In the group of ultra wide zoom lenses designed for mirrorless cameras with the APS-C sensor instruments with slower apertures prevail. Still, there are some exceptions – the Fujinon XF 8-16 mm f/2.8 R LM WR is one of them. Compared to the tested Tokina it also offers much wider angles of view – small wonder it is a device physically bigger and heavier. In 2021 the Tamron 11-20 mm f/2.8 Di III-A RXD joined the group of faster models and currently it is the most serious Tokina rival – it offers equally fast aperture and a bit wider focal range. Other details concerning the lenses, mentioned here, you can find in the following chart.
In the photo below the Tokina ATX-M 11–18 mm f/2.8 E is positioned between the Voigtlander Apo Lanthar 2/50 and the Fujinon XF 35 mm f/1.4R.
The tested lens starts with a metal mount that surrounds contacts and a black bottom made of plastics. Inside the bottom you find a 21×16 mm frame that covers a rear element of the lens. The element is 20 mm in diameter and it is mobile - its casing almost touches the frame with the lens set at 11 m and it hides about 1 cm deep when you pass to the 18 mm focal length. The movement reveals some parts of the inner tube and they are all properly blackened.
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An immobile ring made of plastics, that gets wider as you move further from the mount, is the first part of the proper barrel of the Tokina. On the ring you can find the name of the company, a white dot, making an alignment with a camera easier, the filter diameter (67 mm) and a sticker with an inscription 'Japan'.
Next, there is a zoom ring, 19 mm wide, the majority of its surface covered by fine ribs; there are focal lengths marks on it at 11,12,13,14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 mm focal length. The ring is a joy to use and it performs as it should.
Further on you find another immobile part of the lens and then a manual focus ring, 13 mm wide, completely covered by fine ribbing. It is a focus-by-wire construction and its working range is rather narrow – even if you turn it slowly you can reach a value of just about 90 deg.
Then you see a part of the barrel which cannot be moved with inscriptions stating the name and basic parameters of the instrument, along with the minimum focusing distance, given in meters and feet for the extremal focal lengths. This part ends with a mount for a petal-type hood.
The front element is slightly convex, 38 mm in diameter, and it moves. As you shorten the focal lenths it is extended about 9 mm forward along with the front optical system. The element is surrounded with a non-rotating filter thread, 67 mm in diameter.
The optical construction of the lens consists of 13 elements positioned in 11 groups. Two elements are made of low dispersion SD glass and two other are aspherical. There is also an aperture with nine diaphragm blades which can be closed down to a value of f/22.
Buyers get just both caps and a petal-type hood in the box, without any case for the lens.
