Dear Peter,
You have shone us some beautiful pictures; I am certainly impressed with your photographic abilities and with the lens (and with your very beautiful daughter?!).
What camera did you use? I looked in your profile and saw that you own a 5D?
Yours,
Henry
Thanks very much. I didn't have a polarizer for the 16-35L yet, so I took a lot of shots at f/16 or even f/22 to get sufficiently long exposure times for the flowing water look. I was comparing shots taken at f/8, f/11, f/16 and f/22 to see where diffraction effects would kick in. While there wasn't a large difference between f/22 and f/16, I did prefer f/16 slightly, and I saw no real difference between f/11 and f/16. I also tried ISO50 for the heck of it to get longer exposure times, but I definitely saw an improvement going from ISO50 to ISO100 (what appears to be a greater range of tones), so I will only use ISO50 if I absolutely need it. I used Lightroom to convert to B&W, which does a great job. I have bought and used various plug-ins for converting to B&W, but I am happy sticking with Lightroom for now. I also applied some contrast enhancement.
After following a dp thread concerning with sharpness of eyelash detail at 35mm 5.6 I went a little mental shooting tests of my family. I've got another week to decide whether I'm keeping this beauty. Anyhow you can sense the exasperation on my daughter's face. I've posted a full frame then 100% crop of her eye detail shot at 35mm f5.6 with bounce flash.
full frame http://gallery.photo.net/photo/5985850-lg.jpg
I know, I know I didn't put the hood on, I know I left the UV (B+W MRC) on, but I wasn't really expecting this. Anyone has similar result from this beautiful 16-35 II?
I have had two copies of the 16-35 II lens and compared it to my version I, which I tried 3 copies and picked the one I have now. My version I was decent at the wider end. When I compared to the II lenses, I was disappointed with both copies of the II. I shot a wood fench with plants just in front on a tripod and did a number of comparisons. I used center point focusing and tried the tests both on the 1Dsmk2 and 5D. Although i did more with the former. My conclusion: At the wide end the version II was better at the wider apertures especially in the corners and at the edges. There was a slight improvement in distortion and CA. However by f8, the differences in image sharpness were marginal and in some parts of the image, I thought the version I lens was still better. At 24-35, the version I lens was better throughout at f4 and above with the exception of CA, which was still better on version II. In the end, I decided to keep my I lens and return the II lenses. THe price differential was not justified by any means at least for me. In some cases, the better image quality with version I at some of the tele focal ranges took away any improvement I saw at the wider focal ranges.
I've been shooting mine non-stop since the day it showed up, and i love it. Not as big of an improvement over the mk1 when stopped down, but it is better wide open... I, like some others, am fairly sure that the mk1 is a stronger performer at the "tele" end of 35mm- but i don't have the mk1 w/ me here to do comparisons.
am fairly sure that the mk1 is a stronger performer at the "tele" end of 35mm-
I'm pretty sure people don't buy this lens for it's qualities at 35mm. This lens has always been designed with a focus on the wide end and fairly wide open, and the redesign is to improve just that. Good info though.
boos wrote:
I know, I know I didn't put the hood on, I know I left the UV (B+W MRC) on, but I wasn't really expecting this. Anyone has similar result from this beautiful 16-35 II?
You shot without a hood, with a UV filter on the lens, with the sun just outside the frame, and you weren't expecting flare? That reads like the procedure for a test designed to induce flare.
caleb condit wrote: Earlier quoteam fairly sure that the mk1 is a stronger performer at the "tele" end of 35mm-I'm pretty sure people don't buy this lens for it's qualities at 35mm. This lens has always been designed with a focus on the wide end and fairly wide open, and the redesign is to improve just that. Good info though.
I was just pointing out/agreeing to something alot of people have seen on their mkII's.
I for one, could glue mine to be at 16mm full-time, and it wouldn't bother me one bit.
I received mine today. Here is a link to the first image I have taken (my living room)
I see some vignetting but it doesn't actually bother me. I like it a lot. Particularly compared to my 20-35 L .http://www.studio58.com.au/opm/16-35.jpg[/url]