Result of a Quick, Subjective Test of the Nikon 80-200m f4.5 AIS on a MFT body.

Barney64

4 Feb 2012 - 1:05 AM

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Results of a Quick, Subjective Test of the Nikon 80-200mm AIS Lens on an MFT body

Camera Body: Panasonic DMC-G1 12Mpx. Micro Four Thirds (13 x 18mm approx.). Generic Chinese adaptor.
Files: RAW, converted in Silkypix Developer Studio 3.0 SE
Settings: Pure Detail - Outline Emphasis = 50. Detail Emphasis = 90. False Outline Ctrl =0
All other settings at default.
Subject Distance 18 metres
Tested at all apertures and focal lengths.


At 200mm. Acceptable sharpness f5.6 – f11. No aperture gave needle sharp images.
Acceptable CA f5.6 – f32.

At 135mm. Acceptably sharp: fully open – f8 Needle sharp at f8
Acceptable CA f8-f32.

At 105mm Acceptably Sharp: fully open – f11. Needle sharp at f8 & f11.
Acceptable CA f5.6 – f32

At 90mm Acceptably sharp fully open to f16. Needle sharp f8 – f16
Acceptable CA f5.6 – f32

At 80mm Acceptably sharp fully open to f11. Needle sharp f5.6 & f8
Acceptable CA f5.6 – f32

In effect the CA is virtually absent at any focal length and aperture of f5.6 and above except, curiously, at 135mm where the CA is still very slightly noticeable at f5.6 By “virtually absent” I mean it is just about visible on the screen at 200% but certainly will not be an detectable in any print up to A3 or within a 100% pdi..

"Acceptably sharp" means that at 100% no part of the focal plane appears out of focus and at 200% there are still no real issues although it feels as though it could be just a little bit sharper. A bit of USM will probably put things right providing that you are not going for a big print or 100% pdi. “Needle sharp” means just that, it is obviously as sharp as possible (the limit being set by the sensor rather than the lens). USM will be of no benefit, a little high-pass sharpening could be beneficial. Considering how demanding the MFT sensor is, this lens is truly remarkable and has to have been somewhat over-engineered for its original purpose.

So in the range f5.6 to f11, using RAW and the suggested sharpen settings above, this lens will comfortably outperform a 12Mpx MFT sensor. The f4.5 aperture is genuinely useful providing the image has a little sharpening in the post-processing. I have no doubt it will perform equally well with the G3 or any other MFT sensor in spite their being much more demanding than any 35mm film ever was.

Fine Jpegs were only just about acceptable, so I cannot recommended this file format with this lens.

The only draw-back is the lack of auto-focus. If you can adapt to the lovely single-action zoom and focus control this will not be a bugbear. Initially I didn’t like it very much but within an hour of use I was loving it.

In short, how else are you going to find a crystal sharp, 160-400mm (equiv.) f4.5 zoom for around £65? Yeah, exactly!