Lens picture taking quality comparison question

Zoom range and body type aside, which lens do you think has the better
picture taking quality

Panasonic FZ20
Canon S2 IS
Nikon D50 18-55 kit lens
Canon Rebel XT 18-55 kit lens
Nikon D70s 18-70mm kit lens

cheers

Allan

Allan wrote:
Zoom range and body type aside, which lens do you think has the better
picture taking quality

Panasonic FZ20
Canon S2 IS
Nikon D50 18-55 kit lens
Canon Rebel XT 18-55 kit lens
Nikon D70s 18-70mm kit lens


Right off you can forget the P&S cameras, the sensors are going to
limit them that they will not be able to compete. If you are allowing
the lens to work at it sweet spot I would be surprised if the XT with
the kit lens did not come out on time. The samples I have seen from
the D50 are pretty soft so I don't think it will do well regardless
of how good a lens you put on it.

I don't know how you expect to compare lenses without also taking
into account the body.

Scott

I am trying to keep the body out of the equation so to get an idea of lens
capabilities. Difficult, I know.

You say the D50 is soft and may not do well regardless of lens, do you think
the FZ30 or S2 would be any better?

Back in the old days of 70's vintage rangefinders, some of these had better
glass attached than some of the lenses available for the SLR's. It is this
type of comparison I am trying to make.

Allan


"Scott W" wrote in message
oups.com...

Allan wrote:
Zoom range and body type aside, which lens do you think has the better
picture taking quality

Panasonic FZ20
Canon S2 IS
Nikon D50 18-55 kit lens
Canon Rebel XT 18-55 kit lens
Nikon D70s 18-70mm kit lens


Right off you can forget the P&S cameras, the sensors are going to
limit them that they will not be able to compete. If you are allowing
the lens to work at it sweet spot I would be surprised if the XT with
the kit lens did not come out on time. The samples I have seen from
the D50 are pretty soft so I don't think it will do well regardless
of how good a lens you put on it.

I don't know how you expect to compare lenses without also taking
into account the body.

Scott

Allan wrote:
I am trying to keep the body out of the equation so to get an idea of lens
capabilities. Difficult, I know.

You say the D50 is soft and may not do well regardless of lens, do you think
the FZ30 or S2 would be any better?

Back in the old days of 70's vintage rangefinders, some of these had better
glass attached than some of the lenses available for the SLR's. It is this
type of comparison I am trying to make.

The images that I have seen from the FZ30 are pretty bad, the S2 is
better but still can not compete with a good DSLR.

You would do better to look at the Sony R1, which has a decent sized
sensor. For the money the lens on that camera is very good and out
does the Canon XT with kit lens, IMO.

Scott

On Wed, 15 Mar 2006 15:20:27 -0500, "Allan"
wrote:

I am trying to keep the body out of the equation so to get an idea of lens
capabilities. Difficult, I know.

You say the D50 is soft and may not do well regardless of lens, do you think
the FZ30 or S2 would be any better?

Back in the old days of 70's vintage rangefinders, some of these had better
glass attached than some of the lenses available for the SLR's. It is this
type of comparison I am trying to make.

You can't do that.
Attempting to measure (objectively) the lens quality is useless with
non-interchangeble lenses. They are inherently incapable of being
tested without hte body (and all that goes with it). (True, you could
disassemble the camera, and do it that way, but the results would be
useless.)
So, you're really asking for comparisons between the three lenses you
listed:
Nikon 18-55 kit lens
Canon 18-55 kit lens
Nikon 18-70mm kit lens

This has been done already; Google it.
If you want *subjective* comparisons, you're going about it the right
way.

Of course, with the DSLRs, it's not necessary to buy the kit lens.

--
Bill Funk
replace "g" with "a"

" Let's start off with your definition of "better picture taking quality.""

So, lets exclude - zoom range, mechanical construction, max apertures,
element types and so on.

