A900 + Sigma 70-300 APO + SONY 70-300G + Minolta 100-400 APO

[TME]

Minolta 100-400 APO

Vignetting is the order of the day but diminshes by f/8 and only disappears at f/16... the image is considerably sharper also at 135mm compared to 100mm... in particular the sweet spot appears to be f/16 or just a little below it - perhaps f/11.

Centre AF sensor, Focus is on the first Chinese character in the centre of the frame. AF was done zoomed in at 400mm, to ensure that the first Chinese character rested inside the centre AF square and then zoomed out and focused... interestingly, focus confirm at all focal lengths was the same.



135mm, tripod, f/5 + 100% crop

135mm, tripod, f/5.6 + 100% crop

 

[TME]

135mm, tripod, f/8 + 100% crop

135mm, tripod, f/16 + 100% crop

 

[TME]

135mm, tripod, f/22 + 100% crop

 

[TME]

Minolta 100-400 APO

Like the SONY, this lens is free from vignetting at 300mm... blurring due to camera shake... but the sharpness is actually there if you look carefully... in particular the shot at f/8 shows outstanding sharpness for an undamped setup...

Centre AF sensor, Focus is on the first Chinese character in the centre of the frame. AF was done zoomed in at 400mm, to ensure that the first Chinese character rested inside the centre AF square and then zoomed out and focused... interestingly, focus confirm at all focal lengths was the same.



300mm, tripod, f/6.3 + 100% crop

300mm, tripod, f/8 + 100% crop

 

[TME]

300mm, tripod, f/16 + 100% crop

300mm, tripod, f/22 + 100% crop

 

[TME]

Minolta 100-400 APO

Maximum zoom range at 400mm... vibration due to mirror slap and oscillation due to slight breeze causes loss of max sharpness... but f/6.3 & f/8 are actually very sharp and well-resolved. Significant diffraction softening at f/16 and very pronounced at f/22.

Centre AF sensor, Focus is on the first Chinese character in the centre of the frame. AF was done zoomed in at 400mm, to ensure that the first Chinese character rested inside the centre AF square and then zoomed out and focused... interestingly, focus confirm at all focal lengths was the same.



400mm, tripod, f/6.3 + 100% crop

400mm, tripod, f/8 + 100% crop

 

[TME]

400mm, tripod, f/16 + 100% crop

400mm, tripod, f/22 + 100% crop

 

[TME]

Sigma 70-300 APO
1) Really decent glass for the price. I paid $250 second hand...
2) Quite sharp, but vignettes badly
3) Resolution quite ok even on the 24MP A900
4) Sweet spot between f/8 and f/16 with f/16 sometimes obviously better...


SONY 70-300 G
1) Best glass of the lot... modern lens designed for digital sensor, well it costs the most at $1000, so it better be good.
2) Least optical abberations (distortion)
3) Very sharp, particularly above 135mm
4) Very good resolution and contrast
5) Sweet spot is f/8 for most focal lengths


Minolta 100-400 APO
1) Second best glass, oldest design, but still good. At $600, it's a steal...
2) Sharp, much sharper than the Sigma but also vignettes considerably
3) Very good resolution but clearly loses out to the SONY.
4) Sweet spot is between f/8 to f/16 with f/8 being the best option most of the time...


So the SONY remains my choice lens for a telephoto zoom... whilst the 100-400 is really meant for long range work (very long focus distance of 1.8m)... the Sigma is good for a small budget... I will still keep it for it is quite light and handy for short shooting missions...

Again, the caveat - these series were taken on tripod bunt undamped, using 10 sec timer, no remote release and there was a stiff breeze along the axis of the lens while taking the shots... the less than stellar sharpness in all images is in part due to this vibration/oscillation. Hence when I say very sharp, that's what it could be extrapolating from what I see plus taking into account the very small vibrations you could see through the viewfinder, particularly at very long focal lengths...

Ok... finally finished resizing, uploading and commenting... now your turn... feedback...

 

[sulhan]

Hi bro....

Great work and great effort to do a rundown of the three lens. I was wondering what was the air temperature out there - was it a 2~3pm shot?. The results comparing all the three les seem to quite inconclusive as there seem to be warm air distortions coming into the test. wondering if a corridor type of test would be possible.

The 70-300G is truly a performer from my experience.

 

[TME]

Yupe Sulhan, you've got sharp eyes... it was taken around 5-6pm... and it was very very hot today... so yes, there were air current distortions... but these seemed to affect the more distant objects more severely... the signage was the least affected and that's what I focused on... if you have the full frame, you will notice that the tall buildings had wavy grids for the window lines cos of the turbulent hot air rising... Not the best time perhaps to take a test shot... and yes inconclusive as to the true potential of the individual lenses but in a comparison under real world conditions, you could still make out the best lens quite clearly... cos not all of us got the luxury to shoot at the crack of dawn or the coolness of the evening... for me I usually shoot whatever I can wherever I am at whatever time of the day it is...

Thanks for pointing out nevertheless...

 

[Agetan]

Just wondering if you shoot and process from RAW files or straight Jpeg?

Nonetheless, it is quite a nice indicative test. On some part, there are some Focussing issue that I can observe.

It is quite challenging to test lenses, especially the older one on the 24MP FF sensor.

Regards,

Hart

 

[MontoyaSG]

btw what do you mean by the lens shift?

 

[TME]

Just wondering if you shoot and process from RAW files or straight Jpeg?

Nonetheless, it is quite a nice indicative test. On some part, there are some Focussing issue that I can observe.

It is quite challenging to test lenses, especially the older one on the 24MP FF sensor.

Regards,

Hart

Straight from jpeg, no pp just resized..

Yupe, can see some camera shake blurring... it's quite telling in some shots... that's when the wind caught the camera and it rocked very slightly... I didn't realise that it would be such a big deal cos the shutter speed was like 1/2000s for some shots... but it all told in the end... I just wonder how landscape photographers overseas take their pictures when there's usually a very stiff wind in the open...

 

[TME]

btw what do you mean by the lens shift?

Who are you referring to?

 

[MontoyaSG]

Who are you referring to?

you mentioned abt this. don't really understand abt it 'focus confirm at 300mm and then again at 700 when zoomed out was different... you could hear the lens shift... not sure if this would cause any focusing errors at 70mm or not...'

 

[TME]

you mentioned abt this. don't really understand abt it 'focus confirm at 300mm and then again at 700 when zoomed out was different... you could hear the lens shift... not sure if this would cause any focusing errors at 70mm or not...'

Oh... hahaha.... yes when I focused at 300mm then zoomed out to 70mm, the lens refocused. You could hear the lens barrel shift or turn... therefore the focusing point must have changed... I didn't get that for the SONY & Minolta lenses...

 

[cy_j]

Great job on a huge effort on your part. These are real world conditions which I pay more attention to, rather than test charts ( which also have their limited usage, imo).

 

[biggorilla]

Hi there,

It seems that your photos cant be seen on this thread... Is there any way i can see those test shoots?? I am using the A700 and I am considering this lens... even my friend who has the A700 and CZ lenes recommends the G lens....

 

[TME]

Hi there,

It seems that your photos cant be seen on this thread... Is there any way i can see those test shoots?? I am using the A700 and I am considering this lens... even my friend who has the A700 and CZ lenes recommends the G lens....

Sorry I deleted the files already.

 

[vibranze]

bro, all your images couldn't be seen, it said 'this image or vieo has been moved or deleted'.