mattb2

<p>Michael,<br>

I did use the lens for some real photography, and I wasn't happy with how it was performing wide open, which is the whole reason I set the thing up to do this test. <br>

John,<br>

It's a relatively small part of the frame - I cropped so that I could show a 100% magnification. I've tried playing with the focus adjustment in my D300, but at f2.8 the image is soft enough that it's tough to see any difference. I originally thought the focus might be off a bit (front/back focus), which is why I set this test up in the first place, but it's just so soft that it's hard to tell exactly where on the chart is most in focus.<br>

I'll play with manually focusing in live view and post some results later on.</p>

<p>Matt - The chart is a back/front focus chart, so the dark line is the focus point, and the subject is at a 45 degree angle to the focal plane with the the right hand side furthest away and the left closest to the camera.</p>

<p>I recently purchased this lens, and I'm not very happy with the sharpness wide open, but I'm not sure if I have a bad copy, or if this is what I should expect of this lens.<br>

The test shots below were taken on a tripod with the self-timer enabled to make sure I wasn't getting any camera shake. I was shooting at a focus target with the lens zoomed to 200mm, ISO 200.<br>

<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4006/4173434501_c3c38f091a_o.jpg" alt="" /><br>

I don't have a local shop I can ask about these things, so I'm hoping to get some feedback here - is this a dud, or am I being too picky?<br>

Thanks,<br>

Matt</p>