The new SP AF17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II LD Aspherical [IF] is a lightweight, compact, fast standard zoom lens designed exclusively for digital SLR cameras, expanding the product concept of the popular SP AF28-75mm F/2.8 XR Di zoom lens.
Registered: February 2006 Location: Surbiton Surrey Posts: 841
Review Date: Tue August 19, 2008
Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: £200.00
| Rating: 7
Pros:
Sharp images, cheap, lightweight fast aperture.
Cons:
Focusing speed, handling
I had read some very favourable reviews of this lens and I decided to get it to form part of my kit that I now keep in the boot of my car. I have 2 other Standard Zooms the Nikon 17-55 and 24-70 2.8s.
First impressions are that is is very compact compared to these and comes with a small petal shaped hood that moves with the front element on zooming (so is only really of use at 17mm) It has a 67mm filter size which helps keep the weight and size down. It has a pretty good centre pinch front lens cap but not as good as the Nikon so swapped it out for one of those together with the rear cap.
It has a nice large zoom ring that is a bit stiff for my taste. It still has a zoom lock but I can't see there being any issue with zoom creep. The manual focus ring is a bit thin but actually quite well weighted in use and has enough travel to make it useful. There is an Af/MF switch on the body that seems to work well enough but there is no full time override. This is the bit where it starts to fall down. I have the Nikon fit with the internal motor but it shows as an afterthought. It's not in any way USM and is slow and noisy. It's no where near as quick as the built in screw motors of the Nikon bodies that have them so this is where it loses most of it's points.
Images from 2.8 are sharp enough across the whole image and once it's down to F 4-5.6 it's really very sharp. I think it compares very well with the Nikon is this department. It also seems to do very well on CA and even vignetting is not a problem which is amazing considering the 67mm froint element. However sharpness isn't everything and I think it loses out on colour accuracy and contrast to the nikon optics making colours a little muddy.
Overall I was a bit disappointed in the focusing and handling but the image quality especially the sharpness should satisfy almost anyone and it is a huge step up from a kit lens. I am almost certainly being a little harsh since it costs only £200. To get better image quality you need to spend 3-4 times that amount.
