Monday, June 13, 2016

Nikon 70-210mm f/4-5.6 Review

Another option to having a more compact Nikon kit would be a 2 lens option.  I already have a very good copy of the Nikon 28-85mm f/3.5-4.5, but it lacks in the longer end.  Doing research brought me to the conclusion that I needed to check out the 70-210mm f/4-5.6

Reviews everywhere give it rave reviews in IQ and AF capability(although it is claimed that the "D" version focus' faster than the non-D).  Can it live up to what others have said about it?  Let's find out!!

Testing was done on a Nikon Df.

210mm | 1/500 | f/8 : ISO 900

IQ

Initial testing of the 70-210mm f/4-5.6...is a little mixed at the moment.  I think I need more time with it and some analytical testing.  By that I mean I need to run it through some very controlled tests. There were times that images taken were blurry, then another shot with he exact same exposure  and focal length settings would yield an in focus shot.

It very well could be that my hand holding technique is off.   More testing will be done to determine the cause.  It is possible that there are focusing issues, so testing will be done on the D700 and D300.

116mm | 1/500 | f/5.6 | ISO 320

Handling

Another push-pull zoom and same experience as we found with the 35-135 we reviewed earlier.  Again, I kind of like it.

On the Df, I use the lens aperture ring to change the value instead of the control dial.

There is no VR on this lens, so when shooting at the longer focal lengths, you'll want to make sure you keep your focal lengths in the realm of  the hand holding rule.

70mm | 1/1250 | f/4 | ISO 200

Weight/Size

While a bit on the heavy side(it is an all metal constructed lens) it balanced well on the Nikon Df.  It fits nicely into the side pocket of the Lowepro Transit 250 AW attached to the Df.

210mm | 1/250 | f/8 | ISO 320

Auto Focus

Auto focus was acceptable for this lens.  On the slower side, but I expected as much for a lens of this age and design.  It focus' accurately and the slower AF is better than no AF at all.  I'm not going to complain about it!  :D

110mm | 1/320 | f/8 | ISO 200

Conclusion

This is a dandy of an old lens and for the sub $100 price tag, it will be able to perform its job admirably and to our needs.  I envision this being used when I want to run with the Df and only take one lens.

210mm | 1/250 | f/5.6 | ISO 250

210mm | 1/250 | f/11 | ISO 1250

210mm | 1/250 | f/11 | ISO 1100

210mm | 1/250 | f/5.6 | ISO 450

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Nikon 35-135mm f/3.5-4.5 Review

Image © mir.com


After our failed attempt to bond with the Nikon 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6VR, next lens into the testing queue is an oldie....the Nikon 35-135mm f/3.5-4.5

Again, the desire is to find a lens that can be an everyday walk about and useful focal length.  While 35mm may not seem wide enough for a lot of people, I find that I crave more for a longer field of view than I do a wider one.

There was not a lot of information out there on this lens, but for the price, it was worth the gamble.

Onward with the testing to see if our gamble payed off!

Majority of the testing was done on a Nikon Df.

135mm | 1/640 | f/4.5 : ISO 200

IQ

Initial testing of the 35-135mm was definitely more favorable than the 24-120/3.5-5.6VR we tested.  Contrast on the lens is very good and the sharpness is there.  No, it is not as good as the newest lenses out today, but it is not far behind.  I was honestly surprised.  I probably should not have been as we have similar performance with the older Nikon 28-85/3.5-4.5.

135mm | 1/640 | f/4.5 | ISO 200

Handling

This is where I thought I would hate this lens, but turns out, the push-pull zoom is not that hard to get used to.  In a way, I kind of like it.

On the Df, I use the lens aperture ring to change the value instead of the control dial.
70mm | 1/400 | f/5.6 | ISO 200
There is even a macro mode at 35mm.  Press the silver button on the side of the lens and twist to put it into macro mode.  In this mode, it is manual focus only.

There is no VR on this lens, so when shooting at the longer focal lengths, you'll want to make sure you keep your focal lengths in the realm of  the hand holding rule.

85mm | 1/800 | f/4.2 | ISO 200

Weight/Size

While a bit on the heavy side(it is an all metal constructed lens) it balanced well on the Nikon Df.  It fits nicely into the side pocket of the Lowepro Transit 250 AW attached to the Df.

