Shooting NYC with My New 12-24mm Wide-Angle Lens

I added a new lens to my camera bag last week, the Tokina 12-24mm f/4, and it more or less completes the spectrum of lenses we can use at weddings.  It's not easy to find a lens wider than 17mm, and while an extra 5mm doesn't sound like much, it makes a huge difference in helping include the surroundings into a photograph.  This new lens will allow us to create some amazing portraits.  The lens arrived last Thursday, and as luck would have it, my brother and I traveled to New York City for a the weekend which was the perfect place to test it.

Here two examples showcasing what this lens can do.  The first image is of my brother, Chuck, standing in front of Trump Tower on 5th Avenue.  If you've ever been there and seen it for yourself, you know it's one tall building!  Would it surprise you that I took this image standing only 6 feet from Chuck (who was about 8 feet from the front of the building), kneeling on the sidewalk, and was able to fit the entire building in the frame?!  Imagine the possibility of fitting an entire church or unique location into the frame while photographing a beautiful bride.  If you are having difficulty imagining the significance of this, try standing 15 feet in front of a two-story house and fitting it in the frame with your point and shoot or at 18mm with your DSLR zoom lens.  It ain't gonna happen.



This second image was taken on the walking path down the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge.  Some super-wide angle lenses have significant distortion in a situation like this, but the Tokina struts its stuff here.  I'm a Nikon shooter and first considered purchasing the Nikon 12-24mm, but tests show the Tokina is just as good if not better.   As you can tell, I'm very please with this new addition.