The "kit" lens revisited, is it as bad as they say?

I have taken 2 pictures, one at f8 and the other at f16 with the following
lenses:

Canon EFs 18-55 f4,5-5,6 ("kit" lens modified to fit on a 10D)
Canon EF 50mm f1,8
Canon EF 24-85 f3,5-4,5
Canon EF 35-80 f4-5,6
Canon EF 24-70 f2,8 L

So we have 4 zooms, 3 plastic cheapie lenses, one middle of the road zoom
and a primo pro lens. The "kit" lens is one of the early ones which came
with my Drebel, the newer ones are said to be better. I tried to put all
lenses at 50mm and not move the tripod but there are still some slight
changes from one lens to the other.

The pictures are at http://www.pbase.com/jeandr/50mm_test

Now which is which?

Jean

PS These are all TIFF files and at about 4Mb each so a broadband connection
is better for download. There is no EXIF to make sure no one cheats (unless
I missed something embedded in the files which is quite possible)

"jean" wrote in message
...
I have taken 2 pictures, one at f8 and the other at f16 with the following
lenses:


Lens 1 Canon EFs 18-55 f4,5-5,6 ("kit" lens modified to fit on a 10D)
Lens 2 Canon EF 50mm f1,8
Lens 3 Canon EF 24-85 f3,5-4,5
Lens 4 Canon EF 35-80 f4-5,6
Lens 5 Canon EF 24-70 f2,8 L

Lucky guess?

"jean" wrote in message
...
I have taken 2 pictures, one at f8 and the other at f16 with the following
lenses:

Canon EFs 18-55 f4,5-5,6 ("kit" lens modified to fit on a 10D)
Canon EF 50mm f1,8
Canon EF 24-85 f3,5-4,5
Canon EF 35-80 f4-5,6
Canon EF 24-70 f2,8 L

So we have 4 zooms, 3 plastic cheapie lenses, one middle of the road zoom
and a primo pro lens. The "kit" lens is one of the early ones which came
with my Drebel, the newer ones are said to be better. I tried to put all
lenses at 50mm and not move the tripod but there are still some slight
changes from one lens to the other.

The pictures are at http://www.pbase.com/jeandr/50mm_test

Now which is which?

Jean

PS These are all TIFF files and at about 4Mb each so a broadband
connection
is better for download. There is no EXIF to make sure no one cheats
(unless
I missed something embedded in the files which is quite possible)



Jean,

Is this a good test? .JPG being the great web equalizer. Print might show
stuff worth looking at.

The quality of the Kit lens isn't tested (hardly) in this picture. Niether
are any of the other lens.

If you really want to test these lens, shoot my daughters basketball games.
Low light action no flash. The only lens that has a chance is the 50mm f1.8,
but its a prime so your composition choices will suck. The 24-70 f2.8 L
might have a chance if it has IS and its on a tripod.

I agree, the kit lens is sufficient for a lot of things, your test shows it.

But it tests *web .jpg's* and this isn't a very demanding environment. It's
like web jpg's are a static picture of a car, and you took a picture of 64
Bronco, 69 Mach One, 2005 Boss and a Ferrari (any year) and said "see, which
one is faster" You can't tell from the static picture. The Bronco would kick
on the off road, the Ferrari would kick on back roads, the Boss on... well
lots of things and the Mach One would kick at an old timers 1/4 mile retreat
and car show circuit scene.

DA.

David A wrote:
"jean" wrote in message
...

I have taken 2 pictures, one at f8 and the other at f16 with the following
lenses:

Canon EFs 18-55 f4,5-5,6 ("kit" lens modified to fit on a 10D)
Canon EF 50mm f1,8
Canon EF 24-85 f3,5-4,5
Canon EF 35-80 f4-5,6
Canon EF 24-70 f2,8 L

So we have 4 zooms, 3 plastic cheapie lenses, one middle of the road zoom
and a primo pro lens. The "kit" lens is one of the early ones which came
with my Drebel, the newer ones are said to be better. I tried to put all
lenses at 50mm and not move the tripod but there are still some slight
changes from one lens to the other.

The pictures are at http://www.pbase.com/jeandr/50mm_test

Now which is which?

Jean

PS These are all TIFF files and at about 4Mb each so a broadband
connection
is better for download. There is no EXIF to make sure no one cheats
(unless
I missed something embedded in the files which is quite possible)




Jean,

Is this a good test? .JPG being the great web equalizer. Print might show
stuff worth looking at.

The quality of the Kit lens isn't tested (hardly) in this picture. Niether
are any of the other lens.

If you really want to test these lens, shoot my daughters basketball games.
Low light action no flash. The only lens that has a chance is the 50mm f1.8,
but its a prime so your composition choices will suck. The 24-70 f2.8 L
might have a chance if it has IS and its on a tripod.

I agree, the kit lens is sufficient for a lot of things, your test shows it.

