70300G First play

[bonneville]

Brian, long time no see. Welcome back.

Thank you, nice to be missed

[ellisn]

The tape is where they do spot checks to ensure all contents are present! They are going to replace it once I send it back. I will take a copy of the serial first though.

Definitely a problem this 100% crop was taken at 1/1000 ss



I took a few and they were all as soft.

I assume this following 100% crop is OK taken with the 1680z. Just want to make sure it is the lens and not the camera?



Focus on the biggest.

Neil

[deanr1968]

Neil

What focal length, ISO f-stop etc?. It still looks a little soft to me but then I'm no expert.

Dean

[ellisn]

Just took a few snaps with the 1680z, all ISO800 8mm f/5.6 Scale then 1005 crop. Sorry about the subject mater.

I do hope it isn't the camera as that has past it's 7 days so it will mean repair and wait.








Thoughts please

[Dr. Harout]

I think your camera is OK.

[Javelin]

yes it looks very sharp

[ellisn]

I think your camera is OK.

Phew, Venice without a camera would have really made me

[ellisn]

I wish I hadn't sold the 350 now, makes me see the point of having a backup.

[[SiC]]

Camera JPG KM5D + Sigma 70-300 APO DG Macro Fully Extended and Wide Open (ISO 400 1/250 f5.6 @ 300mm Hand Held almost straight off the camera).

-Sonolta

Very nice. Unfortunately the Siggy 70-300 "took a dump" on me and now I'm stuck with the non APO DG version
Most of the time it performs ok but the CA can be disturbing...

Good luck ellisn!

[ellisn]

Sorry David I missed the post regarding file format.

They were all cRAW. Is there a chance it is still user error and not the lens. There are so many settings I could well have messed something up.

Neil

[David Kilpatrick]

Sorry David I missed the post regarding file format.

They were all cRAW. Is there a chance it is still user error and not the lens. There are so many settings I could well have messed something up.

Neil

Your final shots at 1/1000th indicate that something probably is amiss with the lens. But, you do need experience in using AF systems to assess problems, and a lot of your tests prove nothing except that it's extremely difficult to get sharp pictures at 300mm, with a slow shutter speed and high ISO, of a small furry animal. I would not have judged on these, but the test of the lettering on white shows (at least to me) that the lens is performing under par - unless you have a big fingerprint on it.

For example with the squirrel shots, if you were shooting through a window, that would be enough to destroy the sharpness of the lens. End of story. You need a filter-quality window to shoot through at 300mm and domestic glass, however clean, can spoil wide aperture shots. Old windows are worst (modern glass is often pretty good). Many people do try to shoot garden birds etc through large plate windows, including double or triple glazing, and they get noticeably unsharp pictures compared to those who shoot from an outdoor position with nothing between the lens and the subject.

David

[ellisn]

Thanks David

No they were all shot in the garden, nothing between the lens and the fur ball. No filters. Agree lack of experiance doesn't help but I need to find out befre the 7 days are up so I can get a straight swap.

Neil

[Dr. Harout]

I agree with Don. But not only change it if you have doubts. Change it one way or another, you don't loose anything.

[aster]

Hi ellisn,

Sad to hear that the lens gave you hard and frustrating time of shooting and focus. I'd agree with the rest who suggests an exchange for a brand new/sealed lens that hasn't been used/tried or bear the signs of been-opened somehow. A brand new one will make you feel better and will also give you a chance of testing with newly-acquired experience with the possible faults of this kind of lens...

Hopefully all will be resolved for the best,
Good luck

Yildiz

[picman]

[quote="Sonolta"
While the jury is still out, allow me to make an observation.

WOW! Does SONY have a QC problem or what? It takes some of you people numerous Sony lens samples to get a good one? Weird.
Geesh...in a matter of only a few months my A100 somehow got specks in-between the LCD screens, and mega amounts of particulate inside the viewfinder, and then my Sony A700 auto-focus took a dump 11 months in! Many of you people have had a ton of problems getting a good Zeiss, and now it takes multiple copies of the G lens to get a good one? Wowza...Sony need to get it's QC act together!

-Sonolta[/quote]

I agree 100% here, my CZ 24-70 is OK optically but mechanically it is not what I am used to from CZ in the past (Contax).