Photo Jottings

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Sony 28mm F/2.8 and Minolta AF 28mm F/2

I see the same center sharpness for both lenses, and the F/2 crop for the Minolta is pretty sharp, but has some veiling haze.  There is no axial color fringing visible at all with either lens from F/2.8 on.
Now for some corner crops.

Sony 28mm F/2.8                                                           Minolta AF 28mm F/2

Noticeable here are the sharper corners of the Minolta, no surprise though as I was impressed by the corner performance way back when I originally reviewed this lens.  Check out the color fringing on the corner crops of the Sony 28mm, (noticeable in the wood trailer components and white rim), the Minolta has much less, which is a bit unusual as it is a mid-80s design.

Distortion control

Both lenses show moderate barrel distortion, but the Minolta may be just a bit flatter, depending on how picky you want to be.

Ghosting samples below.

Ghosting control is clearly best with the updated Sony lens when the sun is in the frame, so if shooting into the sun is something you like to do, you may want to stick with the Sony, although sometimes I like the look and feel you get with ghosts.  When the sun is at the edge, or just out of the image, there isn’t much difference between the two, (bottom row).

That’s it for this comparison!

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Sony DT 30mm F/2.8 and Sony 28mm F/2.8

Even when factoring in the slightly shorter focal length of the 28mm, there is very little if any difference in sharpness in the centers between the two lenses, but the 28mm seems to have a little more contrast in my opinion.  All shots taken at infinity focus.
Now for some corner crops.

Sony DT 30mm F/2.8                                                    Sony 28mm F/2.8

The 30mm is obviously sharper in the extreme corners at all apertures, which is somewhat of a surprise.  I see some moderate color fringing in the 28mm corners, and none in the 30mm.  All shots taken at infinity focus.

Distortion control

Both lenses exhibit the same basic distortion pattern, and same control.

Ghosting samples below.

The 30mm suffers from a pesky multi-colored arc in the corners, the 28mm has some diffused ghosts in the same area.  I’d say the flare and ghosting are different on both lenses, but neither one comes out on top in my opinion.

Check out the difference in area covered.

The sample shot above shows the coverage differences between the 30mm macro lens, and 28mm, with the 30mm coverage defined by the red lines.  The coverage differences are not really something to worry about.  I didn’t merely extrapolate the differences above from the specs sheet, I shot both lenses at the same center point, and outlined the exact coverage on the 30mm.

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Sony CZ 16-80mm F/3.5-4.5 and the Tamron 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II

Check out the center crops below.

The Sony has a disadvantage by starting at 16mm, you can see this in the crops above.  I’d say the sharpness would be about the same if the coverage was identical.  They’re both very sharp at F/3.5, and the crops don’t seem much sharper by stopping down.
Now for some corner crops.

It looks like the corners perform about the same as the centers.  I’d say at F/3.5 they’re a little soft, but look fine at F/5.6.  The Tamron looks like it may have slightly sharper corners at F/3.5.  All shots taken at infinity focus, and about 200-300 pixels away from the right lower corner.
Now for some center crops at 50mm.

The crops above are not the greatest, I didn’t have enough time to experiment with the best distance to detail requirements, plus the Tamron crops were taken about 10 minutes later than the Sony, and the light was changing fast.  The center crops look about the same in sharpness, despite the light differences.
Now for some corner crops.

What’s surprising here is the Sony is sharper in the corners than the Tamron at 50mm.  I was bragging about the Tamron corner sharpness at this focal length not too long ago, but the Sony is clearly sharper up to about F/8, at which point they even out.  All shots taken at infinity focus, and about 200-300 pixels away from the lower right corner. The most accurate focusing for the Tamron at 50mm was right on the infinity mark, the Sony needed to be short focused just a hair off the infinity mark for best sharpness.

Distortion at 16-17mm.

The Sony shows a little more barrel distortion, but it’s also a bit wider.  At 50mm, there’s a small amount of pincushion on both lenses, not shown.

Ghosting samples below.

Both lenses show some ghosting.  Though the Tamron has less ghosts, it shows a little more veiling glare through the middle in this shot.

The Sony has a little more lateral color fringing at wide angle, you can see magenta and cyan along the big tree branch on both lenses.  I cropped both images at the last 700 pixels from the middle left side.  The crop differences are from the 16-17mm focal lengths, and shows the coverage differences between the two.  At 50mm both exhibit excellent control of lateral color fringing.

That’s it for this quick comparison, see the main reviews for each lens for additional information.  Sony Carl Zeiss 16-80mm F/3.5-4.5, Tamron 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II.

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