Yeah. HAHAHAHA

noob question, what is the difference of a protector filter vs uv filter?

You can check everything and find the lens in mint condition, but without your own dslr you can never know whether it is in good condition for your camera. The 'mint' condition lens might have back or front focus mount on your camera but not with the shop's. So it is not advisable to test without your very own camera when buying a lens.

Do the battery test for focus too I would suggest in case you can't get the focus chart right. Battery test is easier to do and read too. Just place 3 battery side by side, then move the left battery slightly to the back and the right slightly to the front. Place your camera directly in front of the middle battery on focus on it. Either left or right battery is sharper meaning you got back or front focus. Try it out. AA battery will.

---(batt 1)---
-------------(batt 2)---
------------------------(batt 3)---


Oops it doesnt show . LOL wait lemme edit it. Like this. LOL but slight closer as in just half out. Meaning the front of batt 1 is about parallel to the middle point of batt 2.

Okay, edited.

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Added on January 26, 2011, 1:49 amDo 5 batteries to see the result clearly.

This post has been edited by pikipiki: Jan 26 2011, 01:49 AM

But problem with that 45 degree is that lens with maximum aperture 3.5 above give you result that is very hard to read whether there is any front or back focusing.

Also, 1.8 aperture sometimes can give you soft image thus it is even harder to tell about the focus issue.

Try to do the battery test if you find yourself unable to judge the focus problem.

Nope, what I mean is at the widest aperture, it is usually not the sharpest(image look soft and hazy) and mostly very hard to get the focus lock on as the DOF is too shallow.

This post has been edited by pikipiki: Jan 27 2011, 01:39 AM

Haha, you still don't get it, at the widest aperture the image out of the camera is too soft and hazy(often lack of contrast too), it is too hard to judge about the focus, normally you need to go down 1 f-stop to get the image sharper so as to see the result and easily able to tell the focus issue.

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Added on January 27, 2011, 1:43 amWow your lens has super back focus problem
Joking!


This post has been edited by pikipiki: Jan 27 2011, 01:43 AM

What I mean is when you put it on the widest aperture the whole image is often just blurred and too soft. When it is so, it is really hard to tell whether there is any front or back focus(as the focus point and the front and back of the points are too soft and blur to see), even the video you suggested saying so that the widest aperture has the soft image, so it is always recommend to drop 1 f-stop as to maintain the shallow DOF but have sharper image(meaning clearer result on the test chart instead of the whole image came out just blur).(and this is for the battery test and the test chart)

While your video is just looking at the diet coke bottle, it is a totally different kind of test, you can't use the minimum aperture to do the test chart as the whole chart would come out tack sharp therefore unable to tell the focus problem, while the maximum is often too soft too hence the 1 stop lower aperture to do the focus chart test and battery test.

Not to correct you or anything just my own experience as most lenses have soft image at their widest aperture and when the whole focus chart came out soft and hazy how can one tell the focus problem(back and front focus lens if shoot at the coke diet bottle would give you soft focus image while a faultless lens on the widest aperture will show a soft and hazy coke bottle too, does it mean the lens has focus problem, not really just that you need to lower down your aperture to test it), you need to at least get the focus point sharp to the extent it is distinctive enough while remaining a shallow depth of field. I know technically you should do it at the widest aperture to narrow down the DOF but no lens can avoid the soft image at their widest aperture.

And I don't mean to argue just as my own experience I find it easier to read with when lower down the aperture.

I'm not here to prove anything, just wanna share my experience.

Isn't it May for D800?

The D800 or whatever it is called has to have tremendous upgrade from it's predecessor D700 as rumors have it saying the Canon 5D mark3 has 28m mega pixels, less noise on high ISO, improved metering, improved AF system and accepting SD card. So Nikon may have to raise their own bars to in order to compete in the full frame business.

This post has been edited by pikipiki: Jan 27 2011, 03:14 PM

I think the problem is about the focal length. The longer the focal length, the greater the shake will affect the image and thru your viewfinder it is as if there are some earthquake going on.

But below 60mm I think it is still ok without any IS/VR/VC, haven't tried any telephoto lens without VR tho.

Try without VC above 100mm, hahahaha, earthquake! and it is super hard to focus on your subject as the view in viewfinder keep on bouncing even if you have steady hand as the long focal length magnifies the shake.

what lens are you using?

The tammy better or the sigma 17-50 f2.8? Double the price and is it worth it?

I like the IQ of Tamron but that AF sound is just
and the Tamron from the reviews I read it hunts a lot in low light and that basically defeats the purpose of a fast lens.
And without OS for the sigma I think it will struggle to take good photos in low light isn't it. 17-50 f2.8 has OS but it's 1k more!

so the AP set is kinda like gambling huh with those quality issue of third party lenses.
what if there's a need to update the firmware or focus issue with the lens?

So Sigma should be better isn't it coz all their lens are made in Japan?

You mean the glass coating or the metal/plastic coating?
But Tamron feels like it would probably fall apart in couple of years tho IMO

The new D800??

The mirrorless Nikon Q?