I read the reviews and still am wondering which of the following two zooms is going to render sharper images in real life shooting in the range of 17-50mm:
Nikkor AF-S 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
Sigma AF DC 17-50/2.8 EX HSM OS
Please kindly advise.
Thanks
Both will do fine. If you are a person who likes sharpness over a big depth, there is no reason to look at an f2.8 zoom as you will not be using f2.8. If on the other hand at times you want a shallow depth of focus, you should not be looking at the 16-85mm.
That is the choice you will have to make... the Nikon has a longer tele range, the Sigma offers f2.8. Those two aspects will have a much bigger impact than a slight difference in sharpness somewhere.
what camera body are you going to use it with?
I have Nikon D200 and D7000 bodies. I also know sharpness of the lens not only depends on the optical quality of it, but also how accurately and consistently it focuses with the camera it is mounted on.
I would like to compare these two zooms in the range of 17-50mm at f/8.
[quote name='Garangush' timestamp='1344558532' post='19741']
I have Nikon D200 and D7000 bodies. I also know sharpness of the lens not only depends on the optical quality of it, but also how accurately and consistently it focuses with the camera it is mounted on.
I would like to compare these two zooms in the range of 17-50mm at f/8.
[/quote]
No one can tell which lens will focus more accurately on your D200, or on your D7000.
Now what puzzles me is why you want to compare them at f8. In the 17-50mm range, at f8 just about everything will be in focus, even if the focus is slightly off. Slight focus inaccuracies only are noticable with big apertures...