Nikon 17-55 Very Soft compared to Tamron 17-50

Irishman

Irishman

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Ok, bought a Nikon 17-55 from the classifieds recently and I am very dispointed with this lens, I think ( just have to compare the iamges ) that it is very soft compared to the my Tamron 17-50 ( non vc ). I have attched some images below comparing the two, same camera, same setting used for both, Nikon 17-55 on left and Tamron 17-50 on right.

I am expecting too much from the Nikon 17-55 or is it really that bad a lens?

55/50mm Centre frame 100% crop, no sharpening
55centre.jpg


17mm left frame 100% crop, no sharpening
17mmleft.jpg


17mm centre frame 100% crop, no sharpening
17mmcentre.jpg


17mm right frame 100% crop, no sharpening
17mmright.jpg
 
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What body have you got? Have you tried to manually focus it or use liveview to rule out back/front focus issues?
 
Camera used was Nikon D300s.

But surely if I can get perfect images from the tamron 17-50, should I not be able to get the same with the nikon 17-55?
 
Looks like a duff copy, should be sharp - it isn't (all other things being equal in your testing)
 
jpw said:
No part of that appears to be in sharp focus, which would rule out front/back focusing - maybe an element is misaligned or something - seems very indistinct across the whole frame.
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Looks like I was sold a bad copy then.
 
Irishman said:
Looks like I was sold a bad copy then.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily, was it well packed? It might have been OK when sent but could have been dropped/thrown about en route, you never know.
 
i bought a brand new one of these last year & it didn't seem very good on my D2Xs but i've tried it on my D3 & D200 & its plenty sharp on those, plus its good on the mrs D90 too :shrug:

my D2Xs has always been a bit fussy with lenses tho :shrug:
 
danolive1 said:
Have you tried to manually focus it or use liveview to rule out back/front focus issues?
Click to expand...

I notice that you didn't actually say tried this. If you can't get a sharp image manually focusing and using live view, then you know it's a problem with the lens itself. If you can, then it's something with the autofocus that is off.

These are very quick and easy steps you can do to troubleshoot, before jumping to all sorts of conclusions :thumbs:
 
freecom2 said:
I notice that you didn't actually say tried this. If you can't get a sharp image manually focusing and using live view, then you know it's a problem with the lens itself. If you can, then it's something with the autofocus that is off.

These are very quick and easy steps you can do to troubleshoot, before jumping to all sorts of conclusions :thumbs:
Click to expand...

Will try that in the morning thanks
 
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