Do some of you have lenses that never purple fringe? I'd rate my DA*200 9.21 given a choice. Not because of it's problems but because of the images I get with it.
These are all backlit fringing type situations and there's no fringing.
With the F 1.7x AF TC. Anyone who knows the 1.7 knows if your lens fringes, it will be magnified 1.7 x and yet...
So, it's annoying hearing people say "the lens fringes". It doesn't, more than most other lenses. Sometimes it fringes. Does every other lens sometimes fringe? Yes they do. And you can see it in the above image along the tree branch. Does it ruin the image? Not in this instance. Would another lens have been better? That's an untestable theory.
I have lenses I won't use in high contrast situations because of purple fringing, like my F 70-210, I don't put the DA*200 in the same category.
In a lower contrast situation, still with the fringing magnified by a TC, but this time the 1.4 with HD coatings and a different angle to the light, no fringing at all.
This to me, is more about not understanding how to use the lens. It's the same as flare and ghosting with the sun in the frame. There are specific situations that create the circumstance for fringing. The phrase "it has a problem with fringing" needs clarification. If you shoot in situations where fringing is probable it may be that the fringing is more apparent than some other lenses. But if you don't shoot in those situations, it may produce superior rendering than anything else in it's focal length. That's what I suspect, but I've never seen anyone prove it. My only criteria would be how often does it fringe compared to the other telephotos I use. It may be a bit to the negative for fringing, but in the images without fringing it's rendering is top shelf. Some times you have to risk a bit to get the best image. Compared to how often I use it, this lens a monster in producing keepers.
I bought the lens as a back up to my DA*60-250 when it was out for repair. It's worked it's way into my regular line up.
Shots like this just have a quality about them I don't see from any of my other lenses. I can see the fur detail but the fur doesn't appear to be razor sharp. It looks like fur.
With any lens like this, my question is always what other lens could I use and how would it do?
You have to see the big picture.
With this lens, if everything works out, I get excellent results. Better than my DA*60-250, better than my F-70-210. Better than my DA 55-300 in it's focal length, and that's what I get from this lens. It may be that it fringes from time to time, like every other lens, but the bottom line is, despite any flaws it may have, if it's on the camera I have better chance of getting an image I like at 200mm, and that to me is the key. Not the nitpicking, the big picture.
Giving this lens a 1 is a sign of ignorance and inexperience, it's the photographer that's a 1, not the lens.. It's one of those lenses that the more you use it the more you love it. Comments from people who don't use it don't count. Poor shooting conditions are magnified. It's easy to jump to conclusions. 90% of the time you get a better image than other 200mm images I've seen.
Especially with lenses like this one, if you use it to it's strength, it's top shelf. If you don't appreciate what it's capable of it's a 1. At that point the question becomes "how good
is the user at evaluating lenses?" The fact that some users can't take a top shelf image with it is completely negated by the experience of those who do. The lens is capable. Not all photographers are. It's a wonderful lens for what it does.
Its a case of not being able to look at the positives, and the big picture, and niggling the small stuff. Fringing is an intermittent issue. Implying, or seeming to imply, the lens fringes in every situation, as seems to be the case in a lot of commentary, is an error. People need to be a lot more precise in their commentary. If yours fringes 10% of the time, say so. Don't say "it fringes". Every lens fringes, that says absolutely nothing.
Maybe what we need is a photographer rating applied to the numerical rating so the inexperienced don't effect the ratings as much. I suspect for all lenses, but more so for lenses like this one, there will be some people who just don't take to it, for whatever reason. But that's combination, part lens, part photographer. And especially with lenses like this one, people who don't shoot a lot of telephoto, the problems of shooting telephoto, tend to get blamed on the lens. Especially if it's the only telephoto they own. People who don't shoot a few other telephotos can make extremely inappropriate comments.