Resolution Tests
24-70 f/2.8 Zoom MTF and Variation
We’ve finished, mostly, our fairly long series of articles on SLR prime lens variation. We started with prime lenses for several reasons. They are much quicker (and quicker is a relative term here) to test than zooms. They are simpler lenses and we expected that meant they would have less…
Supertelephoto MTF Curves
Brandon has accomplished much during his summer with us, including several things I never thought we’d be able to do. One of those things was measuring the MTF of supertelephoto lenses on our optical bench. A vertical bench just isn’t designed to handle the mass of those big lenses and technically…
Variation Measurements for Telephoto Lenses
We’re nearing the end of the Varation series for prime lenses. If you are joining in late, you may want to go back to the original article for an introduction into the methods used. Today will look at the short telephoto group, lenses ranging in focal length from 85mm to 150mm. We’ve also included…
Variation Measurements for Wide-Angle Lenses
When we started this series, we introduced our methods using 24mm lenses, then followed up with looks at the 50mm and 35mm groups. Today we’re going to go back to the wide-angle lenses; the ones we expect to have the most variation of all. We probably should call this post the Zeiss Invitational,…
Variance Measurement for 35mm SLR Lenses
Last week we posted optical bench MTF and copy-to-copy variation measurements for 50mm SLR lenses. We’re going to continue that series this week with the same measurements for the 35mm lenses. This set should fill out the wide-to-standard range lenses and gives us a lot of interesting data as we…
Variation Measurement for 50mm SLR Lenses
Last week we posted an introductory article on how we measure copy-to-copy variation in different lenses. I’ll be continuing to publish these results over the next few weeks for prime lenses. We will eventually have a database put up, but I think it’s important to look at the different lenses in…
Measuring Lens Variance
Warning: This is a Geek Level 3 article. If you aren’t into that kind of thing, go take some pictures. I’ve been writing and discussing the copy-to-copy variation that inevitably occurs in lenses since 2008. (1,2,3,4) Many people don’t want to hear about it. Manufacturers don’t want to acknowledge…
Canon 5DS and 5DS R Initial Resolution Tests
Like everybody else, we’re pretty excited to get our hands on Canon’s new 5DS and 5DS R. There are already a lot of hands-on articles about the cameras that probably have told you more than you need to know to make your purchase decision. Of course, for most of the Canon shooters who read this…
A Thinner Sensor Stack
A few months ago, before my hiatus from blogging, we did a series of articles showing the effect that a thick sensor stack (the glass above the sensor) had when we use adapted lenses designed for a thin sensor stack. The first one was mostly about theory, the second about when it was likely to…
One, Single Samsung NX-1 Test
I just want to be clear, before we get started, this is not an NX-1 review. It’s not even a complete optical test. It’s simply me answering a single question: is this new Samsung worth further investigation from an optics/image quality standpoint? Samsung’s 28.2 megapixel, APS-C backlit sensor…
HandeVision IBELUX 40mm f/0.85
*Image credit Lensrentals.com* ## Preconceptions I try to start these articles by putting my preconceptions out there first. Every reviewer or blogger has them, they affect our opinions, and you have a right to know them. So I’m writing this introduction the day before our first copies arrive. The…
Canon Wide-Angle Zoom Comparison
* Left to right: Canon 16-35 f/2.8 II, 16-35 f/4 IS, 17-40 f/4. Can you spot the one with the wrong hood? The intern obviously couldn’t. * As is so often the case, I bit off more than I wanted to chew when I came back from vacation. The Canon 16-35mm f/4 IS lens had just been released, a few copies…