David
Joined: 13 Apr 2011
Posts: 1869
Location: Denver, Colorado
Expire: 2013-01-25
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 Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 7:57 am Post subject: One-lens Challenge, San Francisco Zoo |
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David wrote:
Took in the SF zoo on July 4th for the first time. We have a great little zoo here. I admit it, the petting zoo was my favorite part. It reminded me of my brief time on an Amish farm as a kid.
Anyway, back to the challenge: I took two lenses, my Sigma 35-80 f4 and my Quantaray 70-310 f4-5.6. I ended up, very quickly, realizing I didn't need two lenses and decided to only use the Quantaray. This is a lens with which I have had a mixed relationship in the four months I've had it. I had not, to that point, taken a worthwhile photo with it and, repeatedly, felt it had sub-standard glass and clarity. In short, my feelings toward the lens now are substantially different. I used it in MF mode the whole time, except for a few ostrich shots, where I set it in AF green mode. I found that the lens performs much better in MF mode than AF.
To start with, here is some kind of crazy red flower. The SF zoo, in addition to wonderful animal exhibits, also has a very nice botanical selection. This shot was taken on the lens' macro setting at 300mm.
A golden eagle. It sees something. That something may be your toes, between your flip-flop strap, looking quite like little mice, waiting to be eaten. (300mm zoom)
This sight, it's not one you want to see if you're a rabbit. (300mm zoom)
What amazes me most about this lens is how well it captures definition, color changes, and performs well across the frame. Let's take this shot, for example, of a contemplative monkey:
This is a zero-crop shot and, as you can see, there is little or no visible vignetting or color drop around the shot's perimeter. In addition, the monkey's fur presents well and with substantial clarity. (300mm zoom)
And now some more primates!
 (220mm zoom)
Half-read magazine, bottle of Gatorade, blanket, blank stare. I remember those mornings, sort of. Ahhhh, college. What a great seven years. (300mm zoom)
As I noted earlier, this lens has some pretty good detail. To demonstrate, here are some additional bird shots. You'll see decent acutance, good color boundaries, and generally good color capture.
(100mm zoom)
(133mm zoom)
(300mm zoom)
Three macaws, or parrots, or something. I'm not an ornithologist. Anyway, what they show is good color capture and pretty decent contrast.
(300mm zoom)
(148mm zoom)
(300mm zoom)
(300mm zoom)
The eagle series I took was all a bit blurry, but this was the best of a fairly sad lot.
This lens presents on serious, continual problem. It demonstrates purple fringing (PF) more readily than any other lens I've tried. In fact, it PFs at times when other lenses are displaying no color aberrations. the next two shots demonstrate this lens' great weakness: dark subjects on light backgrounds.
(220mm zoom)
(300mm zoom)
Anyway, in short, this lens performs very well in colorful or neutral backgrounds, but not on light backgrounds. The MF provides much better focusing than AF. It also performs optimally at the higher zoom levels (220-300mm) and on macro. Much of this may be due to the fact that this is a Tamron-made lens. The Quantaray 70-300mm lenses were either made by Sigma or Tamron. The 62mm lens diameter means it's a Tamron (SIgmas have a 58mm diameter.)
I admit, my previous take on this lens has been largely reversed. This is a useful, very lightweight part of my lens collection that will likely find itself being used more often.
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http://www.youtube.com/user/hancockDavidM |
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