LENS REVIEW SITES

[Glen]

We have had a number of opinions on lenses and also review sites recently. I thought I would share my favourites and also my biased opinion on them. Feel free to add your own favourites


Three favourites

http://www.naturfotograf.com/lens_surv.html

Great site, by someone with the knowledge, time and experience to make judgement. Very comprehensive, mostly Nikkor


http://www.digital-images.net/Lenses/lenses.html

As above, but based on his own smaller pallette of lenses. Ron has also been seen on this board


http://www.imagepower.de/equipm.htm

As on top, but based on his own smaller pallette of lenses.


Also good

http://www.bythom.com/nikon.htm

Good site, though thought Thom was unusual when I pointed out an error in his 12-24 dx review (he claims that 28cm equals a foot and chides Nikon for rounding a foot to 30cm. I pointed out he was wrong, he sent me an email claiming a foot is between 11-13 inches. Bizzarre)

Others


http://www.nikonlinks.com/

http://www.photozone.de/bindex2.html

http://www.photodo.com/nav/prodindex.html

http://non-aol.com/D70/ (even a review by our own sirhc55)


Unusual

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/nikkor.htm


Opinionated reviews by a guy who uses his D70 as a point and shoot as he has medium format. Some comments are fair, some not. Must be read in conjunction with other reviews, cannot be relied upon alone.



Hope this helps and please feel free to add to this

[Geoff]

Glen - what a GREAT array of websites with some very comprehensive looking info! I'm sure this will be appreciated by many of our valued members. Cheers!!


Geoff.

[NeoN]

Good number of Sites Glen
I found http://www.bythom.com to be one of the better sites, I'am suprised he got his feet and inches wrong .
As you said www.kenrockwell.com is unsual!!!and straight forward, [any donation!??].
Never the less I learned somthing from every site.Thanks for the idea.
cheers .
NeoN .

[Glen]

Neon, I like his straightforward advice too, and don't believe because he cant work out mathematics or read a ruler has anything to do with his skills as a photography equipment reviewer. The error is still on his site about half way down 4 or 5 months after I mentioned it http://www.bythom.com/1224lens.htm

[huynhie]

Here are some other:

camera hobby

Moose Peterson


Photography in Malaysia

Vivid Light

Dr. Walter Pietsch Nikon Page

Essence of Light

and for those Medium Format people
Medium Format Articles Page


Happy Reading


I just removed some duplicate links

[oli]

I'm surprised nobody has posted this one yet:
Fred Miranda user reviews section

[jberth1]

hehe - this thread reads like my 'camera' folder in my 'bookmarks' so far....

This link contains some lense review ratings as reviewed by Photo Asia in 4 issues from Sept to Dec 94 - might help if you're after older, cheaper lenses. Not sure how useful it is though...

http://web.telia.com/~u54105795/AF_Lens_Test_Rating

This link is maintained by Roland Vink and contains a list Nikon lens specifications...

http://home.aut.ac.nz/staff/rvink/nikon.html

I'm not surprised that quite a lot of my links no longer work, which supports my theory that if you find something useful on the net then you should make your own 'backup', as there is no guarantee that it will always be there.

Cheers

Justin

[digifrog]

Very informative thanks all.

[Steffen]

This link is maintained by Roland Vink and contains a list Nikon lens specifications...

http://home.aut.ac.nz/staff/rvink/nikon.html

The Nikon lens specifications are now at http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/specs.html and I agree that it is a very valuable resource.

Cheers
Steffen.

[aido]

I have found http://www.slrgear.com helpful in the past for lens reviews (they do Canon Nikon + 3rd party).

[mickeyjuice]

Good site, though thought Thom was unusual when I pointed out an error in his 12-24 dx review (he claims that 28cm equals a foot and chides Nikon for rounding a foot to 30cm. I pointed out he was wrong, he sent me an email claiming a foot is between 11-13 inches. Bizzarre)

I still laugh every time i read this

[Glen]

Funny thing Mickey if you go to the review the line is still in the review, it takes confidence to believe your own opinion over every imperial/metric conversion chart available on the net!

[digitor]

.... Thom was unusual when I pointed out an error in his 12-24 dx review (he claims that 28cm equals a foot and chides Nikon for rounding a foot to 30cm. I pointed out he was wrong, he sent me an email claiming a foot is between 11-13 inches. Bizzarre....

Well, I guess a foot is between 11 and 13 inches. Right in the middle. It's also between 6 and 18 inches (not to mention 0 and 24....)

Cheers

[aim54x]

http://www.lenstip.com as recommended by Murray Foote for the AF-S 50mm f/1.4G is worth a read.

I followed the link and looked at a few of their other reviews and found that they were very consistent and covered a lot of detail in their reviews. I will definitely be using them in the future.

[Glen]

Thanks Murray and Cameron

[Murray Foote]

Thanks, Cameron.

Here's some more:
- Photozone summary
- Nikon Links (lots of links to other reviews including for specific lenses)
- DPReview (recently started on lens reviews)
- NikonGear (anecdotal only, but potentially you can ask questions of Bjorn Rorslett)
- (You can also potentially subscribe to Nikonians for a month before they cut you off for lack of payment)

Canon Lenses:
- Bob Atkins
- Digital picture

Regards,
Murray

[hark40]

I am sure that I am not the only one here that uses Canon (and hopefully saying that I won't get kicked off!!), but a good site to start with is Canon EF Lens review. The site does not review lenses per se, but has a list of Canon lenses and links off to a variety of web sites that do review them such as Fred Miranda, The Digital Picture, Photozone, PopPhoto, SLRgear and Lens Reviews.

Mark P.

[big pix]

....... I read all the lens reviews when I want to buy a new lens, but take the reviews with a grain of salt as the reviews differ so much, reviewing the same lens......

When I make the purchase, I make sure that the lens can be returned for re calibrating, or and replaced....... and I have had this happen.

The lens, I now have in my kit are the sharpest that were available when purchased.

I did pick up a 35-mm f2d lens, second hand from ECS...... a great buy, but was tested and images downloaded to my computer at ECS before I left the store..... further testing showed no fault with this lens, so there are some bargains out there along with honest traders

On my D300 I have made some small adjustment for my long lens, and also TC's, which have improved the sharpness, on the D700 not needed, as yet, as I tend to use long lens on the D300 as the crop sensor is just fantastic...... also a tad lazy to test the 2 bodies and lens..... only use one camera at a time

What I have found, is that 3rd party lens makers run a little hot and cold, some good lens some bad lens with the same focal length...... yes I do have my fair share of 3rd party lens which are quite sharp, but there was the odd teething problem with the odd lens, which was sorted with the minimum of fuss.....

........ so as far as lens reviews go........ well I like to do my own

[Photographer]

Thanks for those links.

[photomarcs]

http://www.dxomark.com now does lens reviews as well as bodies.