I thought some of you might appreciate some more images from this camera-lens combination as there seems to be a lot of copy variation floating about. Some love this lens while others like me aren't too impressed with it. Sample variation is a problem but I should have thought in this day and age, they should be able to reduce it to near the 0% variation point. Seems I'm wrong again. There's also a PZ 45-175 lens and it seems to have the same problem as this one. Personally, I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.
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03/08/14  Panasonic PZ 14-42 f3.5-5.61159
unknown Focal Length: unknown Aperture: unknown Exposure Time: unknown ISO: unknown • Panasonic • GF1 • 1-42 f3.5-5.6 • PZ
03/07/14  Panasonic PZ 14-42 f3.5-5.6Looking at the resolution of this image has got me pretty confused right now. The resolution is much better than the one posted yesterday. It was made in exactly the same way using images at the same resolution. Looks much better though, no artifacts in the individual images. This is the PZ zoom that Panasonic brought out some time ago and one which I have a love-hate relationship with. It seems to perform better on Olympus bodies (actually much better) for some reason. I just can't figure it out. I know the camera used is pretty old but I've also tested it on a G5 with the same results. Still better on Olympus bodies. 1213
unknown Focal Length: unknown Aperture: unknown Exposure Time: unknown ISO: unknown • Panasonic • GF1 • PZ • 14-2 f3.5-5.6
03/06/14  Nikon E-Series 28 f2.8Looking at the image in my browser, I see that the quality of the individual images has suffered along the way to making this composite. I'll have to work a little more on this to get the optimal quality I'm looking for. Hopefully this shoudn't be too long in coming. The Nikon E-Series 28 f2.8 was my worst lens in my 28mm lens test but as I have stated before, my copy must have been a dud, I can't see this type of quality from Nikon. All my other E-Series lenses are really great performers. 1417
unknown Focal Length: unknown Aperture: unknown Exposure Time: unknown ISO: unknown 03/05/14  Voigtländer Skopar 50 f2.5The image quality one gets from these quite cheap Voigtländer lenses is remarkable. The price range being a few hundred Euro where I live is relatively affordable, nowhere near the Leica prices and I'm not going to start to go down that road. The Skopar lenses are small, light and handle very well on the Nex system. One tip, don't go below 35mm on the Nex-7 unless you're using SLR lenses. Problems with colour shifts doesn't happen with those lenses. Nowadays, I'll only use the longer focal length lenses on the Nex-7 because of this issue of having purple edges to the image. It is correctable in post but I really don't want to go and make even more work for myself. I can recommend the Voigtländer Skopar 50 f2.5 as it has a lovely signature and the images come very close to the Leica look many people are looking for. 1272
unknown Focal Length: unknown Aperture: unknown Exposure Time: unknown ISO: unknown • Voigtländer • Sony • 50 f2.5
03/04/14  Voigtländer Skopar 35 f2.5I've bben layed up for awhile now and can't get out to do any photography. I'm sure I'm suffering from withdrawal symptoms. Because I don't get out to do any tests etc I've been trawling through my archive to reprocess images or to try something diferent. What I decided to do was to make some composites from different lenses that don't come up too often here. This is an experiment and I'm not sure about the image quality in general of these, as they have been re-processed so to speak. I hope to improve on the method by which these have been put together, and I'm looking forward to an increase in image resolution as I get these posted. There are a number of these composites as I won't be able to get out for another few weeks, but I hope you enjoy them as much as I have enjoyed making them. If you have any requests, or general comments, please add them to the comments section under each image. There won't be much text within the post itself, unless I have some new information regarding the lens itself or about the system used to take the images. Most of these images where a manual lens has been used were taken on the Sony Nex system (either a 5N or the 7). As you can see the first composite is from the Voigtländer Skopar 35 f2.5, which is becoming my favourite lens at this focal length. 1446
unknown Focal Length: unknown Aperture: unknown Exposure Time: unknown ISO: unknown • Sony • Nex-5N • Voigtländer • 35 f2.5
03/03/14  The Best of the Legacy 28mm LensesA last image from the 28mm lenses. I've included a Nikon image here to compare it to the Olympus OM 28 f2.8. This image isn't actually all that bad (one of the few). You can see that the Nikon meters slightly darker on the Nex cameras. It's equal to the Olympus here, so if you do manage to get a good copy, it'll be a keeper. The bottom two, again from the Sigma and Vivitar lenses are comparable. I really can't tell the difference between them so it doesn't matter which lens you select here so it's just on ergonomics. If you enjoy using one lens over the other, just go for it. 1299
