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About the Lens Reviews
Many of the lenses I review
I've either borrowed or rented. I like playing with new
toys so my lens lineup changes quite often. I usually
won't include photos or charts with my reviews. Instead
I try to focus on my reasons for wanting a lens and
whether or not it satisfied my needs and performed up to
my expectations. If you're looking for a review with in
depth analysis, lots of sample images, and fancy
graphics, you wont find it here. There are many web
sites that can do that much better than I can. I try to
take a simple, straight forward approach.
I base my reviews from sample images taken under different conditions at different settings. All images are captured in RAW and then converted to JPEG using Nikon Capture NX (whichever version is the most current at the time). I view the image files at 100% on my computer monitor. Although part of my reviews are about image sharpness I usually don't get too hung up on it. Unless you get a bad copy of a lens, most lenses made today can produce sharp images. Some lenses are sharper than others, but as long as you stop down to the "sweet spot" of a particular lens, the images should be more that acceptable. When viewing images at 100% you will notice soft edges with just about any lens. But when the images are resized for web viewing or printed at 8x10 or even 11x14, you will be hard pressed to notice any softness. Besides, with the exception of landscapes, the edges usually don't matter much since the main subject of a photo is most often in the center. One more thing to consider with any lens review is sample variations between lenses and cameras. Variations between lenses is not uncommon, especially with 3rd party manufacturers, ie. Tamron, Tokina, and Sigma. But it also does happen with Nikon lenses. Cameras can also have sample variations. You also need to watch for comparisons of a lens on different camera models. A camera with more mega pixels (higher resolution) may show flaws or the resolution limits of a lens that otherwise produced great images on a lower resolution camera. The bottom line is you should try to read as many lens reviews as you can for comparison, especially if you're planning on spending a sizable amount of money on a lens. |
