I'm seriously thinking that for my next vacation probably in May, I'll add one of these 28-200's as a travel lens. I'm spoiled on their 35-150 so it would be a nice lighter weight addition with a bit wider and longer capability.
I use my 28-200 probably more than any other lens, it’s hard to beat how sharp it is for the weight and range. More and more I find the CA and LoCa to bother me with it, but it’s minor and easy to ignore given the benefits.
You guys are brutal. Causing me to more strongly consider adding one of these bad boys to my bag. A perfect running around lens. The 35-150 I have is remarkable, but very heavy to lug around. I don't always need the fast aperture and the less weight but retaining IQ is very compelling. The extra reach and width isn't a bad thing either.
well, I jumped into the pond and ordered one of these. I just had to see what it would be like on my A7R5 lightening the load a bit but retaining most of the IQ. We shall see.
dcisive wrote:
well, I jumped into the pond and ordered one of these. I just had to see what it would be like on my A7R5 lightening the load a bit but retaining most of the IQ. We shall see.
Even if this lens isn't as sharp as some stellar primes, when using DxO Pure Raw for raw conversion, images come out inherently sharper than with Adobe. Subsequent sharpening gives cleaner results. It's like using a stellar lens.
You can shoot at much higher ISO with no sensor noise... which translates to faster shutter speeds and therefore even sharper images. On your A7R5 the images should be very impressive.
dcisive wrote:
Oh I will. I'm hoping and praying for a good non decentered copy that will be sharp at both ends as I've seen some folks have.
Very interested in your thoughts on 28-200 as a potential replacement for 35-150.
I also own and love 35-150. My main problem with 35-150 is not its size and weight, but how little I use my prime lenses anymore. I need to either downsize my primes or downsize 35-150. 28-200 is a perfect generic lens to keep with high quality primes and I really don’t want to get rid of my 35 GM. At the same time, 35-150 is like owning a bag full of primes with the flexibility of a zoom lens, so I don’t want to get rid of it either. I can’t decide what to do.
Oh I'm not giving up my 35-150. For my paying jobs it's my "go to". I wanted a lighter weight run around travel oriented lens that wouldn't give up IQ. And from all the reviews and peoples comments it should be the answer to that purpose. I use DXO Photolab 6 Elite so that should do nicely. I also have the Topaz suite for denoising and sharpening so I'm all set on that front as well. I have a sneaky suspicion it will be as sharp at the long end as my 35-150 is. We shall see and I'll let you know. I'd like to post samples but will likely have to crop to illustrate the ultimate sharpness as you can't post really large shots on this site. If the weather doesn't stop FedX getting it here tomorrow, I'll post tomorrow night.
Bummer, the lens came this afternoon. I tested it out. The right side and center are astoundingly sharp. The left side isn't. It's decentered. I wanted to get lucky with a good copy but probably jinxed myself. I'll have to return this one for another copy hoping it won't be decentered and evenly sharp side to side and in the center. The portion that is sharp is as good as it gets. So lets hope next time around is the charm.
