Standard zoom recommend?

[Dave442]

DxOMark gives it an 8 on Sharpness and my old 18-70mm is rated at 9, both come in with an overall rating of 16. I also find my 18-70mm is not as sharp as my 35mm or 60mm primes, but you really have to look hard and I don't see differences in prints. The Sigma 17-50mm shows Sharpness of 14 and overall rating of 20, but your carrying around an f/2.8 lens. I usually just use my 35mm prime, that comes in at Sharpness 12 and overall 26 on the D7100. The f/1.8 is 1-1/3 faster than the f/2.8 and the f/2.8 is only 2/3 faster than the f/3.5 on your current lens (at the wide end). Enjoy the new lens.

 

[darkblue-x]

DxOMark gives it an 8 on Sharpness and my old 18-70mm is rated at 9, both come in with an overall rating of 16. I also find my 18-70mm is not as sharp as my 35mm or 60mm primes, but you really have to look hard and I don't see differences in prints. The Sigma 17-50mm shows Sharpness of 14 and overall rating of 20, but your carrying around an f/2.8 lens. I usually just use my 35mm prime, that comes in at Sharpness 12 and overall 26 on the D7100. The f/1.8 is 1-1/3 faster than the f/2.8 and the f/2.8 is only 2/3 faster than the f/3.5 on your current lens (at the wide end). Enjoy the new lens.

Chromatic aberrations and distortion/vignetting can be completely corrected in Lightroom iirc.
Is it the same case for the lack thereof sharpness or is that just something that is lost with the use of a lower sharpness lens?
Please correct me if I'm wrong but I get the feeling as though all of these lens flaws can be completely eliminated with Lightroom corrections..

 

[Dave442]

Best option is just to make the most of the lenses you have. Shoot at the f-stop that gives the best sharpness when you can, and if you feel that is an issue - or something that applies to the particular image. With your 16-85mm lens the best sharpness results are around 18mm at f/5.6 and then 24 to 35mm at f/8. In that range you should be able to get pretty close to what that Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 lens will do as far as sharpness (with the Sigma shot around f/4 to f/5.6).

 

[darkblue-x]

Best option is just to make the most of the lenses you have. Shoot at the f-stop that gives the best sharpness when you can, and if you feel that is an issue - or something that applies to the particular image. With your 16-85mm lens the best sharpness results are around 18mm at f/5.6 and then 24 to 35mm at f/8. In that range you should be able to get pretty close to what that Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 lens will do as far as sharpness (with the Sigma shot around f/4 to f/5.6).

That would be very hard for me to keep in mind when shooting, not to mention tremendously limiting.
I don't have a tendency to shoot that way at all.
Kindly though, what of the questions I asked in the last post? Would you happen to know the answers to that?
Thanks Dave

 

[Dave442]

Chromatic aberrations and distortion/vignetting can be completely corrected in Lightroom iirc.
Is it the same case for the lack thereof sharpness or is that just something that is lost with the use of a lower sharpness lens?
Please correct me if I'm wrong but I get the feeling as though all of these lens flaws can be completely eliminated with Lightroom corrections..

You can do the CA correction, distortion and vignetting correction in LR. I usually just use the normal lens profile correction. Often I add a small bit of vignetting back in depending on the scene and how much LR lightened up the corners.

LR has a basic tool for sharpening, I don't consider it a tool to fix an image that is not sharp but rather a tool to define edges and bring out some fine detail on the subject of the image.

Usually I don't worry about sharpness, if the subject is in focus then I really have to be pixel peeping to see any issues with sharpness. If the subject is not in focus I don't use the image. So my solution is to just not worry about it unless I need a reason to justify buying a new lens.