Squizz's reviews

  • Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED VR DX AF-S Nikkor

    7 out of 10 points and recommended
    Convenient, good quality at f8.
    Zoom Creep, Effectively a fixed f-number lens

    I shoot mainly landscapes in good light. So having read many reviews stating that f8 is the sweet spot for this lens, 90% of the time shoot in A priority at f8. And I get pretty good results. If you tinker with the charts here you will see why. at f8 it's pretty acceptable for sharpness across the range. Set it and forget it.

    But if you want to shoot wide open, just forget it.

    For how I have used it, it's been fine, but it won't serve more creative uses at wide apertures.

    The above double personality is perhaps why you get differing views on this lens.

    Buy a prime though and you'll see what you are missing. Simple sharpness isn't everything ....

    reviewed February 1st, 2015 (purchased for $900)
  • Nikon 85mm f/1.8G AF-S Nikkor

    10 out of 10 points and recommended
    Jaw dropping colour and clarity, inexpensive.
    None

    Sharpness is well covered by the technical review - in use this is not a lens you need to pixel peep to see if it's better. The pictures just hop off the page and tell you. How would I describe the effect in one word "clarity".

    "Clarity" is made up of sharpness, lack of CA, contrast, nice bokeh, all these at wide apertures allowing subject isolation without compromise.

    Just a cracking little lens.

    And it's cheap and light. Yes, if you run a truck over it, it will break - so what? Unless you are a pro or don't treat you gear well, it's made plenty well enough.

    For what it's worth, DXO rate this as the best 85mm for Nikon (D810), bar none - marginally better even than the (expensive and heavy) 1.4. They also say it's the 4th best lens of any focal length for Nikon. (In both cases limited, of course, to the large number of lenses they have tested). I've not used the ones they compared it, but my experience has nothing to contradict their view.

    Used on a D7100.

    reviewed February 1st, 2015 (purchased for $500)