What we're testing now at the VSL high technology laboratory....

Shark-a-Dillo?

No. We're not doing genetic engineering or attempting to cross breed Texas armadillos with aquatic predators. That wouldn't make a lot of sense....

But I am diving into some deep lens tests to see what lenses work best (for me) on the Fuji cameras. The Fuji 14mm f2.8 lens arrived on Friday but the weekend was too tightly scheduled to allow for any sort of test walk or ecstatic interaction with test charts, or newspaper want ads tacked to the wall. 

As an aside, it used to be a habit amongst professional photographers, when confronted with a new and unknown lens, to tack up the printed "want ads" from the local paper; preferably a double-truck, and photograph the newspaper spread in order to evaluate the performance of the lens from corner to corner. The benefit of printed want ads being the small but consistent type all over the page. A really good lens would also resolve the texture of the paper. The best lenses, the ones used by sharpness freaks, were purported to resolve the molecular structure of the paper and ink.... but that's a digression from the aside...  While shooting newspaper is obviously a test it's one that doesn't take into considerations lenses optimized for parameters other than flat field rendering (sorry Leica, you allowed for field curvature and are now damned by the slow but vociferous...), and doesn't take into consideration lenses designed for different optimum focusing distances, it is, however, a decent quick test to show whether a lens is misaligned, has obvious faults or is a Nikon 43-86mm zoom lens (perhaps the worst lens ever marketed by Nikon...). 

So, as Gannett (large, traditional newspaper chain) gets sold off to a hedge fund and most local newspapers move their "want ads" to their websites, what are photographers going to use as test charts when evaluating their lenses? I suspect that they usual reviewer suspects will continue to photograph whatever cat is handy and pontificate from there......

At VSL we'll continue to use our laser etched beryllium test targets (both curved and flat - back lit and front lit) for our evaluations while clamping the test cameras into 1200 pound vises (top, bottom and side contact points) to guarantee that "shutter shock" or camera vibration is ruled out of our results. To the pendantic: Yes, our vises are anchored on concrete piers that go down 100 feet to bedrock...

In all seriousness, I have the 14mm f2.8 on an XT3 and look forward to shooting it this afternoon. It looks like we're going to have a cold but sunny day here. Should be just right. I'll keep you posted.

A quick blog note: We're trying different configurations of comment moderation this week because we are receiving several hundred spam comments per day. The comments go something like this: 

"Many congratulations on you're fine writing. My sister recommended to you sight for you expert opinion on the subject. Have you thought of adding photos to make your point? Check out my blog at XXXXX. I look forward to reading more here when I had time..." 

I don't know what the end goal of this seemingly endless stream of chatty comments buys the senders but I'm tired of seeing them and moderating them. Any suggestions of what to do about it?