Camera Labs

Hope to get my hands on a D700 this weekend to do some FX-evaluation of this new zoom...

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Some observation of VR-efficiency: I had now time and again slightly blurred shots at 1/125 sec and 300mm focal length.
Now 300mm on DX is equiv to 450mm film FL which in turn would lead to a recommended shutter speed of 1/500 sec. And 1/125 sec is only 2 stops slower an already shows signs of shake!?
That doens't point to a highly effective VR system
Will keep on judging my shots, as only a significant number of shots can lead to valid verdict!

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Currently shooting Siemens-stars to judge sharpness etc. 28/35/50mm looking very good so far

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Yep: have the D700 in my hands now and will be posting D300/18-200 vs. D700/28-300 comparison soon.
Expect the answer to the age-old question: how is a 1900EUR DX-combo stepping up to the equivalent 2750EUR FX-combo. And I'll surely not only be testing high-ISO.

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Ha! When testing the new lens on the D700 for corner sharpness I encountered a strange new phenomenon: The warp-factor©®™
And I'm proud to present it to you here at Camera Labs for the first time ever!
Watch closely as the stunning story unfolds comparing sharpness results from bent vs straight lenses and making your jaw drop in awe when seeing up-close and personal what a difference your way of holding a lens can make.
****absolutely incredible pictures****
_____NOT for the faint of heart_____

Stay tuned...

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

I am very interested in seeing this!

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Graham
Flickr

Because of warping I'm currently reshooting the tests at 150mm and I'm glad I had not begun the tests at longer focal lengths like 200mm or 300mm, because the warp-factor obviously plays a role there too.

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

---Warp-factor is REAL!---
Proof of the pudding published...
Read more:
(Nuremberg, 09/23/2010) Pictures proving that the dreaded warp-factor is no scam surfaced at Camera Labs. It was only this morning that this strange phenomenon has been discovered. A fevered attempt was made to (un)cover the whole story and present it in its utmost inscrutable detail.
So here the inquiring reporters at Camera Labs lay down their findings for you to delve into. The whole batch of explanations plus a dummie's guide on how to warp your lens from mediocre to excellent in 5 seconds can be found here. This comes to you at no additional cost and will make you the center of every photographic discussion for months to come and will earn you high marks on proficiency and innovativeness.
So don't hesitate, read the full report, before everybody else does...

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Didn't you just re-invent field curvature Thomas?

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

Nope, I focused specifically at the corner, that eliminates any influence of field curvature for that crop.

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

That's an interesting observation on the warp-factor©®™ since I came across something similar, on an old Canon equivalent, the 35-350L. The used sample had a definite wobble (tilt) on the end section. I didn't do analysis on the image quality variation, but I did have an AF problem manifest itself depending on how it was held. In certain grips the AF would fail to complete a seek and oscillate around the focal point, but in other cases it worked like normal. Did you come across anything like that? Fortunately in my case it was bought from a dealer so I could return it easily.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

As the FX-bodies don't hav efocus points in the corner I could only do contrast-based AF. That showed no tendency to fail with the warped lens as I can tell from my many efforts to "hand-optimize" the outcome.
And the center-IQ was not really hurt by the wobble.
But I can absolutely imagine that certain types of aberrations can make the AF go crazy...

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Well, time is running out (14-day return policy) and I have to decide, whether to keep this lens. I've not yet presented all results nor have I indeed done all the tests already (e.g. 300mm lab-test on Siemens-star targets), but I feel overall confident to judge this latest addition to Nikon's zooms. So this is sort of a mid-term conclusion:
The new 28-300mm seems to follow in the very successful steps of its smaller sibling the 18-200. It is the all-round super-zoom that you should always have in your bag. Let's differentiate this statement a little depending on the type of body.
For FX:
- Either as a universal backup should the FL(-range) of your primary lens(es) fail to cover a photographic opportunity
- Or on your FX-body as the primary lens, with some speciality lenses in your bag for macro-photos > 1:3, ultra-wide/fisheye, ultra-long (>=500mm), or ultra-bright (f/1.8, f/1.4)
- Or even as your sole (or first) lens for your FX-body. Because it goes wide, far and close.
For DX:
- As your long standard zoom, that needs something shorter to complement it below 28mm (equivalent 42mm focal length on FX-/film-bodies)

All in all, it seems to delivers amazing quality for a 11x zoom throughout the range esp. if you can stop down to f/8.
So I'll keep it as the universal backup should I have the wrong lens mounted on my photographic field-trips.

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Great work Thomas and some really nice findings. Once your main report thread is completed to your satisfaction, let me know and I'll link to it from the lenses section.

Will do, Gordon!

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses