January 13, 2009 ·

Michael Reichmann

This test of thecamera namecamera and lens was conducted usingDxO Analyzer. If you are not familiar with this optical testing system please readthis tutorial. Without being familiar with how the tests are conducted, and how to read them, there’s not much point in proceeding.

The purpose of this test report is to support the empirical findings of my field test of this system. Though the tests on this page are interesting and informative (as well as accurate and repeatable), they really only tell us about selected aspects of a camera or lens’ capabilities.

About The Tests

As you can see from theDxO Tutorialthere are a large number of charts and text graphs produced for each of the four tests —Distortion & Chromatic Aberration,Vignetting,NoiseandBlur. A more comprehensive test would have to be done at all available apertures, all available ISO speeds, and at a large cross-section of focal lengths (in the case of zoom lenses). This would not only take an inordinately large amount of time to conduct, but would take up far to much space here and likely not be of much interest.

Consequently in this and other tests usingDxO AnalyzerI am publishing just one complete set of charts — those done at f/5.6, which is typically an optimum aperture for most lenses. In the case of zoom lenses this test is also done at a mid-position in the lens’ focal length range. I also post data for other F stops, ISO ratings and in the case of zooms a selection of focal length, including the widest and longest. In my comments to each section I also draw attention to extremes of performance, such as maximum vignetting, greatest and least noise, etc.

To jump directly to the definition and tutorial for a specific test click on theDC,V,NorBlogos.

Distortion and Chromatic Aberration

name @ ISO ??.
Focal Length = ??mm (??mm equivalent)

green chart grid yellow chart blue / magenta chart red plane blue plane

Observation

text

Vignetting

blue chart

vigneting chart

normalization graph

Observation

text

Noise

pink

Observation

text

Blur

orange

squares

Observation

text

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Michael Reichmann is the founder of the Luminous Landscape. Michael passed away in May 2016. Since its inception in 1999 LuLa has become the world's largest site devoted to the art, craft, and technology of photography. Each month more than one million people from every country on the globe visit LuLa.

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