Nikon 16-35 f/4 Questions.

[SOLLERBOY]

Hi,

I currently have a D700, D800 , 50 1.4 & 24-70 2.8. I always use my 24-70 for everything. Obviously I don't have many lenses and this is because very time I but one I am unhappy with it. I originally bought the 14-24 when I was shooting with a D90 and returned it because I didn't like that combo. I shoot a lot of different subject matter and usually use the 24-70 however, I am going on a trip across America soon and would really like a wide angle zoom again (I used the sigma 10=20 on the D90). I did a similar trip a few years ago and managed ok with the 24-70 but I really feel I could benefit from a wide angle.

After a lot of research I ordered the 16-35 and got it yesterday. It came late in the day so I didn't get much chance to test it but was unimpressed by initial results (not very sharp). Today I took it for more of a test and sharpness does now seem ok with fresh eyes but can't help but feel there is excessive chromatic aberration at f/8 and on some images, the right hand side of the frame seems soft. I have also noticed that shooting vita VR in the day produces soft images ( I think that is supposed to happen? I've never had a VR lens before.).


I was wondering what your opinions are on these samples: ( take no notice of the subject matter).


http://testimagesupload.tumblr.com ( I don't know of any easier way of uploading images?)

Thanks!

 

[bhtwo]

They looks okay to me... mind you, my eyes are rather old.

Are these from RAW? Do you use any in-camera sharpening?

 

[SOLLERBOY]

They looks okay to me... mind you, my eyes are rather old.

Are these from RAW? Do you use any in-camera sharpening?

Yeah RAW, the walls are straight out of camera. No in cam sharpening on any of them.

 

[nburwell]

This is actually my workhorse lens. More so than my 14-24mm (which I really only use for astrophotography). I have noticed chromatic abberation around f/8, but nothing that bothers me too much since I can easily correct it in Lightroom. I mainly shoot cityscapes and landscape, so I shoot wide angle pretty often. I have not yet been let down by my 16-35mm copy.

PS - the examples you posted look pretty good to me (then again they are web size as well)

 

[compuwar]

After a lot of research I ordered the 16-35 and got it yesterday. It came late in the day so I didn't get much chance to test it but was unimpressed by initial results (not very sharp). Today I took it for more of a test and sharpness does now seem ok with fresh eyes but can't help but feel there is excessive chromatic aberration at f/8 and on some images, the right hand side of the frame seems soft. I have also noticed that shooting vita VR in the day produces soft images ( I think that is supposed to happen? I've never had a VR lens before.).


I was wondering what your opinions are on these samples: ( take no notice of the subject matter).


http://testimagesupload.tumblr.com ( I don't know of any easier way of uploading images?)

Thanks!

VR should not produce softness, but you should test on a tripod first to see if it's the lens itself. In the first image, I'd expect the depth of field to be shallower than the distance between the car and the trees- but check a DoF chart to see. Most modern digitals are also going to show diffraction around f/11, so in-camera or post-processing sharpening is going to really matter.

http://www.photozone.de/nikon_ff/492-nikkor_afs_1635_4_ff?start=1

Photozone has a good breakdown of the sharpness at differing zoom and aperture settings.

I'd probably shoot perpendicular to a ruler to see if the left/right sharpness thing is an issue, out of alignment lens elements can sometimes be a problem with a specific lens.

Paul

 

[SOLLERBOY]

VR should not produce softness, but you should test on a tripod first to see if it's the lens itself. In the first image, I'd expect the depth of field to be shallower than the distance between the car and the trees- but check a DoF chart to see. Most modern digitals are also going to show diffraction around f/11, so in-camera or post-processing sharpening is going to really matter.

http://www.photozone.de/nikon_ff/492-nikkor_afs_1635_4_ff?start=1

Photozone has a good breakdown of the sharpness at differing zoom and aperture settings.

I'd probably shoot perpendicular to a ruler to see if the left/right sharpness thing is an issue, out of alignment lens elements can sometimes be a problem with a specific lens.

Paul

Thanks for the info!

----------

This is actually my workhorse lens. More so than my 14-24mm (which I really only use for astrophotography). I have noticed chromatic abberation around f/8, but nothing that bothers me too much since I can easily correct it in Lightroom. I mainly shoot cityscapes and landscape, so I shoot wide angle pretty often. I have not yet been let down by my 16-35mm copy.

PS - the examples you posted look pretty good to me (then again they are web size as well)

Thanks, it definitely seems to me that this is a bad copy. Everything everyone is telling me is pointing to that.