135mm | 1/200 | f/4.5 | ISO 200

Auto Focus

Auto focus was acceptable for this lens.  On the slower side, but I expected as much for a lens of this age and design.  It focus' accurately and the slower AF is better than no AF at all.  I'm not going to complain about it!  :D

98mm | 1/100 | f/5.6 | ISO 280

Conclusion

This is a dandy of an old lens and for the sub $100 price tag, it will be able to perform its job admirably and to our needs.  I envision this being used when I want to run with the Df and only take one lens.

135mm | 1/200 | f/8 | ISO 200

135mm | 1/400 | f/8 | ISO 200


Monday, June 6, 2016

Nikon 24-120mm f3.5-5.6G VR Review

Image © NikonUSA

As many of the loyal readers know, we here at Best Light Photo work in 2 worlds - that of Olympus and Nikon.

Today we are going to start looking at some older Nikon lenses.  Why, you may ask?  Our Nikon kit has recently been running one prime and 2 pro grade zoom lenses.  Those pro lenses do not lend themselves to the casual stroll and smaller lenses are desirable.   I'm not so much concerned about the weight as I am being able to fit everything into a Lowepro Transit 250 AW sling pack.

Went to the local camera store and was looking about for a nice, small-ish do it all street zoom.  After looking at the various options available, I decided to give the Nikon 24-120mm f3.5-5.6 VR lens a try.  The f/4 version would have been bigger than we wanted to go at this point and is quite the budget jump.

Majority of the testing was done on a Nikon Df.

32mm | 1/30 | f/8 | ISO 400

IQ

First and foremost, a lens must perform.  It needs to be sharp and provide a good base image.
Sadly, the majority of the internet reviews are very accurate.   This is not a good lens, and dare I say, that this might be the worst lens I've every used on any system.

It is not sharp at any focal length or any aperture.

I tried auto focus fine tuning on the Nikon Df and D700....no go.  I even tried shooting in live view with contrast detect AF to see if that improved things....no joy there either.
On that point alone, the lens fails.  Which is a shame because it is a decent focal range and the contrast seemed very nice.

It's hard to tell where the IQ breaks down on web size images, and I'm not a pixel peeper.

120mm | 1/320 | f/5.6 | ISO 200

Handling

I'm not a fan of the "reversed" focus/zoom rings that Nikon went to with the AF-S lenses.  I always tend to accidentally bump the darn thing. To be honest, I thought that might have been an issue with the AF being so bad.  I made sure that I took that out of the equation during the tests and verified that I was not moving that focus ring inadvertently.

On the positives, the zoom throw from 24 to 120 is relatively short so going from one end of the focal range to the other can be a quick trip.  It can also be a little less accurate because it is so close together.

120mm | 1/640 | f/8 | ISO 200
This is a G lens, so no aperture ring.

Weight/Size

For our desires, this lens was a good size and weight for the purpose it was going to be used for.  No real complaints there.  It balanced well on the Nikon Df.

120mm | 1/125 | f/5.6 | ISO 320 VR active

Auto Focus

Auto focus was decent for this lens.  Not slow, but not pro grade lens fast.  It would be fine for the majority of user situations.  This is an AF-S lens with the full time manual focus override.

120mm | 1/125 | f/8 | ISO 1250 | VR active

Conclusion

I REALLY wanted this lens to work out, I did.  It was a good size, had a useful focal range and was a quick, quiet focuser.   Too bad that the shoddy IQ in the sharpness range was a total deal breaker.  After many tests and trying to work with the lens over a 3 day weekend...there was just no salvaging the lens.  It was returned and the money was used to purchase other lenses that might fit the everyday walk around lens.

To get the provided sample images to look even half way decent I processed these images more than I normally have to.  B&W with a lot of grain helped tighten things up a bit.

38mm | 1/40 | f/8 | ISO 250 | VR active

32mm | 1/40 | f/8 | ISO 200 | VR active

110mm | 1/125 | f/5.6 | ISO 1800 | VR active

120mm | 1/125 | f/8 | ISO 3600 : VR active