![](\"http:\/\/www.glaringnotebook.com\/zimages\/bsst1.jpg\")
\nClick here for large version.<\/a><\/p>\n
The big guns, left to right, arranged in order of MFD:<\/b>
\nMinolta 80-200mm F2.8G HS APO, 1.8m MFD – Asyraf’s copy
\nSony 70-200mm F2.8G SSM, 1.2m MFD – Nic’s copy
\nSigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG HSM Macro, 1.0m MFD – Sham’s copy
\nTamron 70-200mm F2.8 Macro, 0.95m MFD – shop copy
\nSony Carl Zeiss 135mm F1.8, 0.72m MFD – my copy<\/p>\n
I didn’t bring my lens hood. \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n
* MFD = Minimum Focus Distance<\/p>\n
All tests done with a Sony Alpha 900 firmware Version 1.00. The A900 seems to make the Sony 70-200mm F2.8G SSM focus faster, subjectively, but at the same time it is hampered by the smaller AF sensor layout. Regardless, the AF assist sensors and the F2.8 dual-cross type center sensor should bring out the best in the worst conditions, namely an indoor flourescent-lit shopping mall!<\/p>\n
We were time-limited; the shop was closing soon, and unfortunately we’d rarely ever get to see such a full combination of 70-200mm F2.8 lens ranges.<\/p>\n
Settings<\/b> – Standard Small JPG, DRO Off, ISO1600, F2.8 (or F1.8 on the Zeiss), AWB, Multi-segment metering, center spot AF, AF-C.<\/p>\n
We did a comparison with a moving target, in this case a friend walking towards us. I attempted to keep the center spot AF point on the eye of the moving subject.<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.glaringnotebook.com\/zimages\/bsst1big.jpg\")
\nTamron 70-200mm sample walk.<\/p>\n
Lens Name; number of shots; good\/bad shot ratio *<\/p>\n
Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 Macro; 14 shots; 8:6
\nTimestamps: 8:54:40 8:54:40 8:54:40 8:54:40 8:54:40 8:54:42 8:54:42 8:54:42 8:54:42 8:54:44 8:54:44 8:54:44 8:54:44 8:54:44 8:54:46 8:54:46 8:54:46 8:54:46<\/p>\n
Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG HSM Macro; 12 shots; 5:7
\nTimestamps: 8:55:26 8:55:28 8:55:28 8:55:28 8:55:28 8:55:30 8:55:30 8:55:30 8:55:30 8:55:30 8:55:32 8:55:32<\/p>\n
Sony 70-200mm F2.8G SSM; 13 shots; 6:7
\nTimestamps: 8:56:52 8:56:54 8:56:54 8:56:54 8:56:54 8:56:54 8:56:54 8:56:56 8:56:56 8:56:56 8:56:56 8:56:58 8:56:58 <\/p>\n
Minolta 80-200mm F2.8G HS APO; 17 shots; 8:9
\nTimestamps: 9:00:14 9:00:14 9:00:14 9:00:14 9:00:16 9:00:16 9:00:16 9:00:16 9:00:16 9:00:18 9:00:18 9:00:18 9:00:18 9:00:18 9:00:20 9:00:20 9:00:20 <\/p>\n
Sony Carl Zeiss 135mm F1.8; 14 shots**; 9:5
\nTimestamps: 9:00:52 9:00:54 9:00:54 9:00:54 9:00:54 9:00:56 9:00:56 9:00:56 9:00:56 9:00:56 9:00:56 9:00:58 9:00:58 9:00:58 <\/p>\n
Number of shots were derived from comparing magnification; magnifications outside the norm were discarded.<\/p>\n
Interesting that the timestamp of the file may not be truly representative of the time it was taken; I reckon the A900 writes to the card every 2 seconds, or that it can’t count in odd seconds. So there goes my plan to use the timestamps to show how fast it can focus!<\/p>\n
* good shots<\/b> meaning it was obvious that the lens managed to cope up and focus (some shots had motion blur so I accounted for that as you can still see the relative region of focus); bad shots<\/b> meaning it was obvious that the lens didn’t manage to keep focus and you’d want to delete that shot.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
** 14 shots on the Zeiss are not comparable because of the different start\/stop points; I cannot measure this versus the other lenses because they don’t have the same magnification so I can’t measure the start\/end points easily.<\/p>\n
My Subjective Opinion<\/b><\/p>\n
