Why can the same lens score differently on different camera bodies?
Asked 8/26/2011
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I expected a lens to be optically good or bad regardless of the camera body. But in lens tests, the same lens can get different scores on cameras like the Nikon D5000, D7000, and D90, even when they use the same mount and sensor format. Aside from crop vs full-frame differences, why does the camera body affect measured image quality or lens performance?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
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A lens always performs the same way on all cameras with the right mount. What changes is the output from the camera which is dependent on both the lens and the camera.
Think of the light coming through the lens and then passing into the camera. The lens is first in the chain and always does the same thing.
Then, the light reaches the sensor which samples the light. A higher resolution sensor will be more demanding on a lens. There is also often an anti-alias filter in front of the sensor itself. This blurs the incoming light to avoid moire problems but that also means a stronger anti-alias filter will reduce the performance of top-quality lenses. For this reason, medium format systems (and Leica's own) do not use such filters.
Originally by user1620. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1620
15y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
A lens’s optics don’t fundamentally change from one compatible camera body to another, but the recorded result is always a combination of lens + sensor + camera processing. That’s why test scores can differ.
Main reasons:
- Sensor resolution: higher-resolution sensors reveal more of a lens’s limits, such as softness or chromatic aberration, especially at 100% viewing.
- Anti-aliasing filter: some cameras blur the image slightly before it reaches the sensor to reduce moiré; a stronger filter can lower apparent sharpness.
- Sampling differences: the sensor measures what the lens projects, so different sensors can make the same lens appear better or worse in tests.
- Test/sample variation: reviews usually measure one copy of a lens, and small manufacturing differences can change results.
So the lens itself is not changing behavior, but the camera body affects how much of the lens’s performance is captured and how it appears in measurements and real images.
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