Camera Gear v8 "Buy A Pentax ME" (Don't buy UV filters, do hail satan)

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The Dorkroom > Camera Gear v8 "Buy A Pentax ME" (Don't buy UV filters, do hail satan)

gvibes: Jan 18, 2010; Leading us to the promised land (i.e., one tournament win in five years)

The af-s 80-200mm f/2.8 is also available under $1k in places. It is supposed to be a little sharper and faster focusing than the AF-D ones.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2012 19:37

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 19, 2024 18:54

gvibes: Jan 18, 2010; Leading us to the promised land (i.e., one tournament win in five years)

Paragon8 posted:

reliability.

Some do TTL over radio as well, right?

# ¿ Dec 1, 2012 00:57

gvibes: Jan 18, 2010; Leading us to the promised land (i.e., one tournament win in five years)

So, dumb question - how can I tell if I got a bad copy of a lens? I ordered a nikon 50mm f/1.4D from KEH a while back (I'm way out of the return window) to replace my broken f/1.8D (stupid baby), and everything I shot with it looked really soft compared to both the broken f/1.8 and another f/1.8D I got to use in place of the 1.4 over the holidays. The f/1.4 looked soft compared to two of my other lenses as well (a nikon 80-200 af-s and a tokina 100mm (?) macro). I visually inspected the glass and the diaphragm and everything looks fine to me.

I guess my question is, how can I tell that I'm not being crazy and confirm that there is something actually wrong with the lens? Are there any tests I can run?

# ¿ Jan 7, 2014 00:27

gvibes: Jan 18, 2010; Leading us to the promised land (i.e., one tournament win in five years)

nielsm posted:

A simple test?
Put camera on tripod, find some ruled paper or similar thing with a simple pattern, place the patterned thing at an angle to the camera (so the lines would become diagonal in the photo), focus somewhere in the middle of the pattern, take pictures at all the apertures.
Afterwards inspect all the pictures 1:1, if there's anywhere along the depth axis the pictures are sufficiently sharp it would point to autofocus being miscalibrated. If it isn't sharp anywhere at any aperture, then the lens may be bad. If it's an AF calibration issue, the newer higher-end bodies have an option for AF micro adjust you can try to use.

Thanks, I just printed out some random test pattern I found online, and it looks like my lens is broke. Dammit.

50mm f/1.4D (at f/1.8) on the left, 50mm f/1.8D (at f/1.8) on the right

# ¿ Jan 7, 2014 04:28

gvibes: Jan 18, 2010; Leading us to the promised land (i.e., one tournament win in five years)

gvibes posted:

Thanks, I just printed out some random test pattern I found online, and it looks like my lens is broke. Dammit.

50mm f/1.4D (at f/1.8) on the left, 50mm f/1.8D (at f/1.8) on the right

Minor update: KEH is replacing it under warranty. Thanks KEH.

# ¿ Jan 18, 2014 01:23

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The Dorkroom > Camera Gear v8 "Buy A Pentax ME" (Don't buy UV filters, do hail satan)