2009 | Photocrati

Nikon 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6 AF Nikkor Review Round-Up

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If you own or have used this lens, let us know what you think! Leave your comments and thoughts below.

Photo Zone

The Nikkor AF 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6 exhibited a very good performance in the lab EXCEPT at the long end of the zoom range. At 75mm and 200mm the resolution figures are very good but beyond there’s a rapid decline in quality. At 300mm f/5.6 the results are downright soft and it takes f/11 to recover the quality to very decent levels across the frame. Distortions are a non-issue with this lens and both vignetting and CAs are well controlled. The build quality is very good and puts most of today’s consumer grade tele zooms to shame – at the price of weight which is probably too high for the general taste of the target group. Regarding the results at 300mm you may consider other options if you require good quality with a 10mp camera at this setting. … READ FULL REVIEW

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Sigma’s 150-500mm F/5-6.3 DG OS APO HSM Review Round-Up

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If you own or have used this lens, let us know what you think! Leave your comments and thoughts below.

Get information and user reviews for this lens from Amazon: Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 AF APO DG OS HSM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras

Photo Review

An affordable long-zoom lens for DSLR cameras with ‘full-frame’ or ‘APS-C’ sized image sensors. Sigma’s APO 150-500mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM lens is a telephoto zoom with a 3.3x magnification ratio that will suit photographers who enjoy taking close-ups of sports or wildlife. Although not particularly fast, it is reasonably portable and has an affordable price tag for its build quality and optical composition. READ FULL REVIEW

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Equipment Review – Gary Fong’s LightSphere Universal Round-Up

First let me preface this review by saying I’m not an event guy. I rarely shoot events, I don’t do weddings, and hardly any grip and grins anymore. One of the reasons I don’t do events is that I HATE the look of on camera flash. That harsh, in your face, flattened look drives me crazy. With that said, I recently agreed to shoot an event for a regular client of mine. This is a good client for me and she promised it would be a low key event, and she was in a jam so of course I’ll help her out. It goes without saying that I want to do the job right so I began looking into ways to soften and modify that flash. (FYI, the party was at night, on a dinner cruise. Think lots of glass and mood lighting.)

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Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS AF Review Round-Up

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If you own or have used this lens, let us know what you think! Leave your comments and thoughts below. Get information and user reviews for this lens from Amazon: Sigma AF 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS (Optical Stabilizer) Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras

Photo Zone

The Sigma AF 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS is an extremely versatile lens but performance-wise it is a bit of a mixed bag. The resolution characteristic varies significantly throughout its immense zoom range. Interestingly the extreme ends are actually the sweet spots of the lens whereas the 35mm setting is downright miserable at large apertures. The quality recovers at 50mm before dropping somewhat at 100mm again. To be fair the lens is capable to provide a decent quality if you avoid large aperture settings and stick to ~f/9 regardless of the zoom position. On the positive side vignetting and CAs are quite well controlled and distortions may be a problem at 18mm only. The quality of the bokeh (out-of-focus blur) is sometimes less than stellar though. The AF speed and accuracy is pretty fine and the image stabilizer can give you an advantage equivalent to about 3 f-stops in field conditions. The build quality of the Sigma is surprisingly good and above average for a lens in this class. READ FULL REVIEW

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Nikon 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR Nikkor Review Round-Up

nikon-24-120mm-f-35-56g-ed-if-af-s-vr-nikkor If you own or have used this lens, let us know what you think! Leave your comments and thoughts below. Get information and user reviews for this lens from Amazon: Nikon 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR (Vibration Reduction) Wide Angle Telephoto Zoom Nikkor Lens – Refurbished by Nikon U.S.A.

Photo Zone

The Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED VR showed a quite impressive performance for a zoom lens with a 5x focal length ratio. Apart from a few weak spots the resolution figures are very high and on an APS-C DSLR vignetting is not a big issue. The amount of barrel distortions may be a little objectionable at 24mm (only) and the level of CAs could be a little better. Mechanically the lens is roughly in line with other consumer grade lenses made by Nikon so don’t expect a tank-like construction. The VR (Vibration Reduction) is a welcome addition to the feature list as is the very fast Silent Wave AF drive. All-in-all it’s a nice package but on APS-C DSLR the focal length range isn’t all that great anymore and most users shopping for a new lens will probably prefer to have a look at the new AF-S 18-200mm VR II. READ FULL REVIEW

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Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX HSM II DG macro AF Review Round-Up

If you own or have used this lens, let us know what you think! Leave your comments and thoughts below.

