its correct?.. thanx for the advice, i will be buying one this friday!!!

 

[Big Mike]

You can correct for the distortion fairly easily with Photoshop...but there are several software programs that will have adjustments for lens distortion. I used this lens extensively when I was shooting landscapes in the Rocky Mountains...and I didn't find the need to correct very many shots...only a few of them.