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 What you should know: Excellent showing at all tested focal lengths and apertures. Macro performance (1:3.75) is average. An appealing low-light lens.
Hands on: Well-sized zoom and focusing rings are ribbed and rubberized, welldamped, and nicely positioned. Focusing ring has unusually tight turning radius for fast, not fine, focusing. An unusual braking mechanism stops "zoom creep" by locking in the 28mm setting. Distance scale, apertures, and focal lengths well marked. In the lab: SQF performance excellent at all focal lengths. Slight barrel distortion (0.6%) at 28mm; slight pincushion (0.86%) at 50mm; noticeable pincushion (1.28%) at 75mm.
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Closest focusing distances: At 28mm, 123/4 in. (1:8): Excellent center sharpness f/2.8–f/22; very good f/32. Corners very good f/2.8, excellent f/4–f/16, good f/22, poor f/32. Best overall at f/8. At 50mm, 123/4 in. (1:4.92): center excellent f/2.8–f/22, very good f/32. Corners poor f/2.8–f/5.6, acceptable f/8, good f/11–f/16, acceptable f/22, and poor f/32. Best overall at f/11. At 75mm, 13 in. (1:3.75): Center sharpness very good f/2.8, excellent f/4–f/22, very good f/32. Corners poor f/2.8–f/8, acceptable from f/11–f/32. Best overall at f/16.
In the field: Very sharp, contrasty test slides from center to corners at every aperture and focal length, except corner sharpness at 75mm f/2.8 was slightly soft. Light falloff gone by f/4.
Conclusion: Very sharp, fast midrange zoom. Nearly a pound lighter than and 1/3 the price of comparable zooms, with 5mm more reach than others in its class.
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