Zoom and Prime

[Kopred]

Hi all,
Some questions therefore need some advise. Especially, brothers in here who own them.
Was actually thinking of whether to get this 16-85mm. Sharpness is utmost priority for me.
Greatly appreciate the help.

1)
AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (5.3x) (Zoom) sharper than
AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (Zoom)?

2)
AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (5.3x) (Zoom) sharper than
AF-S DX 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED (Zoom)?

3)
AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (5.3x) (Zoom) sharper than
AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G (Prime)?

 

[jeff7id]

Hi all,
Some questions therefore need some advise. Especially, brothers in here who own them.
Was actually thinking of whether to get this 16-85mm. Sharpness is utmost priority for me.
Greatly appreciate the help.

1)
AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (5.3x) (Zoom) sharper than
AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (Zoom)?

2)
AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (5.3x) (Zoom) sharper than
AF-S DX 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED (Zoom)?

3)
AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (5.3x) (Zoom) sharper than
AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G (Prime)?

Zoom and Prime ?
I think the thread title is not related with the question here.

Actually all lenses, inclusive of kit lenses, are sharp if TS shoot from f/8 to f/16, which is a common setup in studio shoot or landscape shoot.

But there will always be people complaining of sharpness in the biggest aperture. In this case, the sharpness can't be separated with:
- skill of the photographer
- good or bad copy of the lens

It's recommended for TS to do quick test in the shop, before purchase the lens.

 

[diediealsomustdive]

But there will always be people complaining of sharpness in the biggest aperture. In this case, the sharpness can't be separated with:
- skill of the photographer
- good or bad copy of the lens

Agree with the rest of your comments.

Disagree about good or bad copy part of your comment. It is overplayed, there are really no bad copies of lenses, Nikkor at least, as 6 "sigma" (sigma as in the quality control circle usage, not the lens maker) defines the quality assurance requirement in Nikon. Only bad copy are the ones abused and out of alignment or calibration, or the extreme case of the 0.0001% that are not caught by the QC/QA system.

Can't say the same with certain other brands where sharp copy appears to be the required norm when picking up a lens.

 

[wheresmycheese]

17-55mm f2.8 sharpest

 

[michael chick]

Hi, I'm very confused here.

Do all of you shoot lens charts for a living or what?
Sharp, sharper, sharpest, sharpester, and sharpestest doesn't mean anything in the field.
You only help feed camera shops in this orgasmic frenzy. Maybe shop owners put trojans here to spread the "sharpestestestest" ... hmmmmm

Put in the hands of a skilled cameraman, even an el-cheapo SeaGull TLR can produce excellent results.
(btw, the Seagull only costs US$30 in China. Nowhere near the S$250-$350 which we see in shops here today)


Get it right, by shooting it right.


I'll give a prize to anyone who can tell me what Brand camera, and lens, I used for the picture below...

Just my 2 Rupiah...

 

[merkava74]

Put in the hands of a skilled cameraman, even an el-cheapo SeaGull TLR can produce excellent results.

:thumbsup: Agreed. I was just posting this in another thread: Taken with a D3100 with 18-55 kit lens:

 

[deltatango]

Hi, I'm very confused here.

Do all of you shoot lens charts for a living or what?
Sharp, sharper, sharpest, sharpester, and sharpestest doesn't mean anything in the field.
You only help feed camera shops in this orgasmic frenzy. Maybe shop owners put trojans here to spread the "sharpestestestest" ... hmmmmm

Put in the hands of a skilled cameraman, even an el-cheapo SeaGull TLR can produce excellent results.
(btw, the Seagull only costs US$30 in China. Nowhere near the S$250-$350 which we see in shops here today)


Get it right, by shooting it right.


I'll give a prize to anyone who can tell me what Brand camera, and lens, I used for the picture below...

Just my 2 Rupiah...

I have to agree. I have seen people with film SLRs and compacts shoot better than people holding the latest DSLRs. E.g. If you let someone with zero photographic experience shoot with the D3 and f2.8 lenses I bet he's not going to produce anything useable.

 

[tonychua]

Ha deltatango, i fully agreed with your comment. My gf Sony TR 7 put me to shame when we are shooting the same subject. I have my D3s and 24-70mm. We shoot just to view on LCD monitor only.

 

[sjackal]

Hi all,
Some questions therefore need some advise. Especially, brothers in here who own them.
Was actually thinking of whether to get this 16-85mm. Sharpness is utmost priority for me.
Greatly appreciate the help.

1)
AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (5.3x) (Zoom) sharper than
AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (Zoom)?

2)
AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (5.3x) (Zoom) sharper than
AF-S DX 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED (Zoom)?

