Tamron 17-50 vs Nikon 18-70

One of my first lenses was a Nikon 18-70 which I got as a kit lens with my D70s. It was a great lens, especially for that price. But for a long time now, I've been looking for an upgrade, something in f2.8 range. I looked around and while there are lots of options, I didn't really like any of them. Nikon 17-55 was the best one, but the fact it's designed for DX body, didn't make it a sensible purchase. So I turned to the next best candidate, Tamron 17-50.
It got good review almost everywhere I looked, so it made a great candidate to test it out. So I did. Got a copy from the importer yesterday and started with some basic focus and sharpness tests. I think it's safe to say, Tamron is in deed sharper then Nikon and it looks like, I got a good copy as well, it's sharp even totally opened. So all good then, right? Well, not quite.. I found a strange "problem", that I can't really explain. It's about dof (depth of field). Nikon has A LOT more dof at the same settings as Tamron has.
I have to test this a bit more, but it's beginning to bother me. Or not.. In a way, this is good news if you like shallow dof and bokeh is nice as well. But not so good if you want deep dof and lots of sharpness.

Some pics from both, compared in Lightroom.
Don't look at the sharpness in these, all saved using Save For Web function, so compression is quite high.

24mm, f4


35mm, f5.6


50mm, f5.6


50mm, f11
Look at my printer cover, you see texture with Nikon, nothing with Tamron.

Nikon D700 12bit vs 14bit nef fps test

Did some speed tests today, particularly I was interested in 12bit vs 14bit difference. As you'll see, there isn't any.

D700 is a 5fps machine. Larger sensor, larger shutter, same power as D300,.. all make the difference.

Anyhow, some numbers. All done in RAW lossless compression, CH, M mode, 1/500, shooting at my stopwatch till the buffer was full.

12 bit:
starts with 3:48, 3:87, 3:90, 4:09, 4:27, 4:53, 4:70, 4:88, 5:07, 5:24, 5:49, 5:68, 5:87, 6:06, 6:29, 6:48, 6:67, 6:98
Made 18 shots till full buffer and I get 5.2fps

14 bit:
starts with 3:37, 3:56, 3:79, 3:98, 4:17, 4:20, 4:59, 4:78, 4:96, 5:15, 5:39, 5:57, 5:76, 5:95, 6:18, 6:37, 6:56
Made 17 shots till full buffer and I get 5.3fps

So no difference really.
I don't have the grip, so can't check if that makes any difference or not.

More will follow.

Nikon D700 quick ISO test

Here it is, my precious, the Nikon D700 :)
First day since I got the demo model, weather sucks, so I did some ISO tests.

All shots done on a stand, 50mm 1.8 lens at f11, 1/250, flash into umbrella
All done with ISO NR OFF, jpg fine, cropped to 1500x1000px, save with PS CS3 default "save as" option, quality factor 10.

More will follow..

ISO 200


ISO 400


ISO 800


ISO 1600


ISO 3200


ISO 6400


ISO 12800


ISO 25600



Similar to D3, D700 works great in high ISO. Even when the noise is visible, it's really nice and soft. They really did a great job with this. Remember, all this are with NR OFF.