Does the lens produce a pleasing sharp picture? After all, is this not the
basis for discussion when comparing Leica with Nikon with Canon with Zeiss?

I was just wondering if anyone had experience with these lenses and could
give some kind of answer.

Allan


"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
. ..
Allan wrote:
Zoom range and body type aside, which lens do you think has the better
picture taking quality

Panasonic FZ20
Canon S2 IS
Nikon D50 18-55 kit lens
Canon Rebel XT 18-55 kit lens
Nikon D70s 18-70mm kit lens

cheers

Allan

Let's start off with your definition of "better picture taking
quality."

Personally I like both apple and cherry pie.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

On Thu, 16 Mar 2006 10:51:02 -0500, "Allan"
wrote:

" Let's start off with your definition of "better picture taking quality.""

So, lets exclude - zoom range, mechanical construction, max apertures,
element types and so on.

Does the lens produce a pleasing sharp picture? After all, is this not the
basis for discussion when comparing Leica with Nikon with Canon with Zeiss?

I was just wondering if anyone had experience with these lenses and could
give some kind of answer.

Allan

Lots of people have experience with these lenses.
They produce pictures a *lot* of people consider pleasing.
There are some people who do not consider the pictures these lenses
produce to be pleasing.
You're specifically asking for subjective responses. That (the above)
is the absolute best you can expect in the way of subjective answers.

If you want more, check out the various review sites.

--
Bill Funk
replace "g" with "a"

Allan wrote:
" Let's start off with your definition of "better picture taking
quality.""

So, lets exclude - zoom range, mechanical construction, max apertures,
element types and so on.

Does the lens produce a pleasing sharp picture? After all, is this
not the basis for discussion when comparing Leica with Nikon with
Canon with Zeiss?

Define "pleasing" and "sharp"


I was just wondering if anyone had experience with these lenses and
could give some kind of answer.

I am not trying to be funny or make life difficult for you, but my idea
of quality or sharp (it is more complex than you may think) or pleasing, is
not likely to be the same as yours. Everyone has an opinion and unless you
define the terms, all you get are opinions based on criteria that may be
different than yours.


Allan


"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
. ..
Allan wrote:
Zoom range and body type aside, which lens do you think has the
better picture taking quality

Panasonic FZ20
Canon S2 IS
Nikon D50 18-55 kit lens
Canon Rebel XT 18-55 kit lens
Nikon D70s 18-70mm kit lens

cheers

Allan

Let's start off with your definition of "better picture taking
quality."

Personally I like both apple and cherry pie.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
. ..
Allan wrote:
" Let's start off with your definition of "better picture taking
quality.""

So, lets exclude - zoom range, mechanical construction, max apertures,
element types and so on.

Does the lens produce a pleasing sharp picture? After all, is this
not the basis for discussion when comparing Leica with Nikon with
Canon with Zeiss?

Define "pleasing" and "sharp"


I was just wondering if anyone had experience with these lenses and
could give some kind of answer.

I am not trying to be funny or make life difficult for you, but my idea
of quality or sharp (it is more complex than you may think) or pleasing,
is not likely to be the same as yours. Everyone has an opinion and unless
you define the terms, all you get are opinions based on criteria that may
be different than yours.


Allan


"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
. ..
Allan wrote:
Zoom range and body type aside, which lens do you think has the
better picture taking quality

Panasonic FZ20
Canon S2 IS
Nikon D50 18-55 kit lens
Canon Rebel XT 18-55 kit lens
Nikon D70s 18-70mm kit lens

cheers

Allan

Let's start off with your definition of "better picture taking
quality."

Personally I like both apple and cherry pie.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

Hi all.

It is even worse than what has been stated so far.

It is like this, I only use one of those camera / lens combinations.

I think it produces superbly sharp images of a very high quality, and its
artistic ability is also quite good. I do not think any of the others, as
used by yourselves, are nearly as good when judged on any of those criteria.

Roy G