But it tests *web .jpg's* and this isn't a very demanding environment. It's
like web jpg's are a static picture of a car, and you took a picture of 64
Bronco, 69 Mach One, 2005 Boss and a Ferrari (any year) and said "see, which
one is faster" You can't tell from the static picture. The Bronco would kick
on the off road, the Ferrari would kick on back roads, the Boss on... well
lots of things and the Mach One would kick at an old timers 1/4 mile retreat
and car show circuit scene.

DA.



It's also shot at f8 & f16. The former at an aperture where a lens made
of recycled coke bottles might be expected to perform well, the latter
at the level on a 10d where diffraction would be a great leveller of
results.

"jean" wrote:

I have taken 2 pictures, one at f8 and the other at f16 with the following
lenses:

Canon EFs 18-55 f4,5-5,6 ("kit" lens modified to fit on a 10D)
Canon EF 50mm f1,8
Canon EF 24-85 f3,5-4,5
Canon EF 35-80 f4-5,6
Canon EF 24-70 f2,8 L

So we have 4 zooms, 3 plastic cheapie lenses, one middle of the road zoom
and a primo pro lens. The "kit" lens is one of the early ones which came
with my Drebel, the newer ones are said to be better. I tried to put all
lenses at 50mm and not move the tripod but there are still some slight
changes from one lens to the other.

The pictures are at http://www.pbase.com/jeandr/50mm_test

Now which is which?


This only proves one thing: that if the comparator is dumbed-down
shots for web use, it doesn't matter which lens you use. They are all
bad enough.

;-)

20% You got one right!

Jean

"Dave R knows who" a écrit dans le message de
...

"jean" wrote in message
...
I have taken 2 pictures, one at f8 and the other at f16 with the
following
lenses:


Lens 1 Canon EFs 18-55 f4,5-5,6 ("kit" lens modified to fit on a 10D)
Lens 2 Canon EF 50mm f1,8
Lens 3 Canon EF 24-85 f3,5-4,5
Lens 4 Canon EF 35-80 f4-5,6
Lens 5 Canon EF 24-70 f2,8 L

Lucky guess?

David A wrote:
"jean" wrote in message
...

I have taken 2 pictures, one at f8 and the other at f16 with the following
lenses:

Canon EFs 18-55 f4,5-5,6 ("kit" lens modified to fit on a 10D)
Canon EF 50mm f1,8
Canon EF 24-85 f3,5-4,5
Canon EF 35-80 f4-5,6
Canon EF 24-70 f2,8 L

So we have 4 zooms, 3 plastic cheapie lenses, one middle of the road zoom
and a primo pro lens. The "kit" lens is one of the early ones which came
with my Drebel, the newer ones are said to be better. I tried to put all
lenses at 50mm and not move the tripod but there are still some slight
changes from one lens to the other.

The pictures are at http://www.pbase.com/jeandr/50mm_test

Now which is which?

Jean

PS These are all TIFF files and at about 4Mb each so a broadband
connection
is better for download. There is no EXIF to make sure no one cheats
(unless
I missed something embedded in the files which is quite possible)




Jean,

Is this a good test? .JPG being the great web equalizer. Print might show
stuff worth looking at.

The quality of the Kit lens isn't tested (hardly) in this picture. Niether
are any of the other lens.

If you really want to test these lens, shoot my daughters basketball games.
Low light action no flash. The only lens that has a chance is the 50mm f1.8,
but its a prime so your composition choices will suck. The 24-70 f2.8 L
might have a chance if it has IS and its on a tripod.

I agree, the kit lens is sufficient for a lot of things, your test shows it.

But it tests *web .jpg's* and this isn't a very demanding environment. It's
like web jpg's are a static picture of a car, and you took a picture of 64
Bronco, 69 Mach One, 2005 Boss and a Ferrari (any year) and said "see, which
one is faster" You can't tell from the static picture. The Bronco would kick
on the off road, the Ferrari would kick on back roads, the Boss on... well
lots of things and the Mach One would kick at an old timers 1/4 mile retreat
and car show circuit scene.

DA.


If you don't see the faults in full size JPEG, you won't see it in
print. If you compare the print to the screen, you'd notice that the
screen has more vibrant color. This is _not_ a test of the printer, so
on screen JPEG in original size is fine for comparison.

And why do you want to test how fast a lens can capture your daughter's
basket game? This is a lens quality test, not a test of how wide or
expensive the lens is.

There is indeed one problem with the test, why choose f/8 and f/16? It
should be at the lens widest aperture and also one taken at the common
aperture of all the lenses, possibly f/5.6.

"frederick" a écrit dans le message de
news:1125007590.753709@ftpsrv1...
David A wrote:
"jean" wrote in message
...

