Fixing my Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 focusing issues

In my last post, I took my 'new' Nikon D300 out for a test-drive. The D300 is one of my favourite cameras of all time, so I was really looking forward to using it. I got some decent images driving along the West Coast Road to Westport (see last post), but it wasn't without its concerns.

As primarily a landscape photographer, I guess one of the first lenses I look at adding to my arsenal is an ultra wide of some description. Not that I think an ultra wide is the be-all and end-all of landscape photography - not at all. They are, in fact, incredibly difficult to use properly. You can't just slap on a 10mm lens, get absolutely everything in the frame, and expect to take fabulous images every time. If that's your modus operandi with an ultra wide lens then you're going to be disappointed with your images 99.99% of the time. But I do believe they have a place in every landscape photographers bag.

There are many options when looking for an ultra wide, although you also have to take into account the crop factor when using an APS-C sized sensor. Fortunately for Nikon shooters, the x1.5 crop applied to their lenses is not as bad as the x1.6 applied to Canon's. A 10mm lens on a Nikon D300 equates to a 15mm full-frame field of view, whereas on a Canon 50D you're looking at 16mm. That may not sound like a lot, but when you are getting down around the ultra wide angle numbers, 1mm can make quite a difference.

Be that as it may, there are still a lot of options out there to keep all users happy. Some of the most popular wide to ultra-wide offerings come from Tokina, who seem to have concentrated their attention on the wide end of the lens market. Tokina have always impressed me with their build and optical quality, together with their wide zoom range. They also seem to be fairly well priced, especially on the second hand market. The lens that caught my eye when I started looking for an ultra-wide was the Tokina 11-16mm Pro DX f2.8 and it wasn't long before I grabbed one on Trademe (NZ's version of eBay).

Tokina's advertising for the 11-16mm f2.8 as an astro photography lens

I was super excited to get the Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 for a couple of reasons. First, I think it fits the bill perfectly in terms of the focal lengths I was after to compliment my standard 18-70mm lens. 11-16mm equates to around 16-24mm in the full-frame field of view, which is about as ultra-wide as I'll ever want to go. I had also read reviews that said it was a seriously sharp lens, and that edge distortion was extremely well controlled for an ultra-wide. I'm sold so far.

The second reason I was excited to get this lens was for its potential for use in astro-photography. Tokina even market this lens as being perfect for astro on their website (see above). I've never ever shot astro photography seriously. I've never really had the lens for it. But with a wide, fast, sharp (see Tokina's advertising again) lens like the 11-16mm f2.8, serious astro photography was now a real possibility. Very exciting.

My excitement turned to horror however, when I put the Tokina on my D300 for the first time. I had lined up a nice coastal landscape scene, set the aperture to f8 and the ISO to 200, and pushed the AF-On button to focus. And the Tokina went ballistic! It hit infinity focus and then whirred, clicked and shuddered like it was having a epileptic fit! Aaarrgghhh!!! This is NOT happening!?! For me, this was an entirely new lens/camera combo. A complete unknown quantity. Anything could be wrong! Was it the camera? Was it the lens? Was it the AF contacts?

I set about trying to eliminate certain possibilities and causes. I unattached and reattached the lens, just to make sure it had made proper contact. Still a focus issue at infinity. I took the battery out of the camera, then popped it back in and tried again. Still no joy. I then decided to try another lens. I attached my Nikkor 18-70mm to the D300, set up the shot again, held my breath, and pushed the AF-On button. Smooth, silent and precise focus. Yay! And Bugger!!! The Tokina has a focusing problem.

When I got home that evening, I emailed the guy who sold me the lens and let him know it had an obvious focusing issue, and that I would like to return the lens and get my money back. His reply - "Not my problem. The courier must have broken it". Houston, we have a problem.

The lens had arrived perfectly packaged, with no signs of damage, and the lens itself was in physically excellent condition. I knew it wasn't a courier problem - it was a focusing issue. When pushed a little further, the guy acknowledged that he was a Trader who hadn't actually owned the lens himself, but that he had tested it out on his D800. His full-frame D800. He'd 'tested' a DX lens, designed specifically for crop sensor cameras, on his FX full frame camera, and there was no focusing issue (according to him). Nevermind that the only focal length you can use on an FX camera is 16mm! Hardly a comprehensive 'test' of a lens I would have thought? But still, his answer remained the same - "Tough. No refund".

