On Tue, 08 Nov 2005 19:29:48 -0800, "Joseph Chamberlain, DDS" <drjchamberlain@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote/replied to: > The camera is set to RAW and I am opening the images in Camera Raw >hosted by Bridge (Adobe CS2). The problems I am referring to have nothing to >do with processing but rather with the degree of distortion and sharpness of >the images specially around the periphery of the lenses (particularly the >16-35mm zoom). The edges of a wide angle can seem less sharp because of out of focus being as the lens covers a wide area. And of course do to the laws of physics, all lenses are less sharp near the edges. Shooting wide open reduces the depth of field, less will be sharply in focus. It also produces softer edges. These things are true of all lenses of course. Now you're saying you don't want to get into a Canon vs Nikon debate but all you want to do it compare your Canon digital results to your Nikon film results, and after your first shoot no less. I can tell you that many photographers have switched to Canon because of the fabulous lenses. I can show you lens charts that prove that the Canon lenses are on average equal or superior to the Nikon. I have never heard of anyone going back to Nikon because of lens disappointments. Quite the opposite in fact, they are very happy with the same lenses that you have. I do not believe you got two lemons either. I do believe that you have to do more testing, and digital to digital, not digital to film. Have you even had a print made yet? Maybe looking at the images on screen at 100% they look less than sharp. Have you applied unsharpening to them in a recommended amount? Were you using manual focus so that you know what you focused on and what your depth of field was? I would suggest some real lens tests. Try the old brick wall test. Setup your tripod and shoot a brick wall with even light on it and your camera back parallel to the wall. Manually focus on the wall. Shoot at all apertures and zooms. Use a remote trigger or timer to avoid camera shake. Run them through camera raw making sure you use unsharp on them. Try 100% with a threshold of 3, pixel count of .5. Compare and then get back to us about the results. The wall test will show distortion and should show differences in sharpness in the corners to the centre. By the way, it would likely have been a good idea to shoot with the camera and lenses for some time before concluding the things that you did. I believe that your conclusions are wrong, or that you have something wrong with the camera itself. For example it is possible you have some sort of fog on your sensor, a kleenex stuck on your sensor, or you are not using unsharp mask. But very likely it is the result of using a camera that is heavier and different than you are used to. I personally am a Canon user. I use lenses that are rated lower than the ones you have. I am very happy with my results. Millions of other photographers echo my results. -- Jim Davis, Owner, Eastern Beaver Company: http://easternbeaver.com/ Motorcycle Relay Kits Powerlet, Posi-Lock, Parts, Info, Photos K100RSes on both sides of the planet!
