01-11-2012, 09:32 AM
Firstly, thanks Markus for the report.
Before anyone gets too carried away with the 1 1/2 star on FX, remember that it's on the D3x and not on a D3. Hands up those who actually have a D3x and can't afford something more professional than the 18-35mm?
For the casual FX (D3/D700) shooter there is no other affordable wide-angle Nikkor zoom!
Also, note that the center performance at basically everything is more than decent.
BTW, how much exactly is the center?
When I started all this off I mentioned that David Ruether had many years ago said that even on film the corners were not great at 18mm.
However, if you read his report in full you can not be but fairly impressed with the lens.
http://www.donferrario.com/ruether/wa-zooms.htm
At 24, 28 and 35mm David gives either 14 or 15 out of 15 for center performances!
And this is his definition of center:
"The numbers given are ratings for sharpness for the major part of the frame, and in parentheses, the ratings for the far corner sharpness (the small area that would almost slip under a slide mount or negative carrier)".
Anyway, I think that it's all a bit academic as in the real world this lens is universally considered to be a good lens.
I think that it is always a good idea to get a number of opinions before making any conclusions about any lens.
For example, SLR Gear have an interesting way of testing and evaluating lenses since at the end of their report users can add their own comments. You will notice that 7 people contributed and not one disliked the lens.
http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showprodu...13/cat/all
Lastly, in comparison to the 16-35mm, my initial findings are that the 16-35 is just better at everything except at 35mm (close call at 28mm). For some reason my sample has some issues at this focal length, so my workhorse for the past 5 years will not be quite retired just yet.
Before anyone gets too carried away with the 1 1/2 star on FX, remember that it's on the D3x and not on a D3. Hands up those who actually have a D3x and can't afford something more professional than the 18-35mm?
For the casual FX (D3/D700) shooter there is no other affordable wide-angle Nikkor zoom!
Also, note that the center performance at basically everything is more than decent.
BTW, how much exactly is the center?
When I started all this off I mentioned that David Ruether had many years ago said that even on film the corners were not great at 18mm.
However, if you read his report in full you can not be but fairly impressed with the lens.
http://www.donferrario.com/ruether/wa-zooms.htm
At 24, 28 and 35mm David gives either 14 or 15 out of 15 for center performances!
And this is his definition of center:
"The numbers given are ratings for sharpness for the major part of the frame, and in parentheses, the ratings for the far corner sharpness (the small area that would almost slip under a slide mount or negative carrier)".
Anyway, I think that it's all a bit academic as in the real world this lens is universally considered to be a good lens.
I think that it is always a good idea to get a number of opinions before making any conclusions about any lens.
For example, SLR Gear have an interesting way of testing and evaluating lenses since at the end of their report users can add their own comments. You will notice that 7 people contributed and not one disliked the lens.
http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showprodu...13/cat/all
Lastly, in comparison to the 16-35mm, my initial findings are that the 16-35 is just better at everything except at 35mm (close call at 28mm). For some reason my sample has some issues at this focal length, so my workhorse for the past 5 years will not be quite retired just yet.