S
Simon97
Guest
I bought my XTi kit late last month. I wanted the silver XTi, but the store had it only in kit form at all locations. I figured I'd put up with the kit lens until I could get something better. I hear both good and bad about the lens, so I tested it out to draw my own conclusion. I put some crops into a file for others to see:
I'm not a sharpening freak so I keep sharpness at 2, contrast is one notch below middle setting. I also have Exposure comp at -.5 as I find digital cameras to expose a bit hot outside.
I find the lens to be a good bargain for the extra $100. It is sharp in the center wide open at 18mm. Fair at the very edges. It is soft in the ext ream corner, but this is common for zooms at widest setting. Stopping down yields only a touch of extra contrast, but cleans up the edges and corners.
I noticed some chromatic aberration at 18mm that interestingly increased in strength as I stopped down (see the bottom left of image). I consider it moderate. (The bright strip along the bottom of the “center” 18mm images) is not CA, it is color alternating color artifact from the sensor. The sun was reflecting brightly of this metal strip, casing this).
Finally, at 35mm and 55mm, the lens does show improved contrast by stopping down one stop or less. corners were cleaner at these settings, so I left them out. All-in-all not a bad lens at all unless you need speed or IS.
Thanks, for looking,
John
I'm not a sharpening freak so I keep sharpness at 2, contrast is one notch below middle setting. I also have Exposure comp at -.5 as I find digital cameras to expose a bit hot outside.
I find the lens to be a good bargain for the extra $100. It is sharp in the center wide open at 18mm. Fair at the very edges. It is soft in the ext ream corner, but this is common for zooms at widest setting. Stopping down yields only a touch of extra contrast, but cleans up the edges and corners.
I noticed some chromatic aberration at 18mm that interestingly increased in strength as I stopped down (see the bottom left of image). I consider it moderate. (The bright strip along the bottom of the “center” 18mm images) is not CA, it is color alternating color artifact from the sensor. The sun was reflecting brightly of this metal strip, casing this).
Finally, at 35mm and 55mm, the lens does show improved contrast by stopping down one stop or less. corners were cleaner at these settings, so I left them out. All-in-all not a bad lens at all unless you need speed or IS.
Thanks, for looking,
John
