Category: Roger's Corner
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My Not Nearly Complete, But Rather Entertaining, Circular Polarizer Filter Article
So, a while back I wrote a not quite complete article on UV filters. To do that, I had to buy new testing equipment and learn to test filters. This was not what I wanted to do when I grew up. But somebody has to do it, and I did get to buy new toys. More importantly, Tyler (Who handles the…
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My Not Quite Complete Protective Filter Article
Well, I’ve written (with some misgivings because it has a tendency to create rioting in the streets) several articles about protective filters. Articles that say sometimes you shouldn’t use protective filters, and others that say sometimes you do need to use protective filters, and most recently,…
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Roger’s Random Photography Marketing Generator
Somedays I get bored with testing. Somedays I have to read new product release blurbs and get nauseous. And somedays I find something funny on the internet. All three of these happened the other day, which led to me randomly corresponding with Seb Pearce about my thoughts that today’s photography…
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Introducing the Lensrentals Numerical Analysis
It’s been obvious for a long time that people don’t want to read long drawn out blog posts about lenses. They want a numerical score so that they can make quick comparisons. We have pounded the drum for a long time that things like validity, relevance, transparency and scientific methodology are of…
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Is Your Camera Really The Best Optical Test?
_“But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” Genesis 2:17._ I have enjoyed, for some years now, the process of learning about lenses and optics. This blog shares a lot of what I’m in the process of learning. A lot of you…
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The (sort of) Great 400mm Lens Shootout!
I get asked a lot about different telephoto lenses. Is the 400 DO II better than the 400 DO? Which is better, the Tamron 150-600mm or the Sigma 150-600mm? You’ve probably noticed that I don’t answer those questions. The reason is simple. Our optical bench is designed to test lenses up to 2.5kg…
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Pay Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain
*Metro Goldwyn Mayer* ## A Reasonably Non-Geeky Guide to Lens Tests and Reviews Hardly a day goes by that on some forum somewhere a nasty argument is going on about lens testing and reviewing. (Going forward, I’m going to use the abbreviation R/Ts for Reviewers and Testers.) As with all things on…
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My Third Grader Analogy for Lens Reviews and Testing
I make a joke about this sometimes, but I think it’s more and more appropriate. Every day, I see more and more people take some single bit of data published on a lens and extrapolate the entire meaning of the photographic universe from that bit of data. My joke has always gone, “a single lens…
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Roger’s Only Slightly Angry Father’s Day Gift Suggestions
I will admit I’m a nightmare to buy gifts for. If I want it, I generally have already bought it. So my kids tend to dread Father’s Day because they have to find a gift that I want that I haven’t realized I want yet. Well, that’s how it should work in theory. In practice, they tend to usually just…
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A Look at Electromagnetic Focusing
If you’re like me you like to know what’s going on inside your camera or lens to some degree. They are tools, and if I want to get the best use out of my tool I need to know it’s strengths and weaknesses. You may not have noticed, especially if you shoot just Canon or Nikon, but there’s been a…
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Mythbusting: Parfocal Photo Zooms
About twice a week I get a call from a photo-videographer wanting to know which photo zoom lenses in a certain focal length are parfocal (stays in focus while changing focal lengths). It’s understandable why they would ask; a superb photo zoom is 1/10th the cost of a good video zoom. They get…
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Optical Quality Assurance
*Pinhole images from new, but optically decentered lens. Olaf Optical Testing, 2016* After we published a number of posts about copy-to-copy variation, people were quick to say that this company or that needs to ‘just’ improve quality control. I totally agree but realize most people don’t have a…
