07-29-2010, 01:59 PM
Thank godness Klaus you are testing the way you are testing. When I look at the lens tests of some German photo magazines like colorfoto or fotomagazine with all their MTF machines and all those stupid curves and data, I am glad that your tests include SAMPLE PICTURES.
Yes, sample pictures are the best way to judge a lens. If I were to recommend a new testing procedure I would suggest a more coherent approach to sample pictures. It would go a long way if you just shot every lens on the same wall (or some other flat, real life subeject)with wide opne aperture and two stops down (for a three focal length in case of zooms). To that I'd add one portrait (equal composition is mandatory here for every lens) and one or two landscape shots at differnt apertures ( again same subject for every lens). One more pic would be required if a lens showed a curved focus field, to show that by correctly setting the focus one can get the corners into focus. With these sample pictures everyody could judge for himself if the lens is good enough for one's needs. Now dont say that there are other websites which provide samples. No there arent, at least none which are reliable. A lot of people on the inertnet post out of focus shots or hand held high iso shots for judgeing lens quality which is really useless. (hardly any picture on pixelpeeper.com is free from handshake for example) What I sometimes miss in your sample shots are wide open shots, which help a lot in judging image quality.
Thanks and keep up the good work
Yes, sample pictures are the best way to judge a lens. If I were to recommend a new testing procedure I would suggest a more coherent approach to sample pictures. It would go a long way if you just shot every lens on the same wall (or some other flat, real life subeject)with wide opne aperture and two stops down (for a three focal length in case of zooms). To that I'd add one portrait (equal composition is mandatory here for every lens) and one or two landscape shots at differnt apertures ( again same subject for every lens). One more pic would be required if a lens showed a curved focus field, to show that by correctly setting the focus one can get the corners into focus. With these sample pictures everyody could judge for himself if the lens is good enough for one's needs. Now dont say that there are other websites which provide samples. No there arent, at least none which are reliable. A lot of people on the inertnet post out of focus shots or hand held high iso shots for judgeing lens quality which is really useless. (hardly any picture on pixelpeeper.com is free from handshake for example) What I sometimes miss in your sample shots are wide open shots, which help a lot in judging image quality.
Thanks and keep up the good work