Building a lens/sensor Testing set-up.

TaoTeJaredTaoTeJared Posts: 1,306Member
edited March 2014 in Gear Reviews
So I am getting ready to offload a bunch of old gear and I am thinking it would be a good idea to build a "box" type setup and a system to continually test the gear I own, sell, buy, rent, etc. We have all seen what various review sites use, so I'm looking for helpful suggestions:
What type of shots do you like?
What type of items to you like to see in the shots?
Fill frame/center frame/corner of frame
best way to show sharpness/bokeh/morrie/fringing

I'm open to anything. I have a ton of knick-knacks that I can glue to a board to use.

What does everyone suggest, like, dislike, wish was shown.
D800, D300, D50(ir converted), FujiX100, Canon G11, Olympus TG2. Nikon lenses - 24mm 2.8, 35mm 1.8, (5 in all)50mm, 60mm, 85mm 1.8, 105vr, 105 f2.5, 180mm 2.8, 70-200vr1, 24-120vr f4. Tokina 12-24mm, 16-28mm, 28-70mm (angenieux design), 300mm f2.8. Sigma 15mm fisheye. Voigtlander R2 (olive) & R2a, Voigt 35mm 2.5, Zeiss 50mm f/2, Leica 90mm f/4. I know I missed something...

Comments

  • paulrpaulr Posts: 1,176Member
    Good Luck TT, It must be nice to have so much spare time on your hands
    Camera, Lens and Tripod and a few other Bits
  • MsmotoMsmoto Posts: 5,398Moderator
    What a super idea! And, some of my thoughts would include building a board with both objects in front and behind the plane of focus. Maybe have small modules around the corners and edges, primarily to determine curvature of the focal plane. Several color charts spread judiciously around the scene, fine print, metal, avoid material which is difficult to ascertain if it is in focus…like certain cloth materials……

    I am looking forward to this….
    Msmoto, mod
  • JuergenJuergen Posts: 315Member
    Good idea!
    Apart from the subjects, I think it is very important to have an environment wich is absolutely controllable and gives repeatable environmental conditions. Most significant of course is the ambient light.

    Looking forward to what you are coming up with.
    Jürgen
    D4, D800E, Nikon 1 J2, 600 f/4, trinity, PC-E 45, PC-E 24, 105, 50 f/1,8g, 85 f/1,4, Sigma 150-500
  • Rx4PhotoRx4Photo Posts: 1,200Member
    I've always fancied the idea of going to a wig shop and asking to have or buy an old styrofoam wig display head. I'd buy a cheap wig for it, glue some fake eyelashes on that thing and "sharpie" in the eyeballs. Then use that as a test subject to see where my focus was falling when testing lenses for portrait shooting. Who doesn't LOVE to get sharp eyelases when shooting portraits and it's not always appearent when shooting. I've used a homemade flat board type calibration tool but thought the head would be more realistic.
    D800 | D7000 | Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 | 24-70mm f/2.8 | 70-200mm f/2.8 | 35mm f/1.8G | 85mm f/1.4G | Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art | Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art | Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM | Zeiss 100mm Makro-Planar ZF.2 | Flash controllers: Phottix Odin TTL

  • TaoTeJaredTaoTeJared Posts: 1,306Member
    Good Luck TT, It must be nice to have so much spare time on your hands
    It is more of a "spring cleaning" and tossing old useless garbage out from this last weekend that gave me the idea and believing everything should have a use for something. Won't cost a thing to do but a piece of poster board and a jar of glue. Just something I have kicked around for years. :)

    Controlled environment - check. Been trying to think of a good place outside to go as well to see the lens's rendering of a scene. I live in a place with distinct seasons so that one may be a bit more difficult.

    Styrofoam wig display head - I do have a styrofoam and a plastic one! I use a Lens Align to set my lenses up so that will work, was thinking of cutting a ruler into the head or somewhere else as well to get the DOF.

    Great ideas, keep'em coming!
    D800, D300, D50(ir converted), FujiX100, Canon G11, Olympus TG2. Nikon lenses - 24mm 2.8, 35mm 1.8, (5 in all)50mm, 60mm, 85mm 1.8, 105vr, 105 f2.5, 180mm 2.8, 70-200vr1, 24-120vr f4. Tokina 12-24mm, 16-28mm, 28-70mm (angenieux design), 300mm f2.8. Sigma 15mm fisheye. Voigtlander R2 (olive) & R2a, Voigt 35mm 2.5, Zeiss 50mm f/2, Leica 90mm f/4. I know I missed something...
  • Golf007sdGolf007sd Posts: 2,840Moderator
    How about renting the 58 1.4 and giving it test run?
    D4 & D7000 | Nikon Holy Trinity Set + 105 2.8 Mico + 200 F2 VR II | 300 2.8G VR II, 10.5 Fish-eye, 24 & 50 1.4G, 35 & 85 1.8G, 18-200 3.5-5.6 VR I SB-400 & 700 | TC 1.4E III, 1.7 & 2.0E III, 1.7 | Sigma 35 & 50 1.4 DG HSM | RRS Ballhead & Tripods Gear | Gitzo Monopod | Lowepro Gear | HDR via Promote Control System |
  • TaoTeJaredTaoTeJared Posts: 1,306Member
    Actually part of this also is that I want to compare all my 50s that I have. 8 in all (but two film only- Zeiss ZM & pentax 50mm 1.7). The lenses I would need are both Sigma 50s, Zeiss ZF.2, Otus, 58 1.2, 50 1.2, 55 1.2 and the new Sigma 30art for DX. Those 8 would give me every 50mm optical design for Nikon mount made in the last 15-25 years.

