azted Loc: Las Vegas, NV.

I want to test several of my new "A" mount lenses prior to planning which to take on a trip. These include Tamron 28-300mm f3.5-6.3 Di PZD, 70-300mm f4-5.6 Di USD, Minolta 28-135mm f4-4.5, and 70-210mm f4 (Beercan). My test will be at 100mm for each lens, and I have two questions; First, should I shoot in raw or jpg? (my jpg files out of the A99 are the best I've seen from Sony)
Second question is, should I also shoot the Minolta 100mm f2.8 to compare sharpness, or is that asking too much from the zooms?

Leitz Loc: Solms

Hope this helps:
https://www.google.com/search?q=How+to+test+your+lenses&rlz=1C1SQJL_enUS873US873&oq=How+to+test+your+lenses&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30l6j0i390l2.14239j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

I hope you are planning on doing a MFA at the longest focal length as part of your testing ......
.

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I would test each of them at its physically shortest physical form and those that will provide easiest access in the bag get the highest test scores. This acoarst means you can skip testing the beer can, as it’s the lowest possible score. YMMV.

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I have always found my BFA to be more than satisfactory. I spoze there may be some benefit to an MFA but I’ve never missed it.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

There is the question as to how you are going to use these lenses on a trip. Are you mostly interested in distant shots with telephoto type focal lengths. Are you going to be shooting at closer distance? Are you going to shoot in low light? This list can go on and on.

As for RAW or JPEG. Do you have experience processing RAW? Do you have the software to work with RAWs. RAWs can return the best images to work with, but are you prepared to work with them?

And Micro Focus Adjust (MFA), which has already been mentioned, can make a huge difference.

Some general thoughts:

Primes are sharper than Zooms. Might be debatable with some of the newer lenses, but your list didn't have newer native zoom lenses to compare against.

Zooms with a wide zoom range are usually less sharp than zooms with a more limited zoom range.

Also, I don't understand your question of testing at 100mm. Do you mean 100M? 100mm is only about 4 inches and that is macro territory.

I have 2 of the lenses you mentioned and had one other that I got rid of.

The 70-210mm beercan is sharp but can develop CA distortion. Its very heavy to carry around.
The 100mm f2.8 macro is incredibly sharp and takes great non-macro images.

The 28-135mm is the one I got rid of as it started procing out of focus results and no amount of MFA would bring it into focus. Before this happened, it was quite sharp.

Anyway, what focal length is most important to you for this trip. If 300mm is most important, a lens with a much short FL isn't going to help you. Or the opposite might be true. But I don't know what is important to you.

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

Why bother...there are professional testing labs on the web equipped with instrumentation to do it scientifically. Do the research and skip the amateurish approach.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I just use the lenses.
They do what they do.
Life is uncomplicated.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

I am not sure about the usefulness of static tests for a travel lens. Very little travel photography is static in nature (except landscape and some architecture.) For your comparison, you would need to shoot at f4 to compare. I am not sure the zooms will all hold f4 at 100mm. More important is how well you can control the lens in the field and how good it is at the ends of the zoom range. That said my money is on the 70-210 (I assume the Tamron?) Unless you are doing in-town, in which case you will need a wider lens.

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

Ted what genre do you intend to use the optics for?
Street, Lifestyle, or Sports etc? Travel embraces a myriad of scenarios...
Who are your clients and what are their expectations...
Without that information it is a challenge to make any useful inferences here...

That said I focus primarily on beauty genre and portraiture...
To this end I'm pretty much between 75mm and 200mm full frame equivalence and find 135mm works best for my visual statement. Primes are preferred not only for acuity but also for their lighter weight.

I test (and AF fine tune) with LensAligh MkII at the focal length/distance I will be most likely be deploying the glass on assignments. As a result of extensive tests and actual field use my fav go to lens for portraiture is the AF 180mm f/2.8 Nikkor prime. With the AF 135mm f/2D DC IF Nikkor being a close second.

Noticed the image you posted on Feb 3, 2020 "Larry Fitzgerald wins award for Photography!" that you may be shooting sports. If so you might want to hang out on the Sports Photography Forum.
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/s-103-1.html

Hope this helps Ted, wishing you much joy and success on your upcoming journey...

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“Why bother” ?

Then why even take the trip at all ?

Acoarst I agree with you but I’ve noticed a fervent UHH connection between travel and extremely excessive hang ups about major gear. Might as well just indulge all their foolishness .... ask about intended uses, instruct them in testing methods, recommend addition perchases, etc etc.

yorkiebyte Loc: Scottsdale, AZ/Bandon by the Sea, OR

Agree! Every time I "Test" a lens(es), I want to sell them all and quit photography (and do - for a day or so!). Now I just use what I have and generally love the results! I even have a Nikkor 35-70 F 3.3-4.5 that is a great lens for plinking around - even though to hear the critics, it is Horrible!! The same with my "Horrible" 36-72 F 3.5 E series zoom. That bottom sucker is Sharp and can produce excellent results with a bit of post-work (my objection to it is it won't focus closer than about four feet - most of my shots are close-up style!).

JMOO.

MDI Mainer

And what are you planning to do with the images? Make poster-sized prints? That will impact the utility of your selected lenses.

azted Loc: Las Vegas, NV.

I might, once I decide which lens or lenses to take.

azted Loc: Las Vegas, NV.

I took some test shots that I will post later. I decided to use .jpg so that I did not affect the shots myself in post.