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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · 24-85 focus way out of plane - send lens back? | |
I just bought a 24-85 3.5-4.5. I know, not the finest lens out there but I wanted something light enough for my wife or I to carry all day. It's a Nikon factory recon so 90 day warranty. I have briefly tested it, and have a concern I've never come across before.
So the edges are soft, very soft wide open, I was expecting soft edges but not quite this bad. Then I had a breakthrough moment and focused the center or corner of the frame in live view rather than focus locking on the center then pivoting the camera to put the same object at the edge for comparison. If you do this, the corner is acceptable, but the center is soft at the same distance.
So the edges of the image are not soft, they are OUT OF FOCUS when focus is locked at the same distance where the same object is in focus at the image center. In other words, the focus is not planar. Same deal with a flat object - corners out of focus when the center is in focus.
Looking at other lenses for the first time, it seems there are other lenses I own that have this problem to some extent, nearly all fast wide angles, but nothing like this bad. Also, the 24-85 shows this issue at 85mm as bad as at 24mm. My 85mm f/1.4 predictably shows absolutely none of this sort of thing even wide open.
Is this standard issue behavior for the 24-85 just because it distorts so much? Is this something that shouldn't be happening and Nikon could fix? Or should I just return to B&H pronto?
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