Two more lens tests, an update, and a retest posted to SLRgear.com!
By
Dave Etchells
(Thursday, October 19, 2006 - 14:37 EDT)
A longer delay than I'd intended, but two really sweet lenses posted for your consideration. (And a retest plus half of another one...)
A variety of things kept me from getting the lens test results posted that I'd wanted to last week, but I'm hopefully making up for it today, by posting results for two of the lenses most-requested by readers. These are two really excellent pieces of optical engineering, the Canon 70-200mm f/4L, and the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 Di II. Both represent something of a bargain, considering their superlative optical performance, and the Tamron in particular is a lens that should interest many new DSLR owners. - It would make a really excellent "walk around" lens for a DSLR, a significant upgrade to typical "kit" lenses provided by the manufacturers.
We've also put up full-frame results for the (also superb) Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro. This was one of the first lenses we tested on SLRgear, but we only just recently got around to testing it on the 5D body as well.
Finally, we recently received a second sample of Nikon's 12-24mm f/4 DX ultra-wide zoom for a retest. The original sample of this lens showed considerable asymmetry in its blur characteristics, something we've since frequently found associated with internal damage. (Not always, but often.) We're happy to report that a retest of this lens resulted in much better performance than we saw in the first sample, so that report has now been updated.
Here are links to the newest test results, as well as some recent older ones:
There's lots more coming, Test Tech Jim has gotten quite a bit ahead of me, so there should be several more sets of test results going up by sometime next week, including those for the first Nikon lenses in a long time. (Hopefully the first of many to come.) Lenses in the queue are the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS, the Nikon 50mm f/1.8, Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8, and Nikon 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D VR. We also just got a couple of nice-looking Sigmas, the 150mm f/2.8 macro and 70-200mm f/2.8 tele zoom. Stay tuned! - Dave E.
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