I lodged a dispute with Trademe (eventually the guy just stopped answering my emails), and then started a little investigating into focusing issues with the Tokina 11-16mm f2.8. What I discovered both shocked me, and heartened me. It shocked me in the sense that I began to discover that this might in fact be a fairly common, and known, problem with this particular lens. But I was also heartened at the same time because there seemed to be a fix for the issue that you could perform on the lens yourself (with a couple of basic tools and the nerve to do so).

The Trademe dispute process took about a week (I have no idea what they did to try to persuade the guy to give me my money back), but ended with no resolution (surprise, surprise). Time to take matters into my own hands and 'fix' the lens myself...

The 'tools' required for the job

I had found a very useful Youtube video by Christian Schmeer here. If there's a Youtube video made about how to 'fix' this issue, then it's obviously a common problem!

Plenty of people had commented on how it had fixed their infinity focusing issues on their Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 - and only took 10 minutes to do themselves. The video is excellent, and walks you through visually the step-by-step process. It is a little daunting to start pulling apart a lens and unscrewing components, but it really is quite straight forward - and ultimately, what have you got to loose? The lens ain't really working too well how it is anyway - right?

Basically what you do is pull the clutch mechanism around the lens down to MF and carefully pull the rubber focusing ring down out of the way (on top of the zoom ring - see photo). Take the tape from around the lens and keep it to reuse when you have finished - but be careful because it will curl up and stick to itself very easily.

Lens focusing ring exposed.

Once the tape is off, pull down the plastic collar that the tape was hold together, and then pull up the focusing ring, just like you would if you were re-engaging autofocus. This will expose a slot that has a tiny screw right in the middle. Actually there's three of these slots, each with a little black screw in the middle. Make sure you are looking at the little black screws, and not the larger gold ones that can be seen in the photo opposite. You will have to rotate the focus ring to find all three of these slots and screws as at least one will be hidden behind a plastic collar.

Apparently these are the infinity focus selectors, and they are in the WRONG place! Instead of being in the middle, these screws should be all the way to the right for Nikon cameras to focus correctly to infinity, or all the way to the left for Canon cameras to focus to infinity!

What!? Why the heck wasn't this done in the Tokina factory? These lenses are sold as either being Nikon compatible, or Canon compatible - so you'd think they could get the infinity focusing screws in the right place before shipping them out to Nikon or Canon customers? But no. Let's just slap them in the middle. She'll be right! Really? The mind boggles! 

Screw is in the middle. Should be moved all the way to the right for Nikon!

I know it looks a little scary, tampering with a completely exposed focusing ring on your lens, but if you go slowly and work methodically through the steps, it's a relatively straight forward procedure. Once all three screws are placed to the right for Nikon cameras (moving one of the holes to the right will move all three), you can reverse the dismantling process to put the lens back together again. 10 mins - quarter of an hour tops, and jobs done. But does it work...?

You betcha! Worked a treat - for me at least (and for many others who have left comments on Christian's Youtube video). I did have to go back in and have a second go at it - make sure that your screws are placed ALL THE WAY to the right, since this really does control the infinity focusing selection.

Infinity focusing test. Nikon D300 with Tokina 11-16mm f2.8. f11 @ 1/60th, ISO 400

Once it was all put back together, I took the lens outside for a quick infinity focusing test, and it locked on focus every time without so much as a stutter! I still find it incredible that Tokina would ship a lens out to customers with known focusing issues. Also makes me wonder what the previous owner of the lens (not the Trader I purchased it from, but the actual photographer who owned the lens before me) thought was happening? Maybe they didn't use it very often? Maybe they never used infinity focus (hard to believe for an ultra wide angle)? Apparently Tokina have 'fixed' this issue with version II of this lens. I should darn well think so.

I wasn't thrilled to find my Tokina had a focusing problem, and I certainly wasn't happy that the seller I purchased it from was prepared to brush me off and ignore the issue so easily. I'm also not that thrilled that Trademe seem completely powerless to do anything about it.

I am, however, happy that there is a fairly simple 'fix' for the issue. And that in completing the procedure it seems to have restored my lens to good health! Long may it continue...