3)
AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (5.3x) (Zoom) sharper than
AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G (Prime)?

Not the answers you are expecting I guess, but its hard to have a fair comparison as they are all different lenses, different focal length and speed.

Also the comparison about how Seagull beats D3s, also hard to be fair, medium format film versus digital, different animals.

Different people will give you different views. For some people, having a really sharp lens is way more important and will bring tremendous satisfaction, more than good pictures, for some people, a blurry good picture is way better than the sharpest lens, that soft blurry pic would very well be a masterpiece of the decade.

Whatever floats your boat.

Even if you are the pixel peeping type, sharpness is not everything too, there are contrast to consider, micro sharpness, fringing, distortion, etc, to determine a good lens or not. Not just sharpness.

 

[Kopred]

Yea, everyone have different favourite's. Sharpness is mine though.
Which is why i'm asking fellow members on how "sharp" is for respective 3 lens in comparison, esp for members who lucky to have all 3.
Thanks for all for the valuable info. Appreciate the prompt info. Tyty!

 

[kentwong81]

Last time the old prime lenses like 14mm f2.8D, 20mm f2.8Dm, 24mm f2.8D and 28mm f2.8D were considered sharper than the zoom lenses until the ultimate trinity zoom like 24-70mm f2.8D, 17-35 f2.8D and 14-24mm f2.8D came out and put those old prime lenses into RIP.
But now Nikon released another new prime lenses 24mm f1.4G, 35mm f1.4G and 85mm f1.4G which I think are sharper than the zoom lenses at the moment.

Yea, everyone have different favourite's. Sharpness is mine though.
Which is why i'm asking fellow members on how "sharp" is for respective 3 lens in comparison, esp for members who lucky to have all 3.
Thanks for all for the valuable info. Appreciate the prompt info. Tyty!

 

[hotwork77]

Hi all,
Some questions therefore need some advise. Especially, brothers in here who own them.
Was actually thinking of whether to get this 16-85mm. Sharpness is utmost priority for me.
Greatly appreciate the help.

1)
AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (5.3x) (Zoom) sharper than
AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (Zoom)?

2)
AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (5.3x) (Zoom) sharper than
AF-S DX 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED (Zoom)?

3)
AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (5.3x) (Zoom) sharper than
AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G (Prime)?

All are equally sharp. It's your skill that you need to sharpen. Go out and shoot more and stop asking irrelevant questions.

 

[michael chick]

Dear Hotwork77,
You said, "All are equally sharp. It's your skill that you need to sharpen. Go out and shoot more and stop asking irrelevant questions... "


BRAVO !!!
clap clap clap clap clap....

Still no takers for what camera I used for the pix ???
*sigh*

Sometimes, you need to forget what equipment you have. Just point the damn camera at the subject, and "click".

Double or nothing?
What about the image below then???

What Brand camera did I use ???

 

[robotech]

Hi all,
Some questions therefore need some advise. Especially, brothers in here who own them.
Was actually thinking of whether to get this 16-85mm. Sharpness is utmost priority for me.
Greatly appreciate the help.

1)
AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (5.3x) (Zoom) sharper than
AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (Zoom)?

2)
AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (5.3x) (Zoom) sharper than
AF-S DX 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED (Zoom)?

3)
AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (5.3x) (Zoom) sharper than
AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G (Prime)?

If sharpness is very important to you, maybe you should look at 14-24f2.8, 24-70f2.8 and 70-200f2.8 for zooms. This will cover the range from 16-85 and 18-105.

If you like prime, then go for 24f1.4, 35f1.4, 50f1.4 and 85f1.4

Sure sharp.

A lot of other factors decides the sharpness of the image, not just the lens.

Canon Powershot?

What Brand camera did I use ???

LX3?

 

[Kopred]

Robotech,
Thanks for the recommendation.

 

[michael chick]

Congrats Robotech...

However, you ONLY got it 50% although....

I did say, "I'll give a prize to anyone who can tell me what Brand camera, and lens, I used for the picture below..."
Borrobudor was shot with a Canon G9, with a 0.42x adaptor.
(Colors were deliberately desaturated, contrast dropped and red/blue fringe removed with PSD (caused by the cheapo 0.42x adaptor ))

However, on the Merlion, you were wayyyyyy offffff hahahahahaha.

But I'll be nice, I'll buy you lunch all the same.
Say where and when....

Oh, and PM me pls.
Thanx

Cheers

 

[nightwolf75]

i fail to see the purpose of this thread. and i will appreciate that, if you think the question is not worth your intelligence to answer, then keep your snarky comments to yourself.

to TS: try this
http://www.photozone.de/Reviews/nikon--nikkor-aps-c-lens-tests

it should have enough sharpness charts to make your head spin.