Guy Mancuso wrote:
Well okay now i can finally say something in public. you guy's know how hard it is for me to keep a secret.
I have been following this all along with Mike and jack testing this stuff and a million e-mails and images to look at these guy's did a incredable job, i don't doubt the tests for a second. before we go on. Let me clear the air on that Sigma that was mine , i did and exhaustive test on that lens and it was one helluva lens , I tested it against the Zeiss 21, 16-35, 24 1.4 and the Sigma did a great job but it just a tad short on the ultimate image quality. Actually i am very surprise the Olympus pounced it, that says a lot for the Olympus. The results from all the test speak for themselves . the zeiss wins but not exactly hands down the Oly proves to be a great alternate to the going price of the Zeiss which now has probably dropped a ton. i say still search and buy the Zeiss if you can but if you can't this certainly is a great alternative to it.
My role in there testing was a sounding board and Mark and I helped them find some of the lenses to run tests. Yes i did buy one from Mike to have for myself . It will be a great little lens for travel and my XT. I wnat to give Mike and jack a big thank you for doing the dirty work, i know they put a lot of time into it and knowing both of them there tests are about as sound as you can get
the jpegs shown are downsampled so much that all three lenses look like crap. plus, what about corner sharpness? even the nikkor 18/3.5 Ai-S that i tested did great on the sides but fell flat on its face in the corners.
i don't see the zeiss 21 being dethroned anytime soon.
Lars - if I showed some other lenses at this focal length, such as the Canon 16-35L or 17-40L or 20/2.8, then you'd see that the Sigma 20 is actually a very good performer.
It may seem poor in this comparison, because it's next to two stellar lenses. If I had shown the 16-35L, 17-40L, and the Sigma 20, you would think the Sigma is the best lens on the planet
Your perspective is off. Really. Do the test yourself, again, and you'll see.
Mike Hatam wrote:
Lars - if I showed some other lenses at this focal length, such as the Canon 16-35L or 17-40L or 20/2.8, then you'd see that the Sigma 20 is actually a very good performer.
It may seem poor in this comparison, because it's next to two stellar lenses. If I had shown the 16-35L, 17-40L, and the Sigma 20, you would think the Sigma is the best lens on the planet
Your perspective is off. Really. Do the test yourself, again, and you'll see.
I looked when Guy tested it against the stellar performer Zeiss 21
I'm not complaining about the test or anything. Only giving my opinion on that lens. The other two lenses have i never used so I don't know so much about them.
But you have to expect some comments when you stick your neck out and tell people it's the sharpest copy on the planet And then you show us some really soft pics
Edited by Lars Johnsson on Jun 16, 2005 at 07:12 PM GMT
I have done numerous corner crops on the full frame sensor !Dsmk2 and compared the Z21 to the olympus. i have done closer in shots of buildings and some at or close to infinity. In all my comparisons, they are extremely close in sharpness. I think Zeiss is better on CA but was really amazed at the lack of distortion with Olympus. Mark
Edited by mark1958 on Jun 16, 2005 at 10:17 AM GMT
Erik - all processing was done in TIF, and then saved (100% crops) as jpg level 9 in photoshop as the last step. What you are seeing here on the screen is what you would see on your monitor at 100% view in photoshop, with the possible exception of color (since these are in sRGB for web display).
Jun 16, 2005 at 01:15 PM
Lars Johnsson Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
I can of course not take the same pics as you have done in your test. And you know that.
My claims is of course hollow. Just like any of your claims. Like sharpest on planet and others.
I just want to say that I was extremely skeptical about the Olympus 21mm lens until I tried them myself... and well I am a convert. Like any other brand, I do not think all Olympus Zuiko lenses are going to be stellar performers but I have been extremely surprised by this particular lens. Will I do believe the CZ 21mm is still King, this lens is an amazing performer.
Nonetheless, there are always going to be people who are unwilling to move from the dogma into the alternative. However, the data is the data. I can confirm Mike's conclusions with my own tests. As others try this lens out, I am certain that they will come to similar conclusions. Mark
