kdog
Feb-22-2006, 09:09 AM
If, like me, you wonder whether the 10-22 is better than the 17-85 within the focal lengths where they overlap, read on.
I recently purchased a 10-22 and have been putting it through its paces to see how it does. I decided to compare it against my 17-85 that I'm relatively happy with. So, I set up a tripod and took some pictures with both lenses to compare them. Here are two completely unretouched 100% crops at 17mm. Both of these are cropped from a corner, which appears to be worst area for both lenses. Bear in mind that they represent a very small portion of the original images. Sorry the crops aren't exactly the same size.
The first one is from the 10-22. http://www.dpreview.com/images/one.gif
http://www.jacara.com/photo/10-20_17mm.jpg
The second one is from the 17-85
http://www.dpreview.com/images/one.gif
http://www.jacara.com/photo/17-85_17mm.jpg
A couple of things to look at are the right-edge of the brown post. Also, look at the edges of the rocks near the left side of the crops.
I believe the results show that the 10-22 has significantly less chromatic abberation, and better contrast and color. In reviewing other shots during my testing, the 10-22 looks as good at 11mm, and almost as good at 10mm. So I'm happy with that. The 17-85 did not improve significantly at 20mm.
I hope you found this interesting, and maybe it will help somebody who's on the fence about the 10-22.
-joel
I recently purchased a 10-22 and have been putting it through its paces to see how it does. I decided to compare it against my 17-85 that I'm relatively happy with. So, I set up a tripod and took some pictures with both lenses to compare them. Here are two completely unretouched 100% crops at 17mm. Both of these are cropped from a corner, which appears to be worst area for both lenses. Bear in mind that they represent a very small portion of the original images. Sorry the crops aren't exactly the same size.
The first one is from the 10-22. http://www.dpreview.com/images/one.gif
http://www.jacara.com/photo/10-20_17mm.jpg
The second one is from the 17-85
http://www.dpreview.com/images/one.gif
http://www.jacara.com/photo/17-85_17mm.jpg
A couple of things to look at are the right-edge of the brown post. Also, look at the edges of the rocks near the left side of the crops.
I believe the results show that the 10-22 has significantly less chromatic abberation, and better contrast and color. In reviewing other shots during my testing, the 10-22 looks as good at 11mm, and almost as good at 10mm. So I'm happy with that. The 17-85 did not improve significantly at 20mm.
I hope you found this interesting, and maybe it will help somebody who's on the fence about the 10-22.
-joel