Category: Technical Discussions
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Taking Apart the New Nikon 105mm f/1.4E ED AF-S
We recently tested the Nikon 105mm f/1.4E ED AF-S lens and were mightily impressed. Optically it was better than I’d ever expected. We had idly talked about doing a teardown when stock allowed, but we got an unexpected opportunity yesterday: one of our week-old copies had some significant dust in…
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Testing NASA Optical Lenses – How We Measure Sharpness and Accuracy
We’ve spent about 5 years developing and repurposing various types of optical testing for use testing photo and video lenses. It’s been a long process with lots of learning (learning is when you find out you’re doing it wrong), and improvements along the way. We’re pretty close to finished; our…
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Fun with Field of Focus II: Copy-to-Copy Variation and Lens Testing
I mentioned in our first post in this series that one of the major reasons I was interested in looking at field curvatures was as a means of detecting lenses that are weaker on one side (or perhaps one corner). If you haven’t looked at that post, you really need to before you tackle this one. In…
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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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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…
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Lensrentals.com Reviews the Canon 5D Mark IV
Announced in the light of Photokina, came the continuation of the Canon 5d series with the latest from Canon, with the Canon 5d Mark IV. The announcement was met with mixed opinions, but like all camera announcements, there is no telling how great the system is until someone you trust gets their…
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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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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…
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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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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…
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“Help, I Can’t Open These Raw Files!”: What To Do When New Cameras are Released
Every time a new camera is released, and usually, for a couple of months afterward, I get lots of calls and emails from customers asking why they can’t read the Raw files they just shot. “They’re just CR2/NEF/ARW files that I should be able to open! Something is wrong with the camera you sent me.”…
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The Ultimate Light Modifier Shoot Out and Test
As someone who has taught off camera lighting for some years now, as well as taught dozens of workshops on the topic – I’ve always heard the same question from photographers who are using off camera lighting for the first time. “What’s the difference between \_\_\_\_ and \_\_\_\_.” When working…
