Lee Yuan Sheng
06-23-2010, 03:56 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/en/Lens-with-Camera' target='_blank'>http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/en...ens-with-Camera</a><br /><br /></div><p>I have just been informed that the DxOMark site is now doing lens and sensor tests as well. This means you can see how well a lens does on a particular camera. Here's a partial screenshot of how it looks when set to rank at "Peak Score":</p><p><img height="376" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//dht/auto/1277369493.usr15670.png" style="border: 0;" width="590" /></p><p>While the lens tests has some good bits of information in there, I am not liking how DxO decides to give a "Peak Score" and then rank lenses according to that score. DxO's definition of "Peak Score" is the best possible rating a lens has at a certain focus distance, aperture (and for zooms) zoom setting. The number is derived from a number of tests that include resolution, chromatic aberration, distortion, and so on.</p><p><MORE /></p><p>The problem with this approach, is that many are going to just look at the one single number, determine that is a good lens, and buy it without looking at the full report of how the lens performs throughout the aperture and zoom ranges. Not going to be great if you buy a 70-200mm f/2.8 and realise it performs best at 110mm at f/5.6, and not so good at 200mm.</p><p>Granted, modern lens design means a lens will not perform so unevenly that it is brilliant at one setting but totally terrible at another, but it does mean one could end up buying a lens that is sub-optimal for the intended purpose. I do urge everyone who is checking out the DxO tests to go beyond the single number of "Peak Score", and as always, please do your own lens testing whenever possible!</p>