Category: Resolution Tests
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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…
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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…
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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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More PhotoGeekery: Finite Conjugate MTF Bench Tests for Macro Lenses
For the last several years we’ve talked about the fact that lens performance can vary with focusing distance. Our optical bench tests at infinity. Computerized target analysis (Imatest and DxO) tests at close distances. But when the results of target analysis and bench tests differ it’s hard to…
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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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The Sony FE Lenses MTF and Variance Summary
We’ve put all of this information out in other articles, but it was as we finished each one so it’s become scattered about. I wanted to simply put up all of our MTF and variance curves for Sony FE lenses in one place so you wouldn’t have to hunt and search for different articles to get the…
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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…
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The Nikon D5 Review: Roller Derby and Mammoth Cave Testing
The weekend before last, I had quite a trip planned for my birthday. I was going camping at Mammoth Cave, with a side trip to see some friends play roller derby in Bloomington, IN. I had originally planned to bring only my Mamiya Universal and some instant film for a personal project I’m working…
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Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 G Master Lens MTF and Variance
We are pretty excited about the new Sony G Master Lenses for FE mount cameras. Our excitement may be a little different than yours because we see the Sony FE lenses as an evolving new product. There were some things we really liked and some things we really didn’t like about the first FE mount…
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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…
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Comparing the Leica Monochrom to a Sony a7R II
## What Is A Monochrome Sensor And Why Does It Exist? Leica cameras have always been exciting to me. I think it’s mostly because of how expensive they are. Holding and using something incredibly out of my budget gives the shooting experience a little extra magic. But even with that magic, I…
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LensRentals Staff to Participate in Reddit Ask Me Anything on Monday at 3pm ET
We’re excited to announce that Roger Cicala and Aaron Closz will be participating in an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session of reddit’s /r/photography forum on Monday at 3 pm ET. Over the last few years, /r/photography has been a huge supporter of our blog, so we wanted to give back by inviting the users…
