Subjective Lens Sharpness Test: AFS18-200VR vs AFS18-70 (Pic Intensive)

[ziploc]

When I just bought my AFS18-200/3.5-5.6VR and before selling off the AFS18-70/3.5-4.5, I did a quick and dirty lens sharpness comparison between the 2 lens. The test was conducted by shooting the characters on my LCD monitor - not exactly an excellent subject but would do especially when I was in a rush. Since there are a lot of interests in the sharpness of these lenses, I'm sharing them here. Please note that there will definitely be performance variation between these lenses and yours. Please also note that this test compares only optical sharpness; other parameters like light drop-off, chromatic aberration, distortions etc. are not considered. AFS17-35/2.8 is added as reference only and not intended to compare with the 2 lenses.

I've rated the sharpness according to my interpretation with the following colors; you're free to make your own assessments.

Light green - excellent
Dark green - good
Light yellow - fair
Dark yellow - average
Red - below average

All images were cropped at exactly the same location - one center and the other lower right corner.



My conclusion from the test: the 18-200VR generally performs better then the 18-70, at least for my copies. The 18-200VR is an excellent lens - there are some corner softness around 24-35mm, but improves remarkably once stop down by 2 stops. My main use for this lens is for shooting landscapes while traveling, and the 18-200VR fits my purpose perfectly.

[ziploc]

17mm comparison

[ziploc]

24mm comparison

[ziploc]

35mm comparison

[ziploc]

50mm comparison

[ziploc]

70mm comparison

[ziploc]

AFS18-200/3.5-5.6VR - 135mm &200mm

[gooseberry]

Good effort there ziploc, thanks for posting. Interested to know, roughly what was the camera to subject distance ? Also, did you use autofocus or manual focus ?

[ziploc]

The camera was position at the minimum focusing distance of the lenses on a tripod, so the camera to subject distance is slightly different between the 2 and at different focal length, but they would be performing at their worst. Autofocus was used, and the camera body was the Fuji S5pro.

[lsisaxon]

Originally Posted by ziploc My conclusion from the test: the 18-200VR generally performs better then the 18-70, at least for my copies. The 18-200VR is an excellent lens - there are some corner softness around 24-35mm, but improves remarkably once stop down by 2 stops. My main use for this lens is for shooting landscapes while traveling, and the 18-200VR fits my purpose perfectly.

The conclusion is not just yours. But some people just refuse to accept this fact.

[jnet6]

Good effort, anyway still prefer 17-35 output.

But i'm quite impress with yr copy of 18-200 results.

[rvxing]

Ziploc, thanks for sharing. So, if one stay at F8/11, the picture will be likely right in sharpness.

[lunas]

Thank you for the review. Great effort

[Diesel Man]

Originally Posted by lunas Thank you for the review. Great effort

I second that

[lsisaxon]

Originally Posted by lunas Thank you for the review. Great effort

I'll third that!

I have done test shots of many lenses but just simply no time to arrange it like ziploc did! Thanks for taking the time to put up such an easy comparison.

[ziploc]

No problem, glad to be able to share this with you.

[ziploc]

Originally Posted by rvxing Ziploc, thanks for sharing. So, if one stay at F8/11, the picture will be likely right in sharpness.

Yup. But if we just look at the center sharpness, we could see that the 18-200 is very sharp throughout the range, and the stop down only helps improve the corner sharpness. In a lot of landscape/travel shots it's ok to shoot wide open, as usually the corners might not be as critical (e.g. foreground & sky). We only need to stop down when corner sharpness is needed. The only thing I dislike about this lens is the wavy distortion pattern at 18mm focal length.

[glay78]

Good effort and very great post

By looking at this made me wanted to buy the 18-200vr lens. Maybe it should be my next shopping list

[Six-GHz]

Thanks for sharing your painstaking effort!

.

[JacePhoto]

i am amazed by yr contribution...