I will assure you that the Sigma at 200mm F2.8 and this close range (on the A900) will not<\/b> give you this amount of sharpness. The Tamron without a doubt is good at 200mm F2.8 in the 1-2 meters range (estimated) where the Sigma falters.<\/p>\n My previous findings on the Sigma here.<\/a><\/p>\n The Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 and Minolta 80-200mm F2.8G HS APO, both being screw-drive lenses, let the A900 fire away more frames at the beginning of the walk. It focused more confidently. There was an obvious audible difference between the 5 FPS of screw-drives and the slower, more hesitant pauses between HSM\/SSM lenses. Everybody noticed this.<\/p>\n Given the low sample rate I have here, I hope somebody out there can take this further especially on the 200mm end – the shop confines didn’t allow for 200mm tracking. That said the test was very gruelling on the lenses as it is in poor flourescent lighting so I cannot imagine how it would fare at 200mm. I would imagine that all these lenses would do much better in a daylight drag race at 200mm!<\/p>\n Approaching the minimum focusing distance all lenses struggled mainly because of the A900’s small AF sensor layout.<\/p>\n The Minolta 80-200mm F2.8G HS APO’s MFD of 1.8 meters makes itself very apparent in the confines of a shop. Modern lenses do 1.2 meters at least which is great! The Sony 70-300mm F4.5-5.6G SSM is another excellent example, going 1.2 meters close too, a record for any lens that gets to 300mm! Of course, the Minolta 70-210mm F4 beercan has been focusing 1.1 meters close since 1985…<\/p>\n Of course, in the name of science, all tests should be done 3 times. But we didn’t want to agitate the very nice shopkeeper who let us test this lens. And this was gonna be quick and dirty, not precision. I think a much more precise method would be with the camera on a tripod trying to track a (weighted) racecar with a bright contrasty plastic cone (for a flag) on a track, heading towards the camera in a straight line before turning off.<\/p>\n 70-135-200mm comparison<\/b><\/p>\n I focused on the S of the Sony A700. Unfortunately this was not a tripod-mounted test!<\/p>\n
\n(Click for larger view.<\/a>)
\nTamron at 200mm F2.8 1\/125s ISO400. This is not a picture of me!<\/p>\n
\n(Click for larger view.<\/a>)
\nLeft to right<\/b>: 70mm, 135mm, 200mm all at F2.8
\nTop is Tamron, bottom is Sigma.<\/b> It seems the Tamron has corrected for longitudinal chromatic aberration, or color ‘bokeh’. It looks odd to me though since I’m so used to LCA and regard it as a natural property of lenses.<\/p>\n
\n(Click for larger view.<\/a>)
\nLeft to right<\/b>: 70mm\/80mm, 135mm, 200mm all at F2.8
\nTop is Sony, bottom is Minolta.<\/b><\/p>\n
\n(Click for larger view.<\/a>)
\nZeiss at 135mm F1.8.<\/p>\n
![Click for larger view.<\/a>)\nZeiss at 135mm F1.8.<\/p>\nThe Sigma and Tamron have much more obvious spherical aberration. I thought the Tamron was alright at 135mm and a heck lot better than the Sigma at 200mm and close focus (1-2 meters.) The Sigma has very obvious softening!<\/p>\nStuff I Did Not Compare<\/b><\/p>\nColor<\/b> – I was in flourescent lighting. \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\nBokeh<\/b> – the shop people kept moving about so the background changed quite a bit as you can see.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A quick and dirty F2.8 full-frame telephoto zoom lens comparison for Alpha mount! Click here for large version. The big guns, left to right, arranged in order of MFD: Minolta 80-200mm F2.8G HS APO, 1.8m MFD – Asyraf’s copy Sony 70-200mm F2.8G SSM, 1.2m MFD – Nic’s copy Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG HSM Macro, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-geek","category-pictures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1243"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11527,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1243\/revisions\/11527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.glaringnotebook.com\/zimages\/bsst8big.jpg\"){kind=link}