Ray, most of Gary's tests are of *one* sample. Some are of two samples
(there may be a test of three, but I don't recall). Besides this factor,
most of these tests are of used lenses. These cannot be considered
statistically significant or representative sampling groups.
I'm not faulting Gary's methodology. Far from it - his is quite rigorous.
But you must consider the small sampling group when trying to interpret
anything from those tests and apply it to your lens.
Keep in mind that even among brand new lenses optical quality does vary.
This variance is most common among lower priced lenses, but has been
discovered in lenses at all price levels. That's why discerning
photographers sometimes reserve the right to exchange one lens for another,
or request to test a sampling of lenses, before committing a large amount of
money. And this is why some customers are willing to pay higher prices at
stores that accomodate them.
Before worrying about your lens, why not test it yourself? Also keep in
mind that truly objective tests, such as Gary's, are necessarily limited. A
lens that delivers only average or mediocre test scores may produce very
satisfactory images in your own personal and subjective real world
photographs of objects and subjects in mixed lighting conditions.
Lex
From: Ray Moth <ray_moth@xxxxxxxxx>
Dear all,
I'd be interested to learn of people's experience with Zuiko single
coated (SC) 50/1.4 lenses. I bought one recently; it was a bit tatty,
with a (removable) thumb print on the rear element and a loose rubber
focus grip, which I glued in place. Mechanically and optically it
appears undamaged. Serial number is 6xxx,xxx so it's definitely SC.
I haven't used it much yet, so I don't have enough results to be able
to judge its performance for myself, but I'm beginning to regret buying
it after seeing Gary Reese's test results: the performance of this lens
seems to be less than respectable.
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