unknown Focal Length: unknown Aperture: unknown Exposure Time: unknown ISO: unknown 03/02/14  The Best of the Legacy 28mm LensesNow, why aren't the Sigma and Vivitar lenses from the same manufacturer? If you look carefully at the above image, you'll see that the Sigma seem a little wider than the Vivitar. You can see the cobblestones in the Sigma image where they're nowhere in sight in the Vivitar image. I must stress here that I was standing in the exact same position when taking both images. Also there's a little bit more to be seen on both left and right side of the image from the Sigma lens. 1065
unknown Focal Length: unknown Aperture: unknown Exposure Time: unknown ISO: unknown 03/01/14  The Best of the Legacy 28mm LensesI thought I would post a compilation of 4 images showing the results from 4 different lenses. I've left the Nikon 28 f2.8 out because of the poor performance of the lens. I'll repeat here that the poor performance was due to a bad copy of this lens, and if you should purchase a good copy the performance should be up there with the best. My 50, 100 and 135 E Series Nikon lenses perform very well indeed on the Nex and m4/3 cameras. Opening the image to full size it's easily visible that the Pentax Takumar (top right) has the best rendition and sharpness of all the lenses. The colour is also better to my eye but this is easily corrected in post. The Olympus OM 28 f2.8 came in second (top left). These 2 images were taken just seconds apart. The bottom 2 images taken with the Sigma and Vivitar lenses were taken several days later so the lighting is a little different. Both don't come close to the Takumar. They do however, look so similar that I would have said the lens is from the same manufacturer, but I don't believe this to be the case. Why? I'll post the reason tomorrow. 1187
unknown Focal Length: unknown Aperture: unknown Exposure Time: unknown ISO: unknown 02/28/14  Sony Nex-5N - Olympus OM 28 f2.8This will be the last single image from my 28mm f2.8 lens testing. If you're wondering which lens I rate the best in this focal range then it's the Pentax M Takumar 28 f2.8. Remember, I still have two more lenses to test, a Canon 28 f2.8 and a Konica 28 f3.5. If they are to surpass the Pentax then they will have to be very good indeed. The Pentax is superb in every sense, use, build, rendition. These old Takumar lenses (all of them) are among the best lenses ever built and if you haven't tried one, you should. An all metal build, the focusing ring is very smooth and when you change the aperture it actually feels like you've changed aperture. It clicks nicely into place and won't budge until I decide to change it again (unlike the Nikon 28mm I tested). Everything felt right with this lens and is real fun to use. After I have tested my two remaining lenses I will repost about which lens will have a permanent place in my 28mm arsenal. I know I've said that these lenses perform well on the Nex bodies (APS-C sensor) I much prefer the image quality I get from my m4/3 bodies. The sensor is smaller so you're effectively using the best part of the image and the corners tend to be cropped out at the time you take the shot. So you may be asking why I keep on using the Nex bodies, well it's simply because of the focus peaking function. With focus peaking creeping into the m4/3 bodies nowadays, it might be that I'll be switching shortly permanently to those cameras. But that remains to be seen. If you have any questions about these lenses or if you want anything tested, just mail me or leave a comment and I'll see what I can do. 1537
NEX-5N Focal Length: unknown Aperture: f/1.0 Exposure Time: 1/1250 sec ISO: 100 02/27/14  Sony Nex-5N - Olympus OM 28 f2.8How do you determine when to keep a lens or not? Well, for me personally, a lens has to feel good in the hand and is nice to use. If it doesn't have that then I'll probably not use it much simply for the fact it's not fun to do so. Not being a professional at this I can pick and chose as I like. If a lens has that effect on my then I'll look at the image quality, how the lens renders on the sensor. If, of course, image qualiy is then abysmal I'll either try with a second copy or not use the lens at all. The final image is the whole point of this photography thing after all, and that is very important but I also like to use the tools I have to get to the final product. I look at the image above and remember thinking at the time i took the shot that it would be for me, a pleasing image to look at. I could tell at the time that the lens had produced what I was after and if you enjoy using your tools you will, I guarantee, be more careful with your image composition, focusing and everything else that comes with it. 1533
NEX-5N Focal Length: unknown Aperture: f/1.0 Exposure Time: 1/400 sec ISO: 100 | |
