New camera lenses...

[manarak]

I picked up and tested my 2 new lenses today, and I sent the Sigma lens as an RMA for recalibration.

I am very happy with the quality of both lenses.

Both are big and heavy lenses - that's the downside.

Both new lenses have no focussing issues, unlike the Sigma (front focusing by 22mm) and unlike the Canon kit lens (front focusing by 10mm)!
This rather confirms that there is nothing wrong with my camera's body, but rather with my two first lenses.
I think I will RMA the Canon lens for recalibration too.


The Tamron lens is quite impressive, with its huge 270mm zoom which is a 428mm equivalent on crop-sensor cameras.
The pictures are very sharp at 18mm and up to 200mm.

The Tamron outperforms my Canon kit lens in every way, except weight and noise of the AF.


I am less impressed by the Tokina lens, which just does what it says: shoot sharp pictures at a constant aperture of f/2.8.
To see its real use, I guess I just have to wait until I got some indoor pictures to make.

I will post some test shots here in some hours.

[manarak]

here is a shot with the Tokina at 11mm, I used the phase detect AF on the tip of the chimneys
I think the picture quality is just beautiful.

(both pics straight out of the camera as JPG, the crop is at 100% scale)

yes, we had beautiful weather today in Switzerland...

[manarak]

now the Tamron...

same thing, phase detect AF, both pics (18mm and 270mm) straight out of the camera as JPG, the crop is at 100% scale.

first at 18mm

[manarak]

and now at 270mm...

beware your eyes!

the second pic posted here is a crop of the first one, it is straight out of the camera, NOT magnified!

[Jake_Sully]

The first one is beautiful. The second one of the chimney on the closeup looks like it got a bit too much noise to me but you can never accurately compare pictures on the wb since my monitor settings might be totally different from yours.

[manarak]

you can clearly see some vignetting on the 270mm shot.

BUT...
look at that magnification!

I think the picture quality is just amazing

[manarak]

(Jake_Sully @ Sep. 02 2010,00:40) The first one is beautiful. The second one of the chimney on the closeup looks like it got a bit too much noise to me but you can never accurately compare pictures on the wb since my monitor settings might be totally different from yours.

it is not a closeup...
it is just a crop of the same picture, just at 100%, not resized.

[Jake_Sully]

Its not blurry to you at all?

Btw the rest are beautiful as well.

[manarak]

yes it is a bit blurry... but that's ok,  I don't know how to explain...

these are just 472 pixels of a pic that's 5184 pix big!
if you have a full HD monitor, that's nearly three times the width of the screen.

[Jake_Sully]

Actually that's an explanation in itself, we're looking at it too closely. There's an ideal viewing distance for any picture pretty much like there's an ideal viewing distance for any HDTV. Look too closely and it looks blurry and pixelated.

Wonderful lens.

[manarak]

I think so!
Both lenses are wonderful.

I am very happy with my purchases, that should improve the picture quality manyfold!

[azza33]

Nice

How much was the tokina lens??

[manarak]

it was quite expensive at 695 CHF (approx. 670 USD) - but it is a hell of a lens!

[azza33]

Price seems reasonable and comparable to the canon 10 22

I bought the canon 70 300 zoom, good lens but limited use as PAC would say!
Still what I notice is build quality is so much nicer than the kit 18 55, and the histograms are more textbook than the cheap kit lens which indicates the optics are far better.

[manarak]

you probably have an amazing zoom with the 70-300.
that's 480mm equivalent!

which version of Canon's 70-300 is it? I know at least 2 versions

can you post some test pix?