18-55 looks sharp corner to corner

[OneGuyKs]

in these samples

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/sony/ ... ew/gallery

[David Kilpatrick]

It depends entirely on subject plane and distance, and what focal length is picked on the 18-55mm (much as with any other lens). It's not bad, but not as good across its entire range as the SAM 18-55mm.

Here's a good example straight out of the camera, wide open:

http://www.pbase.com/davidkilpatrick/image/124535953

The leaves fall in the focus plane pretty much all the way and have very fine detail. But look at the top right corner, and there is really strong purple-fringe CA.

Here's another in-camera JPEG, f/9 at 55mm. Now this should be sharp, and indeed, it's stunningly sharp - the texture of the kids' clothing, and the definition of the fishing line. This was also a grab-shot, I did not want to distract them (and waiting for a fish on the end of the line - didn't happen!).


http://www.pbase.com/davidkilpatrick/image/124535986

Now look at the top left corner of the image, the out of focus water. This is where the lens falls down. That top left corner is the same corner, I think, where the CA affects the 18mm shot. You can see evidence of lens decentering or problems with coverage even at 55mm and f/9, in the way the out of focus water is rendered.

From these, my temporary conclusion is that the 18-55mm lens is very good indeed centrally but may not cover the frame perfectly, and our samples may have been assembled to loose tolerances.

David

[David Kilpatrick]

Here are crops from the 18mm wide open close up shot:

DSC00207crop1.jpg (100.79 KiB) Viewed 2463 times

DSC00207crop2.jpg (118.75 KiB) Viewed 2463 times

David

[OneGuyKs]

Doesn't look that bad in DPRreview

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/SonyNex5Nex3/page7.asp

with excellent OSS