Have I got a soft Tokina 12-24mm lens?

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danski

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Dan
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Hi all

I bought a Tokina 12-24mm DX II lens at B&H on a recent trip to NY but have been struggling to get sharp images from it, despite everyone saying that it's a really sharp lens. In fact quite a few of my images have come out really soft, almost blurred. I'm wondering a few things:

- have I got a soft copy?
- is it my filter (Sunguard or Hoya UV Multi-Layer)?
- does my lens need micro focus adjustment?
- is it my technique?

Having said that, I have got some sharpish pics, so am confused. Maybe it just is my technique!?!

I've posted up some images on Picasa for you to have a look at here. These are all straight out of the camera. Generally I've been shooting at f/4 of f/5.6 with shutter speeds between 1/640 and 1/2000 with an ISO of 100 or 200. I haven't shot a load of pics with this lens, probably only 100 or so and these were mainly shot on my 450D/Rebel XSi. Should I be shooting at an aperture of f/8, f/11 or more?

I've recently upgraded my body to a 7D and am getting average results still - see these 3 which were taken yesterday, taken at f/11 and f/4:

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/danskinner73/Tokina1224Shots#5472687847362784866
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/danskinner73/Tokina1224Shots#5472687856762698050
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/danskinner73/Tokina1224Shots#5472687866008885298

I've also experimented taking the filter off and to be honest it didn't make a huge difference - I just didn't get as much flare.

If I've got a soft copy, then does anyone know if Tokina give a worldwide warranty on their lenses as I don't really want to post my lens back to the US for repair/replacement unless I absolutely have to.

Thanks in advance
 
happy to post some 100% crops if you can tell me how to do it - bit of a noob! :shrug:
 
andy_fozzy said:
2nd and 3rd shots are very soft. 1st one is very good.
Click to expand...

all these shots were taken within seconds of each other - the focus points in the 2nd and 3rd shotes were mainly on the yellow tree just right of centre

even on the 1st shot - if I look at 100%, then it looks really soft. I can upload it full size onto picasa as opposed to 1600 pixels if it helps to see what I mean
 
They are very soft - or - perhaps very out of focus. This lens works well with centre AF point, but doesn't like any other combination and front-focuses heavily. Make sure you try that first before coming to any conclusions. There is actually no need for AF with UWAs. For most subjects infinity setting yields very sharp results. Don't forget to use liveview to find the optimal focus for testing.
 
I have the Nikon mount of this lens and find it to be pretty sharp, however I never use it at below F8 - I use the lens for landscape and 90% of the time on a tripod. I stick with wide area autofocus and have no problems with front focussing.
 
anybody know how I stand with regard to the warranty - do Tokina support a US bought lens in the UK, or will I have to send it back to the US?
 
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