I have taken 2 pictures, one at f8 and the other at f16 with the
following
lenses:

Canon EFs 18-55 f4,5-5,6 ("kit" lens modified to fit on a 10D)
Canon EF 50mm f1,8
Canon EF 24-85 f3,5-4,5
Canon EF 35-80 f4-5,6
Canon EF 24-70 f2,8 L

So we have 4 zooms, 3 plastic cheapie lenses, one middle of the road
zoom
and a primo pro lens. The "kit" lens is one of the early ones which
came
with my Drebel, the newer ones are said to be better. I tried to put
all
lenses at 50mm and not move the tripod but there are still some slight
changes from one lens to the other.

The pictures are at http://www.pbase.com/jeandr/50mm_test

Now which is which?

Jean

PS These are all TIFF files and at about 4Mb each so a broadband
connection
is better for download. There is no EXIF to make sure no one cheats
(unless
I missed something embedded in the files which is quite possible)




Jean,

Is this a good test? .JPG being the great web equalizer. Print might
show
stuff worth looking at.

The quality of the Kit lens isn't tested (hardly) in this picture.
Niether
are any of the other lens.

If you really want to test these lens, shoot my daughters basketball
games.
Low light action no flash. The only lens that has a chance is the 50mm
f1.8,
but its a prime so your composition choices will suck. The 24-70 f2.8 L
might have a chance if it has IS and its on a tripod.

I agree, the kit lens is sufficient for a lot of things, your test shows
it.

But it tests *web .jpg's* and this isn't a very demanding environment.
It's
like web jpg's are a static picture of a car, and you took a picture of
64
Bronco, 69 Mach One, 2005 Boss and a Ferrari (any year) and said "see,
which
one is faster" You can't tell from the static picture. The Bronco would
kick
on the off road, the Ferrari would kick on back roads, the Boss on...
well
lots of things and the Mach One would kick at an old timers 1/4 mile
retreat
and car show circuit scene.

DA.



It's also shot at f8 & f16. The former at an aperture where a lens made
of recycled coke bottles might be expected to perform well, the latter
at the level on a 10d where diffraction would be a great leveller of
results.

f8 was to equalize the slow lenses which would probably be at 5,6 nearing
full zoom (the kit lens). f16 I thought would help the bad lenses. I was
really surprised at the 35-80, for a plastic cheapie it's better than the
kit lens (another plastic cheapie).

Jean

frederick wrote:

It's also shot at f8 & f16. The former at an aperture where a lens made
of recycled coke bottles might be expected to perform well, the latter
at the level on a 10d where diffraction would be a great leveller of
results.

It's easy enough to put the sharpest and softest images at each end.
The interior is borderline undecidable -- a machine can probably rank
them though. But who cares? f/8 or f/16, the above differences (with
perhaps the exception of image #5) can be ascribed to simple lack of
focus in the absence of other data.

"David A" a écrit dans le message de
news:70rPe.16790$137.785@trnddc08...

"jean" wrote in message
...
I have taken 2 pictures, one at f8 and the other at f16 with the
following
lenses:

Canon EFs 18-55 f4,5-5,6 ("kit" lens modified to fit on a 10D)
Canon EF 50mm f1,8
Canon EF 24-85 f3,5-4,5
Canon EF 35-80 f4-5,6
Canon EF 24-70 f2,8 L

So we have 4 zooms, 3 plastic cheapie lenses, one middle of the road
zoom
and a primo pro lens. The "kit" lens is one of the early ones which
came
with my Drebel, the newer ones are said to be better. I tried to put
all
lenses at 50mm and not move the tripod but there are still some slight
changes from one lens to the other.

The pictures are at http://www.pbase.com/jeandr/50mm_test

Now which is which?

Jean

PS These are all TIFF files and at about 4Mb each so a broadband
connection
is better for download. There is no EXIF to make sure no one cheats
(unless
I missed something embedded in the files which is quite possible)



Jean,

Is this a good test? .JPG being the great web equalizer. Print might show
stuff worth looking at.

The quality of the Kit lens isn't tested (hardly) in this picture. Niether
are any of the other lens.

If you really want to test these lens, shoot my daughters basketball
games.
Low light action no flash. The only lens that has a chance is the 50mm
f1.8,
but its a prime so your composition choices will suck. The 24-70 f2.8 L
might have a chance if it has IS and its on a tripod.

I agree, the kit lens is sufficient for a lot of things, your test shows
it.

I guess so, for travelling by bicycle it would be just the thing, wide and
light.

Jean


But it tests *web .jpg's* and this isn't a very demanding environment.
It's
like web jpg's are a static picture of a car, and you took a picture of 64
Bronco, 69 Mach One, 2005 Boss and a Ferrari (any year) and said "see,
which
one is faster" You can't tell from the static picture. The Bronco would
kick
on the off road, the Ferrari would kick on back roads, the Boss on... well
lots of things and the Mach One would kick at an old timers 1/4 mile
retreat
and car show circuit scene.

DA.