    85mm (1.4 or 1.8), 60mm macro, and the 58 1.4 are on my lens list (in that order). I'm going to dump a bunch of less/never used stuff to do some of that. That's where the original idea came from.
    D800, D300, D50(ir converted), FujiX100, Canon G11, Olympus TG2. Nikon lenses - 24mm 2.8, 35mm 1.8, (5 in all)50mm, 60mm, 85mm 1.8, 105vr, 105 f2.5, 180mm 2.8, 70-200vr1, 24-120vr f4. Tokina 12-24mm, 16-28mm, 28-70mm (angenieux design), 300mm f2.8. Sigma 15mm fisheye. Voigtlander R2 (olive) & R2a, Voigt 35mm 2.5, Zeiss 50mm f/2, Leica 90mm f/4. I know I missed something...
  • Vipmediastar_JZVipmediastar_JZ Posts: 1,708Member
    @TaoTeJared UWA rokinon 14mm, nikon 20mm or the nikon zooms. I would like to see your results there
  • rmprmp Posts: 586Member
    Great idea!

    I would like to be able to take one picture with a new V3 with the new 70-300 lens and be able to make a quantitative statement about the image quality as compared to the same picture taken with another camera/lens combination. How can such a "single picture" test be accomplished? What can actually be tested in a single picture? ( I guess I've got some research to accomplish.
    :-S
    Robert M. Poston: D4, D810, V3, 14-24 F2.8, 24-70 f2.8, 70-200 f2.8, 80-400, 105 macro.
  • TaoTeJaredTaoTeJared Posts: 1,306Member
    edited March 2014
    Let's keep working on a group of items to shoot, settings, and the like. I'm not really thinking of renting a bunch of lenses and bodies to do the whole sch-bang thing.

    I would love to be able to test a ton of lenses - but even renting them that is at a minimum of $100 per pop. I have a feeling that some "reviewers" are actually buying, testing and returning equipment (which I have some real distaste for people who do that) or have some very close relationships with various shops to do the tests with. A few get some free test time from some manufactures, but that is far and few in-between. Would be fun though!
    Post edited by TaoTeJared on
    D800, D300, D50(ir converted), FujiX100, Canon G11, Olympus TG2. Nikon lenses - 24mm 2.8, 35mm 1.8, (5 in all)50mm, 60mm, 85mm 1.8, 105vr, 105 f2.5, 180mm 2.8, 70-200vr1, 24-120vr f4. Tokina 12-24mm, 16-28mm, 28-70mm (angenieux design), 300mm f2.8. Sigma 15mm fisheye. Voigtlander R2 (olive) & R2a, Voigt 35mm 2.5, Zeiss 50mm f/2, Leica 90mm f/4. I know I missed something...
  • rmprmp Posts: 586Member
    Hello All,

    Have you worked out any dimensions fro this test scene?
    Robert M. Poston: D4, D810, V3, 14-24 F2.8, 24-70 f2.8, 70-200 f2.8, 80-400, 105 macro.
  • rmprmp Posts: 586Member
    What do you think of the camera/lens test charts and software at http://www.imatest.com/ ?
    Robert M. Poston: D4, D810, V3, 14-24 F2.8, 24-70 f2.8, 70-200 f2.8, 80-400, 105 macro.
  • TaoTeJaredTaoTeJared Posts: 1,306Member
    I like Imatest but way too expensive for me. I do think they have the best accurate test results though.

    Hopefully I'll start pulling stuff together this week. I'm really trying to do something on a $10 budget with just stuff sitting around the house that is still easy to store.
    D800, D300, D50(ir converted), FujiX100, Canon G11, Olympus TG2. Nikon lenses - 24mm 2.8, 35mm 1.8, (5 in all)50mm, 60mm, 85mm 1.8, 105vr, 105 f2.5, 180mm 2.8, 70-200vr1, 24-120vr f4. Tokina 12-24mm, 16-28mm, 28-70mm (angenieux design), 300mm f2.8. Sigma 15mm fisheye. Voigtlander R2 (olive) & R2a, Voigt 35mm 2.5, Zeiss 50mm f/2, Leica 90mm f/4. I know I missed something...
  • MsmotoMsmoto Posts: 5,398Moderator
    I think one can create a lens test grid which will do the job adequately. A good printer can recreate the small color chart which can be placed several areas of the test grid.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/fantinesfotos/6823093006/in/set-72157630044833773
    Other test charts can be printed from various sources, like an old TV test pattern. Then, objects with detail can be placed around the set.
    Size would be about 4' tall, 6' wide, on a table about 3' off the floor. And, I think someone on this forum may have a perfect place to set this up (rmp) with adequate room to test an 800mm…. http://www.flickr.com/photos/fantinesfotos/9152101881/in/set-72157634469595026
    ;;)
    Msmoto, mod
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