Nikon 24-85mm lens - put it through its paces

Mozziephotography

Mozziephotography

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Stephen
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Yes, it's silly question time! Just about to arrive and looking to take it out this afternoon. Feel free to throw abuse my way, how should I go about "testing it" to see what its strengths and weaknesses are? Or should I just read a few reviews.
 
It's not a silly question.

Most all zooms have a "sweet spot" with regards to focal length and aperture.
I don't have that lens, but reading reviews is not the worst thing you can do.
 
use a tripod to remove the possibility of camera shake.

Take images of subjects you'll likely use the lens for.

Don't understand people "testing" lenses on brick walls if they never shoot architecture etc.

Only take images at shutter speeds/apertures you'll use (no point in testing it wide open if you use it for landscapes at f8 or higher.
 
Ed Sutton said:
Put lens on camera. Go out. Take photos. Go home. Look at photos. :)
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D'oh..... that's just too simple. It surely has to be more complicated than this.

Why do you need to "test" it? Is it secondhand and you're worried that you've been sold a pup? That's the only reason I can imagine for "testing" a lens. Otherwise in normal use you should soon find out if it's faulty or not.
 
Thanks for the input everyone. It is second hand and I bought it for Sal for a everyday use lens to replace the 18-70 she had before. (damaged) I wanted to see how it performed and if there was a "set" way to do this. e.g. take an image at f8 at 24mm 35mm 50mm 70mm 85mm then f5.6 and repeat. I am a bit "thick" when it comes to the mechanics of photography, I don't mind admitting it. It takes all sorts to make a world.
Thanks @soupdragon for your response and I took @GreenNinja67 's advice. Want to see if this lens could be used on "lighter" days for my sports photography. Hence testing the lens wide open and up/down to f8.
Just about to have a look at the results from a walk with my dog.
 
GreenNinja67 said:
Hope it's a goodun mate
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Took Willow out for a walk and stayed within the parameters of the f stops that I use. WELL chuffed with the quality. (for me, anyway)
Loaded into Lightroom and then used AUTO to see what came up and tweak it from there. Nearly every image is around +0.83 to correct the exposure. Checked my D7200 to see if I'd left it on + or - on the stops thingy but I hadn't. It's a bit of a grey day and I took a range of "coloured" subjects. Metering is okay too. Thoughts?

link to flickr - Raw image and auto edit https://www.flickr.com/photos/153540926@N08/albums/72157669760382668
 
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