SL 90-280mm/R 280mm f/4 APO; images permitted

[Stuart Richardson]

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Thanks for the photos and the words everyone!

Graeme, of course crops could be interesting, but what are your thoughts on the lenses? It seems like the biggest difference is the tradeoff in AF, zoom range and sealing (90-280), or lower cost, ability to use teleconverters, multi-body utility and better MF (280). It sounds like the 280 might be ever so slightly sharper in the corners, while the 90-280 is less prone to veiling flare and perhaps has better color (I am not sure if this is the age of the coatings, or degradation, but I have seen at least two reports of the color being a bit off with the 280...in one case it was reflections off the sensor, but the other could be a different coating than the newer lenses).

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[graeme_clarke]

Greetings everyone and thanks for your comments and queries.

 

I've made some simple adjustments in LR, lifting shadows, increasing texture and clarity a little,  maintaining or reducing  vibrance, especially of grass when shooting intro the light.

I've cropped in some and left others full frame.  I've readjusted the dimensions to 2480px on the long side.

 

First is a young Fallow stag cropped in to 2500.  F4 280 +2x.

 

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[graeme_clarke]

Sorry about the delay in completing this sequence - home duties!

I've reworked the above image of the Fallow stag so please ignore it.

First is the full frame image resized to 2480px as advised.  F4 280mm apo telyt R on SL (601)

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Edited January 25, 2021 by graeme_clarke
added camera and lens detail

[graeme_clarke]

Next is a crop of 2480 px from the full frame 6000 x 4000   F4 280mm apo telyt R on SL (601)

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Edited January 25, 2021 by graeme_clarke
Added camera and lens detail

[graeme_clarke]

Now the Sika stag  F4 280mm  apo telyt R + 2x converter ROM

Full frame sized at 2480 px

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[graeme_clarke]

...and the same Sika stag image cropped to 2480px to show head, 

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[graeme_clarke]

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Finally Red deer stag with L vario elmarit 90-280 at 280mm

Full frame resized to 2480px

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[graeme_clarke]

and the last - a crop to 2480px of the red deer stag.

Just to confirm all with minimal adjustment in LR to exposure, highlights, shadow detail, minor adjustment to texture, clarity and noise reduction, vibrance set to 0.

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[graeme_clarke]

Hello Stuart,

Thanks for your message and queries. I'm hesitant to draw any conclusions about the colour and rendering of the different lenses because of the way these images were taken.  The Sika were shot into the light. With the 2X fitted aperture used was f8, iso floated to 1250 at 1/1000s. The Fallow and red stags were shot with the light behind or to one side. Both the R280 and the L 280 at f4. Iso floated to 400 against the light for the Sika, 250 for the Fallow stag and 80 for the Red. All at 1/1000s.  As they were wide open, corners are out of focus so it's impossible to judge if one lens is softer there than the other!

The greatest test I had was focusing manually with the R280. It helped that the animals stood still for enough time to let me select magnification then rotate the barrel before pressing the shutter! With the 2X the amount of movement between in and out of focus is very small. The magnification feature on the SL is an enormous help. Since buying the 90-280 two years ago the R 280 f4 ROM and 2X ROM have sat at home until this day when I gave them a run out.  They've had very little use and are as clean as a whistle!  I've havered about selling them to help fund the purchase of an SL2 so ...

I've only had the 90-280 out in the rain and snow with a cover (big shower cap to keep droplets off the front) so I can't vouch for it's waterproofing in a deluge or blizzard!! I use it mainly on a monopod and with AF it does produce sharp images.  With the R280 I always used it on a monopod and had no difficulty with sharpness using both a DMR first then the SL (601) - I guess inertia helps!!!!  I've noticed that the 90-280 has substantially increased in price  recently and is now much more expensive than the R280 and extender.  I find both are really good lenses and with care focusing the manual lens on its own, or with the 2X extender,  it produces excellent results. 

Graeme

[scott kirkpatrick]

I wasn't sure that the 280/4 R with the APO 2X R extender would be sharp enough for use with the SL2's 48 MPx, edge to edge, although I recall that it looked good on my E-M1, whose 16 MPx would be equal to 64 MPx if scaled up to full frame.  So I tried the combination on my SL2 last night with a full "wolf moon."  Unfortunately there were thin clouds, so the edges of the moon and the shadows from the mountains at the edge did not show cleanly.  And it's raining today.  I set up inside the house, shooting some kitchen appliances at a distance of 20 m.  Here's the result.  If you click through you can read the writing on the control dials and see the screws on the power socket.

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U1050454 by scott kirkpatrick, on Flickr

Edited January 28, 2021 by scott kirkpatrick

[Stuart Richardson]

Thanks Scott. That is very helpful. It looks quite good, especially for use with the 2x APO converter, and I imagine that certain areas of softness are just as likely to be from depth of field as well as anything else. Do you recall what aperture you shot it at? I was testing my only truly long lens, which is a 350mm F4 FE Hasselblad lens. It is a lens that is beautiful for portrait work and has amazing bokeh, but at least on digital it has too much CA and softness to work really at all. Or perhaps it is just my copy...either way, it is not useful for what I need to do. This is much more like it!

[scott kirkpatrick]

20 m is not the best working distance for this lens, but... I found setting the lens aperture at f/4 and f/5.6 was a little soft or at least lower in contrast (focus was on the mixer knob), but f/8 and f/11 were fine.  This shot is at f/11.  Of course with the extender the exposure value is f/22., but that's what today's high ISOs are for. Shutter speeds were long, but I used Fotos to trigger each shot.