I decided to continue my upgrade of the medium zooms with the addition of the DA* 16-50/2.8. It's an ideal lens for event photography, which I've been doing more often. My lens arrived Monday. I tried to adjust the focal point yesterday using the Nikon chart. I had a lot of problems getting a compromise reading at the various focal lengths. More disturbing was the fact that the left side of the chart and the right side of the chart weren't focusing on the same plane. I conferred off list with Joe Tainter, who is well informed on these problems and decided to test further. Today I tested the lens by shooting a flat wooden deck off the tripod. The level of the deck and the camera were checked and matched with a bubble gauge. The lens is definitely our of whack by a considerable amount. It's easily noticeable in this sort of test at 2.8 and all focal lengths and still somewhat noticeable at 50mm, f5.6. It's on its way back to B&H and a replacement is on its way to me. In normal shooting early yesterday the problem wasn't noticeable. (I have a nice pic of Grace playing hopscotch:-). Anyone who has purchased this lens should test their sample under controlled conditions.
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