I am beginning to think that it may be impossible to get a reasonably priced wide that is going to be sharp right into the corners on the D800E. I then thought that in the film days I shot the majority of the images with the 35-70mm range and could get along well with a 24-85mm or 24-120mm if using a 1.2 crop.
Has anybody tried just setting the D800E to 1.2 crop and just forgetting about the corners?
Hi Robert,
I can say with good certainty that a very good hand picked sample of Nikon's 17-35mm f2.8 may get you close to what you are looking for...but a lot depends on what focal length you'd primarily be using, at what distance and what f-stop would be acceptable for you to shoot at. Somewhere's here on Getdpi I had a post regarding this lens's performance on a D800e. From memory at 17 thru approx 22mm at mid and long distance, to achieve fairly good to very good sharpness on edges and right into the very corners while examining files at 100%, an f-stop of at least f8 and preferably f11 was required. At approx 24-27mm, using the same criteria, f5.6 was just OK, f8 was good and beyond was very good. At approx 28-35mm, f8 was very good and beyond was approaching excellent. Again keep in mind I'm talking about examining these files at 100%. Anything less (like 50%) and the edges and corners becomes even more acceptable and better at wider apertures. It all depends what the expectations are.
Of course I would add to the above observations that generally the central resolution of the frame is still superior to the sides/corners, even when the lens is stopped down (examining again at 100%), so for me to say there is "even" sharpness accross the entire frame at any given focal length or f-stop when examining the files at 100% , wouldn't be accurate. I also doubt from what I've seen that even central resolution would match the Leica 21-35mm lens (viewing at 100%), but I think in some circumstances and lens settings, it would come close.
The last thing I'd would say, as I often have when discussing this lens, is there was a high degree of sample variation, maybe more so than any other Nikon Pro level zoom (and its been fairly well documented). Still the lens has low distortion, good contrast, a very useable zoom range that's versitile and generally good to above average performance on a 36MP sensor, especially when zoomed in from it's widest focal length.
I'm sure there are quite a few single focal length wides and ultra wides that probably can outperform this lens at their given focal length and so too could the Nikon 14-24 in many respects.... so I am specifically referring to wide angle zooms, especially those that reach beyond (longer) than 24mm.
I've also tested both of Tokina's fairly recent wide angle zooms and for the most part, a good sample of the Nikon 17-35 f2.8 was superior, except in the area of possibly the level of microcontrast.
Dave (D&A)