Home · Register · Join Upload & Sell

Moderated by: Fred Miranda
Username  

  New fredmiranda.com Mobile Site
  New Feature: SMS Notification alert
  New Feature: Buy & Sell Watchlist
  

FM Forums | Nikon Forum | Join Upload & Sell

  

Archive 2014 · 70-300 at 300 versus 70-200f4 and cropping

  
 
brett maxwell
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · 70-300 at 300 versus 70-200f4 and cropping


Imagine this scenario with similar resulting images; which creates the image with more detail at large web resolutions?

A) The newest 70-300 zoomed to 300mm, wide open at 5.6, captured at high shutter speed on a D810, downsized to a large web resolution (1600px?)

B) The new 70-200f4 zoomed to 200mm, APS-C crop to 300mm equivilent, wide open at 4.0, captured at high shutter speed on a D810, downsized to large web resolution (1600px?)




Aug 26, 2014 at 11:58 PM
MalbikEndar
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · 70-300 at 300 versus 70-200f4 and cropping


If I was planning to downsize that much, I would pick up the lens closest to my current position.


Aug 27, 2014 at 06:55 AM
glassartist
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · 70-300 at 300 versus 70-200f4 and cropping


I'm guessing neither. Wide open, in my experience, the 70-200 is a better lens- better contrast, better resolution, even cropped. But down sampled to 1600 px I think you'd be hard pressed to tell one from another. You are throwing away so much information that any detail you gain with a better lens is lost.

Having said that, the 70-300 is not at all a bad lens and has started many an amateur (including me) down the prime path. Sort of a gateway lens . . .



Aug 27, 2014 at 10:50 AM
BenV
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · 70-300 at 300 versus 70-200f4 and cropping


Why wouldn't you stop down the 70-200 for better image quality?


Aug 27, 2014 at 11:42 AM
nick53097
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · 70-300 at 300 versus 70-200f4 and cropping


I had both, went through the similar test and sold 70-300
70-200 was better, much better (maybe I had a bad 70-300)



Aug 27, 2014 at 11:52 AM
OccAeon
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · 70-300 at 300 versus 70-200f4 and cropping


I had both, and I found that the 70-200 f/4 was much better, even scaled. I compared them here:

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1254591/0#11940091





70-300 VR at 300mm f/8 on left (scaled down), 70-200 f/4 at 200mm f/8 on right (100% view).




Aug 27, 2014 at 05:25 PM
mmurph
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · 70-300 at 300 versus 70-200f4 and cropping


^^^ Very nice comparison.

I wonder if a similar, standardized comparison would be useful for other lenses? You mentioned 35 feet and flash for example. How large was the text?

It might be interesting to see corners of something shot wide open. I have the Sigma 50-150 2.8 OS for Nikon, on the D7100. I also have a 2x tele converter, which gets us to 300 at 5.6 on the D7100 that you also used ...




Aug 27, 2014 at 10:41 PM
AnnJS
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · 70-300 at 300 versus 70-200f4 and cropping


Which algorithm did you use when you down-sampled because that can make quite a difference to the results? Try Bicubic Sharper and see how it then compares.


Aug 28, 2014 at 11:30 AM
OccAeon
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · 70-300 at 300 versus 70-200f4 and cropping


mmurph wrote:
^^^ Very nice comparison.

I wonder if a similar, standardized comparison would be useful for other lenses? You mentioned 35 feet and flash for example. How large was the text?

It might be interesting to see corners of something shot wide open. I have the Sigma 50-150 2.8 OS for Nikon, on the D7100. I also have a 2x tele converter, which gets us to 300 at 5.6 on the D7100 that you also used ...



Thanks! The font was 12pt, on white paper (I used autoexposure, so it came out gray, and I didn't bother to fix it). I'd do more tests, but I've long since sold the 70-300 VR.

---------------------------------------------

AnnJS wrote:
Which algorithm did you use when you down-sampled because that can make quite a difference to the results? Try Bicubic Sharper and see how it then compares.


I used whatever the default in Photoshop is. I'm not sure that running a sharpener on one side while leaving the other side unsharpened would be a fair comparison.



Aug 28, 2014 at 02:41 PM
lorac
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · 70-300 at 300 versus 70-200f4 and cropping


OccAeon wrote:
Thanks! The font was 12pt, on white paper (I used autoexposure, so it came out gray, and I didn't bother to fix it). I'd do more tests, but I've long since sold the 70-300 VR.

---------------------------------------------

I used whatever the default in Photoshop is. I'm not sure that running a sharpener on one side while leaving the other side unsharpened would be a fair comparison.




If I had to guess with downsizing to compensate I'd say the 70-200 F4 would be marginally better, but no way as stark as this comparison. Something is off, that's exceptionally poor IQ for the 70-300VR at 300mm f8.

Lora




Aug 28, 2014 at 05:06 PM
OccAeon
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · 70-300 at 300 versus 70-200f4 and cropping


lorac wrote:
If I had to guess with downsizing to compensate I'd say the 70-200 F4 would be marginally better, but no way as stark as this comparison. Something is off, that's exceptionally poor IQ for the 70-300VR at 300mm f8.

Lora



I don't know, it was consistent with what I saw from my copy. The 70-200 f/4 was just ridiculously better. I wasn't able to get truly sharp images at any aperture from the 70-300 VR. It's possible that other people's copies are sharper.



Aug 28, 2014 at 06:01 PM
AnnJS
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · 70-300 at 300 versus 70-200f4 and cropping


Concerning the default resampling mode in Photoshop:

Earlier versions of Ps shipped with plain Bicubic but more recent versions set it at Automatic (which would normally use Bicubic Sharper when down-sizing). However, the user really should be choosing these settings for the purpose in hand and not relying on Default settings.



Aug 28, 2014 at 06:13 PM





FM Forums | Nikon Forum | Join Upload & Sell

    
 

You are not logged in. Login or Register

Username       Or Reset password



This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.