Review
The Tokina AF 12-24mm f/4 AT-X DX is a lens with many facets. The resolution characteristic is very good to excellent throughout the zoom range which is quite surprising for an ultra-wide zoom lens - more so for a third-party lens. Vignetting is very high at 12mm f/4 but quite well controlled otherwise (for an ultra-wide lens). It produces a fair amount of wavy barrel distortions at 12mm, less so at 18mm and at 24mm distortions are negligible. The weakest spot are CAs which are very high at 12mm and 24mm. This may not be a significant problem for RAW photography because CAs are a correctable problem but for those preferring JPEGs the issue may be quite annoying at times.
Beyond CAs the lens doesn't really like contra light. Using the supplied hood is a good idea here and if possible light sources in the image field should be avoided. Typical for all Tokina AT-X lenses the build quality is on a very high level putting many lenses from other manufacturers to shame especially when considering the quite affordable price of around 450€/US$.
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