Digital Photography

The Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG Macro HSM II is a prime example of an independent manufacturer producing a design which can challenge the camera companies’ own lenses in most aspects of optical and operational performance, but at a much lower price. In almost all regards it performs well in everyday use, delivering good quality images across a broad range of situations. The optics are perfectly competent, if not outstanding; indeed the lens is really very good towards the short end, but weaker at 200mm, where it’s slightly soft and suffers from relatively high levels of chromatic aberration. Vignetting is impressively low, even on full frame (presumably a benefit of that broad and stubby barrel design), and geometric distortion reasonably well controlled. verall, if you appreciate the limitations of this lens and stick within its practical limits, it provides much of the performance of the camera manufacturers’ equivalents at a much lower price. READ FULL REVIEW

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Tamron 180mm f/3.5 SP Di LD [IF] Macro AF Review Round-Up

If you own or have used this lens, let us know what you think! Leave your comments and thoughts below.

Get information and user reviews for this lens from Amazon: Tamron AF 180mm f/3.5 Di SP A/M FEC LD (IF) 1:1 Macro Lens for Konica Minolta and Sony Digital SLR Cameras

Photo Zone

The Tamron AF 180mm f/3.5 SP Di LD [IF] macro offers a near-flawless performance. Optically it doesn’t leave anything to be desired – the resolution is very good to excellent from f/3.5 all the way down to f/16 and vignetting, CAs and distortions are non-issues in field conditions. The bokeh (out-of-focus blur), a primary aspect in macro photography, is very smooth and buttery. The build quality of the Tamron is very good but there is one bug – the lens has no focus limiter and the rather slow AF combined with AF hunting can be a frequent and rather tiresome experience. Thanks to a focus clutch mechanism you can switch between AF and MF as easy as pushing/pulling the focus ring so if necessary you should give the AF a better hint by manual pre-focusing. Other than that it is a really impressive lens. READ FULL REVIEW

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Nikon 24-85mm f/2.8-4D IF AF Review Round-Up

If you own or have used this lens, let us know what you think! Leave your comments and thoughts below. Get information and user reviews for this lens at Amazon: Nikon 24-85mm f/2.8-4.0D IF AF Zoom Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

Photo Zone

The Nikkor AF 24-85mm f/2.8-4D IF is an very good standard zoom and it was the right decision by Nikon to discontinue its younger cousin (AF-S 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED) rather than this lens. The resolution characteristics is very good to excellent throughout the zoom range with a sweet spot towards the wide end. The contrast suffers somewhat at large aperture settings, specifically at 85mm, but is lifted significantly when stopping down a little. Vignetting and CAs are very well controlled whereas distortions are about average for a lens in this class. The mechanical quality is decent without reaching the true pro grade Nikkors here due to a rather extensive use of plastics and an old style AF. … READ FULL REVIEW

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Sigma 14mm f/2.8 AF Review Round-Up

If you own or have used this lens, let us know what you think! Leave your comments and thoughts below.

Luminous Landscape:

Resolution is, as expected, very good. In a large print small chips in the central concrete buttress are clearly visible. Contrast is fine and at f/11 at least there is no visible fall-off in the corners. The sun is out of the frame so flare isn’t visible. The lens cap is well designed. Because the front element is so huge designing a protective lens cap can be an issue. Sigma has come up with a neat solution by providing a pressure-fit ring that first fits on the end of the lens, extending beyond the sculpted integrated lens shade. The standard lens cap then fits on the outside of this ring. Simple and effective. Like all lenses of this type, as you can see from the photograph at the top of the page, the front element is exposed. This makes it susceptible to fingerprints and other more serious hazards so keeping the lens cap on when not actually shooting is probably a very good idea. Based on my experience using the Sigma 14mm with my D30 and D60 over a period of a couple of years, I’d say that if you’re looking for a moderately priced ultra-wide angle lens to give your DSLR wide angle capability, the Sigma 14mm f/2.8 is a decent performer for the money. Initial impressions of this lens are very favourable. READ FULL REVIEW

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Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L EF USM Review Round-Up

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Get information and user reviews for this lens from Amazon: Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

Photo Zone:

Very similar to its IS enabled cousin the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 USM L is an impressive piece of lens with superb build quality combined with an excellent optical performance which is, in fact, slightly better than in the rest of the family and comparable to the best fix-focals in its range. So if you can live without IS (which is, however, darn attractive in its 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS incarnation) there’re still good reasons to go for this superb lens! READ FULL REVIEW

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