2009 | Photocrati

Canon 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM EF Review Round-Up

canon-ef-28-105mm-f35-45-ii-usm

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: Canon EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM Standard Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

Digital Picture:

The Canon EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM Lens is a definite step up in quality from Canon’s econo consumer zooms. The Canon EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM Lens features good build and decent-for-the-price optical quality. The Canon EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM Lens offer 20mm more zoom range on the telephoto end and sacrifices 4mm on the wide end. If this is the price range you are able to buy up to, you will have to decide which of these features (focal length ranges, image quality) is most important to you. The Canon EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM Lens has a very nice focal length range that includes the normal, general purpose zoom range and more. READ FULL REVIEW

(more…)

Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED AF-S DX VR Nikkor Review Round-Up

nikon-55-200mm-f-4-56g-if-ed-af-s-dx-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 at Amazon: Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX VR Zoom Nikkor Lens

Photo Zone

The Nikkor AF-S 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED DX VR delivered a very sound performance with very few weaknesses. The resolution characteristic is generally very good and neither CAs not distortions are something to worry about. The vignetting is a bit more pronounced at 135mm @ f/5 but otherwise not a real problem. The bokeh (out-of-focus blur) is naturally a bit underdeveloped due to the slow max. aperture but apart from this limitation is seems pretty smooth. … A highly desirable new feature is naturally the VR (Vibration Reduction) mechanism. … However, I’d state that it isn’t quite as efficient as specified by Nikon though. The best thing of all is the very low price tag of the lens – by now it sells for less than 300â‚¬/US$. So you can get lots of bangs for you bucks if you can live with the comparatively slow max. aperture. READ FULL REVIEW

(more…)

Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG Macro AF Review Round-Up

sigma-af-70-300mm-f4-56-apo-dg-macro

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 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO-M DG (Motorized) Macro Telephoto Zoom Lens for Nikon AF D Cameras.

Photo Zone

The Sigma AF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG macro came close to a surprise but it still hasn ´t won the cigar. It delivered pretty decent results in most aspects, specifically at 70mm and 200mm, but at 300mm the border resolution is nothing short of dismal – certainly not apochromatic as claimed by Sigma (nor would we really expect that from such a budget lens). Nonetheless you may argue that the center performance of the lens is on a very high level throughout the range and for many tele applications your main subject is often located close to the center so the border problems may not be all that obvious in the real life. As such it still remains an interesting budget solution. If you prefer a sharp border to border quality look elsewhere though … and prepare yourself to invest quite a bit more. READ FULL REVIEW

(more…)

Tamron 17-35mm f/2.8-4 Di LD Aspherical IF SP AF Review Round-Up

tamron-af-17-35mm-f-28-4-di-ld-aspherical-if-sp

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 17-35mm f/2.8-4.0 Di LD SP Aspherical (IF) Ultra Wide Angle Zoom Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

Photo Zone

The Tamron AF 17-35mm f/2.8-4 Di LD Aspherical IF SP proved to be a very decent standard zoom lens within the tested APS-C DSLR scope. The resolution figures are excellent in the center of the image and good to very good at the borders. Distortions are very pronounced at 17mm but very moderate otherwise. Typical for full frame lenses vignetting is very well controlled. CAs are a little on the high side specifically at 24mm. The build quality is generally pretty good but the direct competition does a little better job in this respect. When shopping for a new lens the Tamron AF 17-50mm f/2.8 SP may be a tad better and more versatile in terms of focal length range but without full format capabilities. If you prefer to have a lens living in both camps the AF 17-35mm f/2.8-4 Di SP may be still worth a deeper look. READ FULL REVIEW

(more…)

Canon 28-105mm F/4-5.6 AF Review Round-Up

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

Pop Photo

An incredibly good buy; optically comparable in test to a $330 (street) 1993 Canon 28-105mm lens, which didn’t focus as close. The plastic lensmount is durable, but just don’t wear gloves when manual focusing! READ FULL REVIEW

