Testing lenses shouldn’t be about chasing perfection or evaluating specs on a display screen. It’s about figuring out whether or not a lens solves an actual drawback in your workflow. While you shoot high-end business work, even small flaws can develop into big complications on set. Figuring out how and why to check a lens earlier than shopping for is the distinction between spending properly and losing cash.
Coming to you from Scott Choucino of Tin Home Studio, this sensible video walks by the way to check a lens with goal. His go-to Mamiya Sekor 90mm lens began displaying haze and blooming in highlights, particularly when capturing reflective topics. As an alternative of blindly upgrading, he borrowed a Cambo Actar 90mm to see if it fastened these points. He checks utilizing easy props: a metallic clamp, a shade checker, and harsh lighting to duplicate drawback situations. The aim isn’t sharpness or decision: it’s spotlight management, distinction, and whether or not the brand new lens provides actual worth.
The method exhibits how a lot you’ll be able to be taught by specializing in the proper questions. Choucino factors out that dynamic vary isn’t nearly your digicam’s sensor. Lens coatings, flare management, and micro-contrast all have an effect on how highlights roll off. Swapping from the outdated Mamiya to the Cambo, he exhibits a transparent distinction: much less haze, cleaner highlights, extra management. However he additionally makes it clear that higher doesn’t at all times imply obligatory. He’s shot world campaigns with that Mamiya for years. The brand new lens simply fixes a particular limitation, and it’s a sensible purchase. That time alone is what most individuals miss once they improve gear.
The video goes past lenses too. Choucino additionally checks his setup with a brand new Apple MacBook Professional M1 Max with 64 GB of RAM to see if it quickens tethering 100-megapixel information from his digicam. He discovers odd quirks: drive mode transfers quicker than single shot mode for no apparent cause, and the bottleneck isn’t the place you’d anticipate. These small findings underline a bigger fact: gear testing ought to be grounded in the way you really work, not in theoretical efficiency. A quicker pc or lens isn’t price it if it doesn’t take away friction in your course of.
There’s additionally an trustworthy take a look at what “adequate” actually means. The Mamiya may flare extra, but it surely nonetheless produces campaign-quality outcomes. The Cambo lens appears cleaner and sharper, but it surely doesn’t make the work extra invaluable. The takeaway is easy: don’t check to show one thing’s higher, check to see if it fixes an actual drawback. Every part else is a distraction. Try the video above for the total rundown from Choucino.
