Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 seems a bit soft

Tirpitz

Tirpitz

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hi guys. do any of you have any experience with this lens?
i bought this & a 70-200VR2 a few weeks ago & have now just been out & about with them. the 70-200 is awesome, no problems at all but the 17-55 seems a bit rubbish in comparison :shake:
i used it as a walkabout lens in Bruges & nothing looked to have any detail &
i used it over the weekend at a trophy presentation & everybody just seemed to look soft with no definition. it was like it had missed focus every time :shrug:

ive bought a few lenses recently & they are all fine except this one.
i bought it from Jessops & i called to say it wasn't great & the guy said pop it back in & we'll test it for you. hopefully that doesn't mean we'll just say its ok & tell you to do one :bonk:
should that be the case can i deal with Nikon directly & would i be right assuming Kingston Upon Thames would be my nearest point (i'm in Farnborough)
i'll give Jessops a chance to see what if anything they can do as the sales guy i dealt with seemed pretty good & was a genuine enthusiast so hopefully things will work out.
bit disappointing really for over a grands worth of lens :gag:
anybody else had a similar problem?
apparently they are awesome when they work properly :geek:
 
I've used the 17-55 on a number of occasions and it is insanely sharp, seems like you may have a problem with your lens :(
 
i think you're right :'(
one of the reasons i bought this lens is because of the overwhelmingly good reviews of its sharpness, contrast & colour.
mine just seems soft & has more purple fringe than an old folks home :gag:
 
not good, maybe try fixation ?
 
well its 3 weeks old from brand new so its going back to the shop first :bonk:
although if i did have to pay to get it right i would.
otherwise its over a thousand pounds worth of dead weight that would never come out of the bag :shrug:
 
Yeah, sounds like a decent plan.
 
I use the 17-55 f2.8 and find it produces excellent images, very sharp. the only problem I have is it wont report focal length correctly and it has a lot of distortion particularly when used at the wider angle indoors. Yours must be defective.
 
I thought the same when I first got mine but after a few days I got used to handling it (only had VR lenses up till then) and the images improved. Another thing that I found helped a lot was learning to use manual mode. When i first got it I was always shooting in apature priority and the images seemed soft, but when I switched to using manual the lens seemed to be in its element and was tack sharp. I cant fault this lens as not only is it a great piece of glass it also forced me to improve my hand holding technique and finally learn to shoot in manual :).
 
hmmm i need to get out & try it again then i think:thinking:

i've read in a few places now that you need to be careful with these & that once people used them a bit they came good. i have looked at the exif on the shots i was unhappy with & they were all taken right out at 55mm wide open at 2.8, plus the 1/80s shutter speed was perhaps not ideal :bonk:
well i was extremely hung over :gag:

i definitely think i need to try it again but take more care over settings & technique & have another look at the results.
hopefully i'll see a nice improvement :bonk:
 
I used mine on a D2x for years and now it's on a D7000.... it's probably the best non-FX zoom there is; amazing build, silent and very, very sharp. The only issues I've had were now and then on my D2x, were in low light/low contrast scenes it would sometimes miss focus, although I didn't have another comparable lens to compare against so I just pout it down to the camera..... not had any issues on my D7000.

I'd get it looked at under warranty by Nikon - they're not the fastest overall but you might as well send it back to HQ than a 3rd-party repair shop....
 
Well it's like 3 weeks old so I have plenty of warranty to play with. I'll try it in some better light & try to think about what I'm actually doing rather than be half cut & well on my way to my next hangover like I was last weekend.
Hopefully it will turn out as good as everyone else says theirs are.
I'll give it another couple of go's

Thanks Pat :)
 
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