Tokina 12-24 zoom and AF failure rate

I was really considering this lens because of the good reviews and comments about how well it is made - until I saw the repair data on lensrentals.com.

How many people have had problems with the zoom mechanism and AF?

How many of you are happy with the lens? If a very small number of people have had problems, I might get it.

If the numbers are like 25% - that would be a real problem for me.

Bought V1 used 3 years ago ... absolutely no issues. The lens is built like a tank and produces great images.

Have a Version II. Amazing lens! haven't had any problems with it.

Have had mine about 18 months - bought it used. No issues. The lens is really well-built and performs well. I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.

I'd be more concerned with the aperture ribbon kinking and breaking rather than autofocus giving problems. You might have seeen posts by me explaining my 1 day working lens. I ordered a second ribbon off of ebay (my wife accidently broke the new one when we were soldering it in). I'm taking it to a local camera repairman and letting him solder it in (too tedius for me). Great lens otherwise. Smooth manual focusing and zoom. Built tough. 12mm has less distortin than kit lens at 18mm. A bit bulky and heavy though.

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I should not be worry about the lens, more and more all telling that it is a good performance one.

I've had my 12-24 Tokina for over (2) years, and it's been trouble free.
..... it's a spectacular lens.

artyH wrote in post #12513184
I was really considering this lens because of the good reviews and comments about how well it is made - until I saw the repair data on lensrentals.com.

How many people have had problems with the zoom mechanism and AF?

How many of you are happy with the lens? If a very small number of people have had problems, I might get it.

If the numbers are like 25% - that would be a real problem for me.

Maybe this is due to renters being unfamiliar with the focus clutch mechanism used to move from AF to MF.

I've had mine for 3+ years and not one issue. Great lens.

I've had my first version for a few years now... Never a problem.

In fact, I've only ever heard of the one failure... I don't think it's at all common.

Beautiful lens. Not very confident of its AF mode, I use it in manual focus mode.

Had one for about a week. Was not able - under any circumstances - to get it to autofocus beyond 3 m on the central focus point, so I sent it back. Very sharp (for an UWA) with manual focus, though.

I've had mine for over 3 years and never had a problem with it and it also has a very snappy autofocus. artyH
I attend flickr sites for this lens as well as other photography forums and it is rare that most people have an autofocus problem with lens and the very few who do have problems are very vocal about it.

I had one that back focused pretty bad, looked terrible wide open but by f/8 it looked OK. I had a 7D for bit so I could use MA and had to set it to +15, after that is was like a different lens and was pretty sharp wide open.

I had a V1 for almost 5 years. Half way into the 4th year the lens diaphragm got stuck at 5.6. If I used any other aperture, it wouldn't work (Er99). I sent it in for repair and it came back just a great as before I sent it in. About 3 months later I moved to the 5D2, and sold the lens. As far as I know, the person that bought it has had no issues with it.

If I were using crop only again, I would have no problems buying another copy of this great lens.