SVE 16 -35 versus 21/28 APO! Can anyone Provide Comparisons?

[jplomley]

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Looking at trading in my 16-35 for the 21 and 28 APO SCs. They will be used for both street/ travel and landscape applications. I'm curious if at f/8.0 (for landscape) the 16-35 and APO SCs demonstrate similar performance (resolution across the frame, corner performance) etc etc. Anyone able to do this comparison and post results?

[beewee]

3 hours ago, jplomley said:

I'm curious if at f/8.0 (for landscape) the 16-35 and APO SCs demonstrate similar performance (resolution across the frame, corner performance) etc etc

No, they are not comparable stopped down. Not even close.

16-35 SL is a very good zoom, comparable to Sigma 14-24 DG DN at same focal length and aperture but the APO SLs are on another level. I don’t have the 21 APO but I do have the 16-35 SL and 28 APO and I’ve done controlled testing at all marked focal lengths and full stop aperture increments on the 16-35 and 28 APO, among other SL zooms and Sigma zooms and primes.

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[Pierre68]

Of course they are not comparable. You do not use a zoom and two different primes the same way. Last summer I went on a trip in Iceland with S007 and all the S prime you can think of. But when I was shooting in the rain or the spray of som Icelandic waterfall and wanted to change focal length... I wished I had a zoom!

Remind yourself that a zoom might get you the shot you would not get if shooting with primes in certain situations.

Then primes will definitely get you better IQ if you have time to handle and swap between them

 

[jplomley]

On 3/23/2024 at 5:15 PM, beewee said:

No, they are not comparable stopped down. Not even close.

16-35 SL is a very good zoom, comparable to Sigma 14-24 DG DN at same focal length and aperture but the APO SLs are on another level. I don’t have the 21 APO but I do have the 16-35 SL and 28 APO and I’ve done controlled testing at all marked focal lengths and full stop aperture increments on the 16-35 and 28 APO, among other SL zooms and Sigma zooms and primes.

Somewhat surprised to here this as I would have expected the performance of the APO primes to degrade around f/8.0 given what I have observed with the 35 APO. Sounds like this is not the case on the wide angles....perhaps because wide open they do not have the same ultra-high resolution as the 35 APO????

[Planetwide]

2 hours ago, jplomley said:

Somewhat surprised to here this as I would have expected the performance of the APO primes to degrade around f/8.0 given what I have observed with the 35 APO. Sounds like this is not the case on the wide angles....perhaps because wide open they do not have the same ultra-high resolution as the 35 APO????

I have not seen any degradation in the performance of my SL 35mm APO Summicron at F8 - FYI

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[jplomley]

7 hours ago, Planetwide said:

I have not seen any degradation in the performance of my SL 35mm APO Summicron at F8 - FYI

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Interesting, if I shoot from f/2 to f/11 the same scene, at around f/6.7, I notice the resolution start to drop off across the image. I think this is because the resolution already starts so high at f/2, there are negligible gains in stopping down, other than for DOF. But the onset of diffraction starts much sooner. Splendid image by the way!

 

[Planetwide]

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31 minutes ago, jplomley said:

Interesting, if I shoot from f/2 to f/11 the same scene, at around f/6.7, I notice the resolution start to drop off across the image. I think this is because the resolution already starts so high at f/2, there are negligible gains in stopping down, other than for DOF. But the onset of diffraction starts much sooner. Splendid image by the way!

 

Are you shooting the SL3, if so it will show the effects of diffraction will be evident at a lower F-stop. The above image was on my SL2. On the SL2, beyond F/8, diffraction was definitely evident. I'll have a look at some images to see if F5.6 was any better.

The image was a test shot. Thanks!

Edited March 25 by Planetwide

[Virob]

12 hours ago, jplomley said:

Somewhat surprised to hear this as I would have expected the performance of the APO primes to degrade around f/8.0 given what I have observed with the 35 APO. Sounds like this is not the case on the wide angles....perhaps because wide open they do not have the same ultra-high resolution as the 35 APO????

With the 21mm APO, the effects of defraction can be seen at f5.6 using multishot mode with the SL2 in the center. I would not say the performance is degraded, it becomes limited by optical laws and is giving the maximum performance at that aperture. 
 

[tom0511]

Any further insights about the zoom vs the primes?