Opinions wanted - comparison of two lenses

Right - I wonder if you could all give me your opinions on the following two lenses. I wont disclose which lens is which yet, I just want comments on the quality of the image (not the composition/subject - unfortunately they wouldn't let me run off with the two lenses to take nicer shots ). The photo's have been taken on near enough the same settings (I did error slightly on some, but not really enough for me to mention before I ask for your opinions).

Ok, so for the first image:

Lens One:



100% Crop


Lens Two:


100% Crop


Second Image:

Lens One:


100% Crop


Lens Two:


100% Crop


Third Image:

Lens One:


100% Crop


Lens Two:


100% Crop


I will say, the weather was heavily overcast today None of the photo's have had any touching up at all, no sharpening and I never have any Saturation/Sharpening set in the camera either.

Lens one looks like it would have the slightest edge for me ...the picture of the key cutters sign seems to show the difference more than any other...seems more definied whereas the other lens has a slight fuzziness to it. In the distance shot, lens 2 100% crop appears darker than the original

lens two for me - seems slightly 'sharper' despite being darker.

Lens 2 gets my vote. Overalli ts producing a cleaner capture. Lens 1 is very soft esp around the edges of the image and also has some obvious CA.

Just a crude example (iv failed to point out the CA around the top of the flag too)


Lens 2 also seems like a faster lens?...

Thank you all for your input so far The comments are very interesting - neither lens has IS and I was hand holding (though obviously both are similarly disadvantaged ).

Lens two does seem sharper on the 100% crops. However, from what I've read lens are at their sharpest roughly around the central aperture point - actually that should be a question! Is that true?

So with that in mind... you might need to find the sweet spot for each lens for a fair comparison? Sorry to make things more difficult

Yes they should be sharper at the centre, but the sign is towards the edge in all photo's - so shouldn't really need to be taken into consideration in the examples above (as it was the same for both lenses).

I couldn't do a complete bench test as I had limited time and was hand holding (normally you would do the comparison on a tripod). I only want peoples rough views - both lenses are very nice lenses, I am just trying to decide between the two

So tell us then.. which ones were they?

OK, the pennys just dropped is that Guildford North Street?

Yes You can see the stalls in the background