On Sat, 07 Dec 2002 15:13:57 -0700, mike II wrote:

>There seems to be a great variance between lens manufacturers' quality
>standards. Is a list available somewhere showing the bad ones? What
>order would these makers of bad stuff be listed? Would the 'Image' line
>be on this black list?
>
>Are these bad lenses of a consistently bad nature or is the problem with
>a lack of consistency even in the same batch of lens models?
>
>My reason for asking is the local availability of used equipment and I
>have no way of knowing how good/bad it is short of buying it. That can
>build a huge pile of expensive junk very quickly.

It used to be easy...;-)
Nikon made a great range of lenses, with only a tiny
minority of well-known "dogs", and with the vast majority
better than the average of most other lines. Unfortunately,
marketing forces have degraded the line with several
bottom-end cheap AF lenses that are no better than
bottom-end lenses of other lines, lowering the average
(and the reputation) of the maker... If you are interested
in Nikkors, though, look here for evaluations:
www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/slemn.html. Note that for many
lenses, several samples have been checked, and the
variation-range noted (some lenses show very little sample
variation, a few show quite a bit...). Beware the unchecked
cheap f3.5->5.6 zooms, and the cheaper "G" lenses, though...
As for other lines, each has its "stars" and "dogs", with
only a few predominantly excellent - but some of these, like
the Contax line, are very limited in FL choices and are
expensive. Other lines, until recently, were more "cult"
than really good - but this is changing, with new lens
versions that finally live up to their reputations...;-)
The "independent" lines' lenses are generally inferior to
the bulk of the best line's lenses, but may roughly
approximate the quality of the bulk of a lesser camera
line's lenses. These lines are Tokina, Tamron, and
Sigma - though exceptional lenses have been offered by
others (Kiron 100mm macro, Vivitar Series I 90mm macro,
etc.). Cosina-Voightlander are offering very interesting
high-end lenses for Leica screw and bayonette mounts, and
for SLR mounts - which appears to be an exception from
the above...
With all, remember that the "bottom-line" is marketing
(which involves balancing "product" placement, pricing,
manufacturing costs, quality-level-for-price, desired
sales rate, available design and manufacturing skills,
etc.) - no one starts out to "make the best gosh-durn
lenses available at any price, at rock-bottom prices";
the quality/price ratio prevails, with some exceptions,
both up, and down...;-).