When I began to do some of these distant-twigs-and-branches pictures with the new lens, the results were frequently disappointing. Some were fine, but many just weren't sharp enough. The pictures looked fine for online use or even for an 11x14-ish print, but completely fell apart with the very minor up-interpolation of the 16MP file to 20.5 inches, although my usual quick tests of the new lens showed its (computer-enhanced) optical quality to be excellent, at least at short to middle zoom settings, after which an annoying amount of vignette sets in. Amazingly good in fact, considering the $255 price tag. So I wanted to look into this and see what was going on. Obviously distant branches are an extreme problem, but there are similar issues in my more usual short lens pictures like, say, the detail and texture of a brick wall in one of my urban landscapes. If the bricks turned to mush in a print I'd find that just as unacceptable as what the distant branches were looking like. In fact, I gave up on a fairly pricey wide angle lens because I couldn't stand the never-really-sharp corners."