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[koenkooi]

[...]
Also the people who are bragging about how most people don't know how to even spot this (which implies that they have this secret knowledge) is doubly irritating: if you know something so important, why not share it with the group? [...]

Roger from lensrentals has a piece on dpreview on testing lenses yourself, including graphs, plots, sample pictures and more.

 

[SwissFrank]

Roger from lensrentals has a piece on dpreview on testing lenses yourself, including graphs, plots, sample pictures and more.

Interesting! I will check it out!

OK, nice enough article, but I kind of knew this stuff. Funny he also shoots grass, I do too for the exact same reason. Now it doesn't matter but in the days of film, where only the center sensor worked great, you HAD to know field curvature to do focus-recompose-shoot.

 

[peganmor]

I totally get what you mean; sometimes we stumble upon things we already know, but it's still nice to see them being shared!

And how cool is it that the author also shoots grass for the same reason? It's those little details that make photography even more enjoyable and relatable.

Ah, the days of film and focusing techniques! Field curvature and knowing how to nail that focus-recompose-shoot method were real skills back then. It's amazing how technology has evolved to make things easier for us now.

By the way, have you ever explored the idea of a white label exchange for photography gear? It could be an interesting concept to check out, especially for photography enthusiasts like us! Keep on shooting and enjoying your passion for photography!

 

[Del Paso]

For infinity-testing, I tend to prefer villages. Looking at how sharply the roofs are rendered, is an easy way to assume a lens' quality, including field curvature, at infinity. I've learned the hard way that some macro lenses can be very disappointing...
By the way: has anybody critically tested the RF 100 macro at infinity? Better (much?) than the EF 100L?

 

[Michael Clark]

For infinity-testing, I tend to prefer villages. Looking at how sharply the roofs are rendered, is an easy way to assume a lens' quality, including field curvature, at infinity. I've learned the hard way that some macro lenses can be very disappointing...
By the way: has anybody critically tested the RF 100 macro at infinity? Better (much?) than the EF 100L?

Macro lenses are intentionally designed to be optimized for close distances. It shouldn't be surprising that means compromise in performance at infinity.

 

[Del Paso]

Macro lenses are intentionally designed to be optimized for close distances. It shouldn't be surprising that means compromise in performance at infinity.

Depends on what you mean by compromise. Soft corners, for instance, I cannot accept for landscapes. The corners at infinity of my EF 180 are mushy, no matter which aperture I use, even if "corner focused".
A slight drop of performance is usually the case with most macro lenses, and acceptable. What I need is kind of a universal lens, since I hate changing lenses when hiking in the mountains.
I must say I've been spoiled by my leica M and R macro lenses (M 4/90, R 2,8/60, R Apo 2,8/100). All three are tack-sharp even in the corners. This is why, after having heard so much praise about the RF 100 L, I hope it will produce excellent results at infinity too!
The only trouble with the Leica 100 Apo being the lack of AF, otherwise...