corrie sweiger Posted December 1, 2005 Share Posted December 1, 2005 I have a couple lenses for my mzs-theyre OK but not superb. Both tamron, a 28-90 and 28-300. I'd like to find something a bit sharper. Most the time its ok, but there have been times that i really wish things could have been a bit sharper. Any suggestions? (manual is ok since i rarely use af) Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew robertson Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 Super zooms are never that sharp. A 50mm f/1.4 lens is right up your alley. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochen_S Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 My FA100mm f2.8 macro is quite impressive. The F 50mm f2.8 isn't as sharp as desireable when doing concert photography wide open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stemked Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 Hi Corrie. First and formost under what conditions are you shooting? I have taught a ton of students over the years and NOTHING improve the quality of their images faster than faithfully using a SOLID tripod (ie no Wal-Mart cheapies). My students returned beautiful and relatively 'sharp' photos even with their 28 to something zooms provided they stopped down and worked off the tripod. If you are hand-holding a lens at 300mm, regardless of the lens quality you can expect 'fuzzy' photos. Most of those zooms will have a max fstop of 5.6 which means you need surpurb hand-holding technique or really very bright light to avoid seeing movement caused by you. If you are shooting off a good tripod with a remote shutter release and still aren't happy and are judging with a loop then... Look into primes. They are generally the sharpest optics. There are zooms that are also good too but you really have to ask about a specific lens. The range you've listed is just too wide to give helpful data. I could easily list 50 lenses (or more) that would fit your criteria. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corrie sweiger Posted December 2, 2005 Author Share Posted December 2, 2005 Hi, and thanks. I do have a tripod, use it quite frequently. Its a manfrotto, fairly solid. Im sorry, i didnt mention any shooting conditions. I shoot mainly portraiture-and in all types of lighting. I realize that the handheld zoom wont have the same sharp quality. Im talking about even when not zoomed out very far, and even on the tripod, i find the lenses can still lack that razor sharp quality. Maybe such thing doesnt exist, i dont know. I thought i remembered someone on here mentioning a while ago that sigmas were sharper than tamron? Or even a zeiss(if i get really lucky anyway). I'd like to find something in maybe a 105, doesnt have to be a zoom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
titrisol Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 Try buying a Pentax 105 then, those are sharp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony pagano Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 Corrie Check out this site for info on pentax lenses: http://stans-photography.info/ Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard_oleson Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 50mms aren't the choice for portraiture generally, but you really ought to have one. The f/1.4 is probably best, but the 1.7 is very good too and the f/2 isn't bad.... all will run rings around your zooms, and you can get them for practically nothing.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michellemandat Posted December 4, 2005 Share Posted December 4, 2005 Corrie, I suggest a really good lens for portrait the 100mm f2,8. It's one of the sharpest lens in my opinion. "A" version is also very good on *IST-DS and if you plan to change for digital camera is an interesting investissement. Michel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rj Posted December 4, 2005 Share Posted December 4, 2005 Corrie, if you are looking a something around 105 and sharpness is what your after, I would suggest the FA 100 f2.8 macro lens. Its an autofocus lens and a macro so it is bigger than the 105mm lens that others have recommended, but boy, is it sharp. I have the FA version that was out before the D-FA (confused yet? The new lens is the D-FA, the version before it was the FA). You could probably find a very good used version of this lens for not much money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markku_ylilammi Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 Low-cost zooms are no optical wonders. Superzooms like 28-300 are not to be recommended, even with a high price tag. If you want to improve sharpness there are two low cost methods: First, use a tripod or monopod. Secondly, use a small aperture. f:16 is often the best aperture for zoom lenses, there is no reason to use anything larger than f:11. If you want new lenses then any prime (no zoom) lens of Pentax will do. All of them will give better performance than your zoom lenses. They are also cheap if acquired send-hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgk1966 Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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