Daniel Sepke wrote:
> I see it as just another part of the cult of celebrity that comes hand in
> hand with photography/audio/whatever when discussed online. There is a
> hunger for information and the few that do stuff well are sometimes raised
> to irrefutable guru status in some forums. Any widget that gets mentioned
> often enough causes a flutter of speculation on e*ay. In this specific case
> I believe there is a section of the Ca*on community that appears to get as
> much out of running in packs and will follow anything that might be rumored.
>
I think this works in the other direction, as well. Somebody says some
piece of equipment is poor performing in some way and it becomse a
general consensus in that person's group.
It seems I have seen this in the FM reviewss and forums with regard to
some long lenses. It is true of the Tammy 28-300 Di I have. the PopPhoto
review of it's earlier (pre-special coating for digital sensors) model
showed exceptional performance at 300 mm, almost the equal of 200 mm.
Yet a few users reported it got soft at 300 mm, and it now seems to have
that rep.
That is certainly not true of my copy, as I have shown many times here.
What I think happened is that folks venturing out into the world of
super tele without knowing what is needed for good results simply
ascribed the results of poor technique, i.e. motion blur and atmospheric
effects, to the lens. Some were also using it on small sensors, and
undoubtedly forgetting the 1/fl guideline applies to the effective focal
length. Shoot 480 mm effective FOV at 1/300, blow it up to full pixel,
and guess what, it isn't sharp! If you are going to be pixel peeping,
you need more like 1/(2 * fl* sensor size multiplier), or 1/1000 sec or
better shutter speed.
The effect is even more obvious in the "reviews" of the C 100-400L lens.
The folks who know what they are doing find it sharp at 400 and others
do not. Even great IS doesn't help with air movement and subject
movement that wouldn't be noticed at lower magnifications.
Moose
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