51 views, no reply prior to mine. I guess that tells you that a lot of people don't know
we have so many gearheads here, jsut that most of them don't bother to post. :bsmilie:
actually, this has been asked many times. you can test, and you can test, and you can test. my version of testing is really rudimentary, i know of people who will use laptop to see the test images on the monitor. i think that's really a bit too far fetched, but whatever floats anyone's bloat.
this will suffice if you aren't a pixel peeper, i like to look at online samples to get a rough idea of what other people are getting, and what a "good copy" should look like, go down to shop, fit lens on, if it is prime, then just shoot one set, if it is zoom, then test at extreme ends and middle.
1) shoot wide open
2) shoot with aperture stopped down 2 stops from wide open
3) shoot at f/8, if that isn't reached by #2, or f/11
check centre sharpness, check corner sharpness for each, see if it is acceptable. we must remember that no lens is going to be as sharp wide open. better if you can find the "sweet spot" for each lens and see if it matches up to YOUR expectations. after all, YOU are the user of the lens.
personally, i think just zooming in on the lcd is good enough.
please note that when you test, you should be ensuring that there is no human error. some people will recommend checking for af problems using a focus chart. all test shots should be done with a TRIPOD that is reasonably stable, and in timer mode to ensure that you don't cause any shake when you trigger the shutter.
this is just for testing sharpness and for focus problems, what i have said so far. if you want to test even more still can, actually.. but really, i think that's what most people are talking about when they say "good" "sharp" "bad" copy.