Hi everyone. I was looking at some lenses today, and I always saw how people said such and such lens will produce “sharper” images. I thought I’d take a couple test shots and see if i could see the difference. I was amazed. This is the comparison between the Nikon 18-70mm (D70 Kit lens) and the Nikon 50mm, 100% crop. Everything was set to manual, so the aperture (f/4.5), shutter speed (1/160s), light intensity (from strobe), and exposure were all the same for both photos.
Click Here (Large Image)
If you look at the strings, text, and emblem thingy in the 50mm shot, you can see its a lot sharper than the 18-70mm (at 50mm). The colors also came out looking a little muted with the 18-70mm, and it came out a tad bit darker every time (with the same settings). Pretty interesting i thought.
Here’s another comparison shot from a different angle and with different light. This isnt 100% and I messed up a little, the 18-70mm wasnt set at exactly 50mm. But you can still see the difference.
Anyway, moral of the story: the 50mm is a great little lens! The 18-70mm isnt by any means a bad lens, but the 50mm is even better! Another thing i like about it is it’s ability to take pictures in pretty dark environments, due to its significantly lower f/stop capability . Best of all though, the equally sharp f/1.8 version (I use the f/1.4 model) is only $110 on Adorama! There are many people on here that just bought a new SLR, so i hope this is useful to some of you!