Rant - watch out!

OK, I've been researching a lot of gear lately, since I'm replacing all my stolen gear. And after all the reviews I've read, I just have to comment on them.

Mostly concerning lenses, people say some crazy stupid things.

I'm looking at strictly professional, top shelf glass. Yet people will include in reviews - whether they're an amateur or pro shooter or even a formal reviewer for a mag - things like "mm, it was a little heavy though..." or "It's a little on the pricey side however..." or "It was a little large, wish it was smaller..." or some such thing. And it's said like it's a negative or detracting point.

OF COURSE! All those things are true! You're using top-shelf glass. It's made to be the sharpest, fastest, and have the greatest image quality possible. Yes, it is a 3-pound lens, but it's a 70-200mm with a constant f/2.8, and severe CA and distortion control, and has some of the best contrast and color of any lens. That takes a lot of glass. And it's made to take a beating - solid aluminum case. It's large and heavy for a reason. The reason is quality. Stop complaining about all these things. In a perfect world it would weigh 1 ounce and be an inch long, but physical laws kinda got in the way.

And the price. Yeah, it is expensive, because it's good. See all the reasons above.

It appears to me that people are coming off of cheap crappy lenses and only noticing the physical changes, and are completely ignoring the quality improvements of any aspect. Like saying, "Wow, it's long and wide! They shoulda made it not so huge!" instead of, "Wow, it's at 200mm and f/2.8! There's no distortion and it's totally sharp wide open!" And, "Geez, it's heavy! Gonna fatigue the shoulder for sure and never EVER be a walkabout lens!" instead of, "Wow, I could have never smoked that 75-300mm $125 lens on the ground and still used it after!"

And really, is carrying 3 pounds really gonna make your arm rip out of its socket? Even on a solid body the rig probably weighs less than the clothes and footwear you have on. Or a textbook in a backpack. Don't melodramatically exaggerate these things.


This just struck me while looking at various 70-200/2.8 lenses. All the comments I'm trashing now come from the Sigma reviews. It's a 3lb lens, that's almost 10 inches long. And everyone was complaining about these stats, even the lab tests and professionals. It's no different than the Canon or Nikon glass! That's simply the requisite build for durability, speed, and image quality.

Come on people, stop being whiny and start being realistic. I'd love my 97 Saturn SC2 to do 0-100 in 5 seconds and I'd love to get paid $100k for some portraiture work, but REALITY kinda throws a monkey wrench in that.



Ok, I'm done. Comment what you will.

I feel better now.