(more…)

Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX HSM DC 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: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM Wide Angle AF Lens & Filters & Close-Up Macro Set & 9 Year Warranty for Pentax SLR

Photo Zone

This lens showed a very good performance during the tests especially in terms of resolution. There’s some softness towards the extremes at 10mm @ f/4 but otherwise there’s really nothing to complain here (within this specific lens class anyway). The vignetting and distortions are quite comparable to the rest of the gang. Lateral CAs are generally well controlled except in the extreme corners of the image field. The Sigma offers a little extra kick regarding the widest setting (10mm vs 12mm of the Nikkor or Tokina) so the quality is fairly impressive regarding the increased design complexity here. The build quality is very good and the AF is both fast and virtually silent. If you’re looking for a candidate in this class the Sigma is worth a look but watch out for sample variations. “¦ READ FULL REVIEW

(more…)

Tamron 500mm f/8 SP Review Round-Up

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

Photo Zone

When used with care the Tamron 500mm f/8 SP mirror lens can be able to produce decent results but don’t expect this to be easy – most of my real life sample images were blurred (caused by shake). A (max.) aperture of f/8 is very slow for a 500mm lens (750mm equivalent on APS-C) to start with and effectively this is a f/11 (or to be precise: T/11) lens due to the light loss caused by the secondary mirror. For reasonably sharp results you either need a very sturdy tripod or extremely fast shutter speeds (1/750sec or faster). When used “hand-held” you will need to choose very high ISO settings even in bright light conditions which can’t be desirable in terms of image quality and a tripod would destroy the weight advantage of a mirror lens in field conditions. The rather poor bokeh may be a funny effect in the beginning but once the initial coolness is gone it is just odd and often disturbing. Unless you want to have a lens for “emergency” use you should probably better consider conventional tele lenses. “¦ READ FULL REVIEW

(more…)

Nikon 55mm 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.

Ken Rockwell

The 55mm f/2.8 AF is among Nikon’s best lenses ever. The mechanics are a klunky and plasticy, but the performance is stellar. READ FULL REVIEW

(more…)

Canon 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM EF-S 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: Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 Image Stabilized USM SLR Lens for EOS Digital SLRs

Photo Zone:

The EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 USM IS is a lens that promises many things. It is certainly a very versatile standard zoom with a long zoom range and an image stabilizer that can save the day in many situations. However, the build quality is somewhat disappointing and optically it is also something of a mixed bag. The lens is very sharp in the image center throughout the range but at the wide-end the extreme corners leave something to be desired. The 17mm setting also suffers from rather extreme distortions and rather hefty vignetting @ f/4. Finally chromatic aberrations aren’t really something to rave about either. So at the end of the day the lens is a tad better than the cheapo EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 but it can’t really compete with the new EF-S 18-55m f/3.5-5.6 IS or the EF 17-40mm f/4 USM L. The key feature of the EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 USM IS remains its versatility. While this may sound a little sceptical I should note that I preferred the lens compared to other higher quality options during testing – it is simply a darn convenient lens and despite the flaws it can produce very decent images as you can see from the samples – at least with a little tool support. READ FULL REVIEW

(more…)

Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 SP XR 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 28-75mm f/2.8 SP XR ZL Di LD Aspherical (IF) with Built-In AF Motor for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

Photo Zone

The Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8 SP XR (forgive me for using a shorter variant of the name …) proved to be a very good lens in the lab. The resolution figures are among the highest tested among the standard zoom lenses – the center resolution is generally excellent and the borders follow closely on very good to excellent levels. The distortions are very low as is the amount of vignetting and even CAs are very well under control. Nonetheless it should be mentioned that this is the 2nd tested sample of this lens and both showed centering defects – this is worrisome. The build quality of the lens is decent but nothing to rave about. If you can live with the rather odd zoom range within the APS-C scope the lens is worth a deeper look – assuming you can get a good sample. “¦ READ FULL REVIEW

(more…)