@Rarebear
Yes I enjoy those as well, though I stopped frequenting “digital picture” when I left Canon. I particularly like the extremely thorough camera testing at dpreview. They are the only site I know that provides data on the extinction resolution, beyond maximum resolution. This is important for reducing moire’ patterns in tightly weaved clothing, and as such, a main reason why I use Sony/Maxxum for my fashion work rather than Nikon/Canon.
Sports and Journalism are well suited for Nikon/Canon and even Olympus, and I much prefer those systems for that. Fashion, Portrait, and Landscape, I prefer my Sony’s because of the extinction resolution, and locking spot meter function. But I’ve got to say, that little Panasonic GH1 looks real nice in so many different ways.
I wish there was a good site for lens testing. Not the technical side, those are all over the place. But the end user experience is what I’m mostly concerned with. Luminous Landscape seems to do a good job with that, but unfortunately, the lens selection is limited. But at least they cover the main pro glass. Dyxum is where I find everything Sony/Maxxum. It’s a huge site that covers everything on that line specifically. It even addresses how to fix certain problems like back focus yourself without having to send the camera in. There’s a fun section of DYI photo accessories like custom made ring lights and lots of weird stuff.
Inconsistent quality sample variations are rampant in all lens makers. So I don’t trust the technical lens tests beyond a general guideline. No lie, I typically buy 2–3 copies of a lens before I find the one that performs best. One might work great on a full frame, but lousy and back focus on a half frame.
Though I’ve been happy with all of my Leica lenses, their SLR camera bodies are very fragile. Canon pisses me off because they refuse to repair my vintage L series lenses, plus they change their accessories, batteries, and RAW file plug-ins every time they release a new camera. I can’t keep up with it. Nikon seems to have settle down though. I’m really excited about their new line of Nano Crystal lenses. Saving up to try some of those.