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Author Topic: DxOMark lens ratings?  (Read 2293 times)

marcmccalmont

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DxOMark lens ratings?
« on: July 12, 2012, 03:51:04 am »

I was looking at DxOMark lens ratings, in particular their recommended lenses for the Nikon D4.
I'm not sure I'm interpreting the score correctly for a zoom lens. When comparing the Nikkor 70-200 2.8 VR and the Sigma 70-200 2.8 OS the Nikkor has a higher mark but I think that is its optimum FL and Aperture. The Nikkor has a blue line extending significantly farther left (lower resolution) than the Sigma. Am I correct in interpreting this to mean the Nikkor has a much greater performance spread from good to excellent where as the Sigma is more consistently very good at all Focal Lengths?
Marc
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Marc McCalmont

ErikKaffehr

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Re: DxOMark lens ratings?
« Reply #1 on: July 12, 2012, 05:43:07 pm »

Hi Marc,

Lots of info in those tests...

http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Lenses/Compare-Camera-Lenses/Compare-lenses/(lens1)/223/(brand)/Nikkor/(camera1)/440/(lens2)/320/(brand2)/Sigma/(camera2)/440#div1anchor

My impression is that the Nikon 70-200/2.8 was not a very good lens and the Mark II is much improved. The old lens was from the D2X age, before Nikon went into full frame, so corners were not so good.

Best regards
Erik
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Erik Kaffehr
 

24x36

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Re: DxOMark lens ratings?
« Reply #2 on: August 11, 2012, 10:07:01 am »

I'd be sure to switch to the D4 as the tested camera (the link above takes you to the D300 tests, which are not indicative of FF performance).

http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Lenses/Compare-Camera-Lenses/Compare-lenses/%28lens1%29/223/%28brand%29/Nikkor/%28camera1%29/767/%28lens2%29/320/%28brand2%29/Sigma/%28camera2%29/767#div1anchor

If you check the MTF charts, you'll actually find that the 70-200 VR holds its own against the Sigma resolution-wise. The Nikon is better on the short end, and, ironically, in the corners on the short end in particular (even though as Erik notes the vr 1 was probably optimized for DX which is all that Nikon offered at the time), and is also better at 200mm wide open in the center of the frame, though it rapidly falls to the Sigma's level as you move away from the center. The Sigma is a bit better at the long end at certain apertures, though the Nikon is still pretty close at the center. Where the Nikon will fall short is vignetting, where its APS-C optimization rears its ugly head, however the Sigma also shows similar vignetting on the long end wide open (another unexpected result). You really need to dig through the DxO information to discover all of the relative strengths and weaknesses of a given lens.

There are two prior versions of Sigma's 70-200 f 2.8 on DxO Mark as well, and you might want to compare those, too. I actually think that the oldest version (their first "DG" version) may be the best of the Sigma lot overall.
« Last Edit: August 11, 2012, 10:09:27 am by 24x36 »
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qwz

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Re: DxOMark lens ratings?
« Reply #3 on: August 14, 2012, 03:15:47 am »

You have to check also tests from Photozone.de and Dpreview.com

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