tashley
Subscriber Member
I'm with Jack in half of what he says: shop for good ones yes, but moderate one's expectations, no: define them reasonably and then stick to them, yes!
I tested the new siggy properly this afternoon and it is overall not quite as sharp on centre as the one I returned (best out of bracketed series) and, though it is sharper on the right, it is softer on the left.
My definition of reasonable is that the lens should look reasonably sharp on both left and right of frame at 50% on screen at F5.6 on a D800E, and that if you make a virtual copy of that f5.6 file and look at the right edge of it up against the left edge of the original, they should look similarly sharp. I can't think that that is unreasonable - and it's not a requirement I'd have of older, cheaper, or specialist lenses. But for anything from 24mm upwards, a good modern lens costing in the region of £800 upwards should be able to achieve that. It should also be able to be AFFTuned to within the -20 to +20 range.
I have a standard test scene that I always shoot and over the years I have learned within half a minute to see, when getting a file from a new lens up on screen, if it is acceptable.
So out of curiosity, do other people agree with my definition of what it is reasonable to expect?
I tested the new siggy properly this afternoon and it is overall not quite as sharp on centre as the one I returned (best out of bracketed series) and, though it is sharper on the right, it is softer on the left.
My definition of reasonable is that the lens should look reasonably sharp on both left and right of frame at 50% on screen at F5.6 on a D800E, and that if you make a virtual copy of that f5.6 file and look at the right edge of it up against the left edge of the original, they should look similarly sharp. I can't think that that is unreasonable - and it's not a requirement I'd have of older, cheaper, or specialist lenses. But for anything from 24mm upwards, a good modern lens costing in the region of £800 upwards should be able to achieve that. It should also be able to be AFFTuned to within the -20 to +20 range.
I have a standard test scene that I always shoot and over the years I have learned within half a minute to see, when getting a file from a new lens up on screen, if it is acceptable.
So out of curiosity, do other people agree with my definition of what it is reasonable to expect?