Tokina 12-24 for travel

I am thinking of getting the Tokina 12-24 f4 lens for use when traveling. I use crop cameras. There have been lots of cases where the 18-55IS was not wide enough in travel in Europe, e.g. the Coliseum, Diocletian Baths in Rome, large buildings, Notre Dame Cathedral, Ocean liners in Oslo, castles, and the list goes on.

Has anyone used this "ultra-wide" as a general walk-around lens on a crop while on vacation in Europe (or the U.S.)? I wondered how well it worked for this. The field of view on a crop would be roughly comparable to a 20-40 mm lens on full-frame. This would give you a field of view of very wide to normal. I wondered if people would recommend this lens for travel photos, and like it for this purpose. I don't care for changing lenses while traveling, and am concerned that I would miss the IS when inside dimly structures, like some museums.

For indoors and narrow streets the 12-24mm is fine. But for open areas you might want/need something longer. There is no perfect lens, so unless you are willing to change lenses you might not always get the best shot possible.

I did own that.

Nice lens.

Very well built.

High barrel distortion, though.

That wide, you will not need IS. Push your ISO up indoors, be steady as you can, shoot 4-5 continuous and pick the sharpest.

I like my 12-24mm but...

I do like my 12-24mm but, really seldom use it. The reason is that I am not a great UWA lover. IMO, UWA lenses are over and ill used by most photographers resulting in either boring landscapes or people who look silly from perspective distortion...

In fact, I carried my 12-24mm to China and had it on my camera for only one shot. I shot the other approximately 4,999 images using a 17-55mm f/2.8 IS and 70-200mm f/4L IS on a pair of 1.6x cameras...

The 12-24 will be my "standard" lens and with it I'll put the Canon 50F1.8 in my pocket. Remember, the 35mm on a 35mm camera was the ideal walk around lens in the day. If wide angle shots are boring, you're not close enough!