Apo Vario 90-280 sharpness at the long end

[Stuart Richardson]

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I thought that is what I was indicating, but perhaps that was unclear. The OP posted a pic from the 75mm APO summicron and said they were hoping to have a better experience, and I just wanted to caution them, as the 75mm APO is both a sharper lens and much less vulnerable to vibration effects and even focusing issues, as it lets in more light and has more DOF. It is also a much smaller, better balanced lens on the SL body, so it is less challenging to support. 
 

Clearly, if you want longer lenses, the options are only zooms or adapted lenses. 

[Ktsa5239]

I wanted to test mine as well so I took the experiment to the extreme. Went out to my balcony and shot the furtherst thing possible. This is an apartment block over 5km away according to google maps. Using 280mm f8 and 30 sec shutter 200% crop. I’m impressed with this lens more than ever. 

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Edited August 12, 2021 by Ktsa5239

[Jeff S]

1 hour ago, Stuart Richardson said:

I thought that is what I was indicating, but perhaps that was unclear. The OP posted a pic from the 75mm APO summicron and said they were hoping to have a better experience, and I just wanted to caution them, as the 75mm APO is both a sharper lens and much less vulnerable to vibration effects and even focusing issues, as it lets in more light and has more DOF. It is also a much smaller, better balanced lens on the SL body, so it is less challenging to support. 
 

Clearly, if you want longer lenses, the options are only zooms or adapted lenses. 

But I’m also saying that I don’t think he’ll be disappointed at all in the 90-280, even compared to the primes, provided he’s not significantly pixel peeping or making monster prints, and possibly not even then. The screen shot here would be equally impressive in terms of ‘sharpness’ with a properly working zoom IMO.

Jeff

[meerec]

1 hour ago, Ktsa5239 said:

This is an apartment block over 5km away according to google maps. Using 280mm f8 and 30 sec shutter 200% crop. I’m impressed with this lens more than ever. 

This is a very impressive lens, no doubt but I’m afraid your image doesn’t stand a chance to illustrate the superiority of this zoom. With your subject 5km away, the air instability and vibration blurs the image and it shows in your pic, no matter what you do and how carefully you approach it. 

[Ktsa5239]

7 hours ago, meerec said:

This is a very impressive lens, no doubt but I’m afraid your image doesn’t stand a chance to illustrate the superiority of this zoom. With your subject 5km away, the air instability and vibration blurs the image and it shows in your pic, no matter what you do and how carefully you approach it. 

I’ve tried this with the Panasonic 70-200 f4 with 1.4x teleconverter and could barely recognise the edges of the building 

[meerec]

2 hours ago, Ktsa5239 said:

I’ve tried this with the Panasonic 70-200 f4 with 1.4x teleconverter and could barely recognise the edges of the building 

I see your point now you’ve mentioned why you got excited. Yes, it would be a good comparison of the two. Why didn’t you include both images then? However there is still nothing to get excited about this outcome on its own even if the 90-280 is better than the Panasonic…and it all depends what one would intend to do with this image. 

[Ktsa5239]

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5 hours ago, meerec said:

I see your point now you’ve mentioned why you got excited. Yes, it would be a good comparison of the two. Why didn’t you include both images then? However there is still nothing to get excited about this outcome on its own even if the 90-280 is better than the Panasonic…and it all depends what one would intend to do with this image. 

You are right, I should have included the other shot and make it clearer. I did the same shot with the panasonic lens last year when I first got it and remembered it was blurry and I wrote it off as the subject being too far. 

[LocalHero1953]

On 8/11/2021 at 2:59 PM, osroubek said:

I am using spot focus on the vertical portion of the target only. It seems to be better than the other focusing methods. Does everyone just stick to spot focusing? When would you use the other methods if ever? 

On the few occasions I am using field for AF (and I can't remember ever doing it with the 90-280), it is because the precise focus point is not important (e.g. a landscape scene) but there is little contrast: the camera might struggle to find sufficient contrast to focus using a single point, but can in a larger area. 

[BernardC]

22 hours ago, meerec said:

This is a very impressive lens, no doubt but I’m afraid your image doesn’t stand a chance to illustrate the superiority of this zoom. With your subject 5km away, the air instability and vibration blurs the image and it shows in your pic, no matter what you do and how carefully you approach it. 

There was a series of articles on the Zeiss blog many years ago about taking pictures of the French coast from Dover. It was all down to weather, temperature, the right tripod, and technique. You need a good lens, of course, but it won't help if everything else isn't right.