Tamron 70-300 VC USD - First impressions

[Dave_S]

Re: Tamron 70-300 VC USD - First impressions

Hmm!!, something very strange going on here

Have just viewed the uploaded image on the forum, alongside the same image in Photoshop, and there is no comparison.

The image viewed in Photoshop is pin sharp, but the same image after uploading to the forum is soft.

It seems that uploading to the forum has significantly softened the image.

I have not experienced this effect on images uploaded to my own forum.

Dave

[Trevoreast]

Re: Tamron 70-300 VC USD - First impressions

It seems that uploading to the forum has significantly softened the image

Dave 100% agree.
I forgot about that, images often appear soft uploaded to the forum. Can't you use Flickr or Photobucket ?

Trev

[Trevoreast]

Re: Tamron 70-300 VC USD - First impressions

Dave ,your image is only 24KB, I guess there is some kind of compression to conserve bandwidth on the forum.
Uploaded quality setting.
What weight in Kbs is your image on the computer ?

Trev

[Dave_S]

Re: Tamron 70-300 VC USD - First impressions

Thanks for confirming my findings Trevor, it really has taken the edge off the image.

Perhaps this is something that the forum owner should look into, as its completely at odds with idea of a photographic forum.

To me, one of the prime purposes of uploading images to a forum, is to get constructive critique, and where necessary to give or receive advice.

If a posted image is softened by the forum software, it defeats the whole object, as members are not seeing an image as it really is.

For my forum, I use phpBB software, and images uploaded to the board are displayed as sharp as the original. If this was not the case there would be no point in uploading them.

It is accepted that resizing an image down to say 800x600, and re-saving as a jpeg, will introduce some degradation, but not to the extent that I am seeing here.

Dave

[Dave_S]

Re: Tamron 70-300 VC USD - First impressions

Sorry Trevor, crossed 'posts'

The image is 306Kb, so yes, there is definitely a huge amount of data chopped off by the forum software.

Dave

[Dave_S]

Re: Tamron 70-300 VC USD - First impressions

Here's the same image (800x600) but this time 'Saved for Web' in Photoshop. Now 18.6Kb.

Dave

[Dave_S]

Re: Tamron 70-300 VC USD - First impressions

Out of interest Trevor, which is best, Flickr or Photobucket?

Dave

EDIT: It seems that as I already have a Yahoo Account, then I have Flickr, so I wiil explore this avenue.

[Dave_S]

Re: Tamron 70-300 VC USD - First impressions

As I have a BTYahoo account, it seems get a Pro account

So, I have opened an account, an upload the same 800x600 300Kb image, and it seem as good as the original.

Here's the 'Link'

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80192867@N06/?saved=1

Dave

[Trevoreast]

Re: Tamron 70-300 VC USD - First impressions

The difference in IQ is like chalk and cheese Dave. I'm glad I pointed this out.
LOL...... I can now admit was thinking bad thoughts about your new lens earlier.

Dave I'd rather have a fast forum, I visited a forum that insisted you upload to the forum DB.
I found it to be much slower, even with relativley light demand.

Trev

[Dave_S]

Re: Tamron 70-300 VC USD - First impressions

I'm definitely a lot happier now

I would agree that its good to have a fast forum, but it doesn't need to be slow because images are uploaded to it's DB.

On my own forum, members upload jpeg images directly to the 'board', with a 1024x768 size limit, we don't have any problems with speed, and the images are not softened. Members will often also post a 'link' to the full-res version on Photobucket.

Speed is related the the amount of bandwidth that is rented, and if this is not large enough for the amount of traffic, it can slow things down considerably. Whether its a shared server or VPS, also has a major impact on forum speed, with shared servers being notoriously slow.

I have to say, that I have not met this image softening problem on any other forum

Just my opinion of course, but there really doesn't seem to be any point in uplpoading images to this forum, as it quite clearly degrades them.

The sensible answer has to be a 'link' to an off-site storage facility (Flick or Photobucket).

Dave

[Trevoreast]

Re: Tamron 70-300 VC USD - First impressions

Dave I can see how softened astrological images would be a waste of time :-)

It's about bandwidth and servers as you say, on heavily monetised forums were a reasonable revenue is generated.
bandwidth is more of a non-issue. This forum is virtually ad free.
I know of a forum were photographers claim to be distracted by a minutest dust spot on an image.
What cracks me up laughing is that they are totally oblivious the the large animated banner ad millimeters form the pic :-)

Trev

[Dave_S]

Re: Tamron 70-300 VC USD - First impressions

Dave I can see how softened astrological images would be a waste of time

Trev

Astrological !!, Astrology is a 'dirty word' to Astronomers, and people have been shot for less

Astrology is all about 'myth and magic'.

I would assume that this forum is on a VPS, and not a shared server, so speed wouldn't be a problem. The issue seems to be with the degree or method of compression applied to uploaded images. This is something that I have not seen on other forums.

Perhaps Robert would care to comment on this?

My own forum is not tied to any sponsor or commercial advertising, but is funded by myself and my co-owner, as such we have no advertising banners at all.

We have gone way off-topic here, but I think this image softening problem is a key issue for a photography forum. The fact that you saw my soft images as being related to the image quality of the lens, when the softening was actually introduced by the forum, which really make a nonsense of posting images here, for critique.

The fact that you gave an honest opinion, speaks volumes for the value of constructive criticism, as opposed to polite 'back-patting'.

Now, if it would only stop raining, I could explore the potential of the lens a bit more

Dave

[Trevoreast]

Re: Tamron 70-300 VC USD - First impressions

Astrological !!, Astrology is a 'dirty word' to Astronomers, and people have been shot for less

Astrology is all about 'myth and magic'.

Ah Sorry, got mixed up, more Patrick Moore than Russel Grant LOL
Trev

[Nathaniel]

Re: Tamron 70-300 VC USD - First impressions

Dave, I had a lot of trouble uploading from Photobucket to the forum- soft images. So I have moved to Image shack and the pics are as sharp as they appear on my computer.

[Trevoreast]

Re: Tamron 70-300 VC USD - First impressions

Imageshack like to use pop up advertising - It's irritating getting ads for online casinos and worse, when you click through to imageshack to view an image.
TBH Not much of a problem if you have browser that blocks these ads, if you haven't, it can be annoying.

Trev