Category: Geek Articles
-
Nikon 105mm f/1.4 E MTF Bench Tests
Joey recently wrote an article about his new crush, the Nikon 105mm f/1.4 E lens, and has been in the lab about every other day since then, asking me if I’ve run the MTFs yet. “You’re going to be blown away,” he says. And every other day I tell him, “I don’t get blown away very often.” So finally…
-
Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L Mark III Optical Bench Tests
I tend to not get overly excited about new releases. The last few years have seen a lot of incremental upgrades that rarely blow me away. Usually, I end up thinking the new version of whatever is better than the last version. Not “rush out to the store and buy it” better, but “consider upgrading if…
-
The Ultimate 50mm Lens Comparison
I want to share with you guys a personal lens purchasing journey that I’ve been on for awhile now. My favorite genre of photography is travel photography; I love capturing landscapes, on location portraits, action sports, and general tourist stuff. It’s a very broad topic, and I want my camera gear…
-
Fun with Field of Focus Part 1
I’ve mentioned in some other posts that our optical tools can do a lot more than just test a lens’ MTF. For most of the last two years, though, testing MTF is what we’ve been doing. We may not seem all that busy, but we’ve assembled what is probably the world’s largest database of current camera…
-
This is Your (Well Our) Camera at Burning Man
In the repair department, there are things we hate. Salt water for cameras and lenses, salt water and sand for tripods and lenses. Sand in legs of the zoom mechanism of lenses ruins threads, they’ll never be smooth again. Right behind those two is dust. Dust doesn’t always destroy equipment, but…
-
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…
-
Lensrentals’ Canon 5D Mk IV Teardown
*Courtesy Canon USA* *Lensrentals.com, 2016* Today the Canon 5D Mk IV cameras are out and I’m sure by this afternoon there will be unboxing videos all over YouTube. Aaron and I decided to do an unboxing post, too. By unboxing, of course, we mean taking it apart. If you want to make comparisons, you…
-
Sony FE 16-35 f/4 & Sony FE 24-70mm f/4 Zoom MTF and Variance
Many of you who have followed along as we beta-test our Sony FE lens testing have been asking where the FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS and the FE 24-70mm f/4 ZA OSS test results are. Well, the answer is they are here. But your other question, why has it taken so long, has a more complex answer. Testing FE…
-
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…
-
Is the New RED Weapon, the Weapon of Choice?
The choice is simple; are you cool, or are you boring? That has to be the big decision RED wants you to make, right? Sure, the argument could be made that you choose RED for the stunning 6K resolution that it offers, or the 16.5 plus glorious stops of dynamic range, but really you want it because…
-
Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 GMaster Emergency Tear Down
*Credit: DC Super Friends Feature Vehicle Assortment 2012 Series 01* OK, I usually don’t respond to requests to disassemble things. I have a day job and the blog stuff is my hobby. But every so often the Bat Signal get’s raised over Gotham Internet and Aaron and I feel the need to fight the crime…
-
Sony Goes World Class: The 24-70mm f/2.8 GM MTF and Variance Tests
I was one of those who noted Sony had some troubles, as manufacturers often do, with some of their first generation lenses for full-frame FE mount cameras. When they announced the G Master lens series I was really excited to test them. I was expecting Sony to have made progress both with optical…
