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Archive 2014 · Thinking about a Zoom

  
 
banpreso
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Thinking about a Zoom


I've been a prime lens shooter for as long as I've been into photography and I'm thinking about picking up a standard zoom to add to my A7 for walk around. I know the C/Y 35-70 is well regarded, but I'm just a bit confused with all the offerings in this category. There's also the C/Y 28-70, 28-85, and the Leica R 35-70, 28-70, etc.

Is there any obvious bad ones that I should just eliminate right off the bat?
Are there other notable MF zoom options that I should consider besides Contax and Leica R?

Thanks



Oct 07, 2014 at 09:46 PM
plasticmotif
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Thinking about a Zoom


Get the C/Y 35-70. It's really, really good. The MD 35-70 is awesome too.

If you wanted to get real fancy you could get a Contax 24-85 get it converted to EF and get an AF adapter.



Oct 07, 2014 at 10:05 PM
JonPB
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Thinking about a Zoom


I'd prefer the C/Y 35-70 for f/5.6 or slower, but the Leica R 35-70/4 for wide open shooting. The Leica R 35-70/3.5 is optically the same design as the Minolta MD 35-70/3.5 (and the bodies appear similar, too, which is how you can tell apart the different Minolta versions), which are both very good lenses: underpriced in Minolta form, but substantially more expensive in Leica dress. The C/Y 28-70 was their low-cost, low-weight kit zoom, which has a two-touch design but isn't very well regarded. The C/Y 28-85 has a reputation as being a better walkaround or sole lens than the C/Y 35-70, though the latter will have slightly better image quality within that limited range. Finally, the Leica R 28-70 has quite a bit of distortion, which generally turned off shooters in the film era, and I haven't seen an good comparisons with it on high resolution digital sensors. Edit: And there's the Leica R 28-90, which is in another price bracket entirely and which I've never seen convincing photos from, though it is better at the long end and I'm predominantly a wide-angle shooter.

Other options? Nothing comes to mind, though many companies offered solid 35-70/4 zooms. (I shot a Pentax-A 35-70/4 for some time, and while it had flaws, even on APS-C, they were almost entirely of the "could be better" variety rather than the "this makes the image worse" variety. If I went back to Pentax, I'd pick one up again, along with the 35-105/3.5 for its gloriously invasive flare and spherical aberrations.) With the C/Y 35-70 being better than most primes--even competing with Zeiss and Leica primes--at f/5.6-f/8, though, I haven't had the inspiration to look for even lower cost zooms that still provide top-notch quality.

I've never actually shot with any of those Zeiss or Leica zooms, mind, just looked at purchasing one.

Cheers,
Jon



Oct 07, 2014 at 10:31 PM
banpreso
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Thinking about a Zoom


the MD 35-70 seems so cheap! it's in the same category as the contax?


Oct 07, 2014 at 10:34 PM
banpreso
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Thinking about a Zoom


JonPB wrote:


ahh thanks Jon, seems like aside from the tried and true reputed zooms others can be a real hit or miss sometimes.



Oct 07, 2014 at 10:36 PM
plasticmotif
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Thinking about a Zoom


There was a $300 35-70 C/Y in buy and sell the other day....I'd be all over it.


Oct 07, 2014 at 10:41 PM
JonPB
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Thinking about a Zoom


The Contax 35-70 is noticeably superior to the MD 35-70, but that's not saying the difference would be visible to people who don't regularly critically examine photos. I'd say, offhand, that the Contax 35-70 has better center and midzone resolution and astigmatism at the wide to mid focal lengths, which is basically where it matters most for such a lens.

As far as the MD 35-70/3.5 versus Leica 35-70/3.5, it may be telling that Leica rejected a considerable proportion of the lenses made by Minolta for quality reasons. If you do decide to go the MD 35-70 route, you have may have to steel yourself to buy several copies before you find one that fully exploits the lens design.

Mostly, zooms are underpriced because folks who spend $500+ on lenses tend to be snobs. :-) If budget is a large concern, I can't imagine you could go wrong by buying an MD 35-70, seeing if it meets your needs, and, if it doesn't, selling it off for basically no loss and then buying the Contax. On the other hand, if you want the best quality, you probably won't find something better than the Contax until you start looking at $2000+ lenses like Canon and Nikon's latest pro zooms, which are different beasts entirely.

Cheers,
Jon




Oct 07, 2014 at 10:45 PM
bvphotos
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Thinking about a Zoom


How does the Vivitar Series 1 28-90mm f2.8 compare to the MD 35-70/3.5? I'm considering getting the former.


Oct 07, 2014 at 10:45 PM
CamOp
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Thinking about a Zoom


May I suggest the OM 35-80mm f/2.8? Compact work well across the focal range.
I use it on both an A7r and an E-M1 with and without speed booster (3 zooms for one lens !

Hard to get though are few were built and a lot of them end-up transformed for video broadcasting equipement.




Oct 09, 2014 at 10:48 PM
banpreso
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Thinking about a Zoom


very interesting, the olympus. i see that it's really rare and pretty expensive. can you please post a few samples? i'm sure we are all curious


Oct 10, 2014 at 09:19 PM
jcolwell
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Thinking about a Zoom


The CZ 35-70/3.5 is the only normal zoom I've ever met that's sharper (in the corners) than the EF 24-70/2.8L II. The Tamron SP 35-80/2.8-3.8 is only slightly less sharp than the CZ, and the SP costs less than a small pile of good dirt.



Oct 10, 2014 at 09:25 PM
CamOp
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Thinking about a Zoom


Banpreso: Taken outdoor with one flash light coming from the right side. SOOC jpeg crop.
I tend to forget which lens I use and with old one you have no EXIF info...





A7r OM 35-80mm f/2.8 at 8.0




Oct 13, 2014 at 01:00 AM
Samuli Vahonen
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Thinking about a Zoom


banpreso wrote:
I've been a prime lens shooter for as long as I've been into photography and I'm thinking about picking up a standard zoom to add to my A7 for walk around. I know the C/Y 35-70 is well regarded, but I'm just a bit confused with all the offerings in this category. There's also the C/Y 28-70, 28-85, and the Leica R 35-70, 28-70, etc.

Is there any obvious bad ones that I should just eliminate right off the bat?
Are there other notable MF zoom options that I should consider besides Contax and Leica R?


I'm big fan of CZ 35-70, but due to rotating filter thread I started to explore options. Luckily I had Zeiss Alpha mount 24-70 for AF-shooting from boat with A850. I had never considered it for "real shooting", but after checking how it performs with A7r I was surprised; it's as good as CZ35-70 on 35-60 range, and 28mm is very good (for landscapes, can't match my primes for any shooting involving boke), 26mm very usable, and at 24mm corners are no longer usable.

I'm not sure what you mean by "walkaround", but if it involves handhold shooting, then alpha 24-70 is not recommended; it's manual focus is not as good as real MF-lenses. My interest towards the lens is purely he image quality, and usability in my use (I can cope with AF-lens MF, but rotating polarizer is not ok). In this kind of use people usually don't use polarizer, so I guess rotating front is OK.

One area where alpha 24-70 loses a little to CZ35-70 is flare performance. HDR-shots where sun is in the frame work usually better with 35-70, but 24-70 is very good considering it's zoom lens (35-70 flare performance for zoom is exceptional).


One of the last shots I did shoot with 35-70 before I moved to 24-70 for landscapes:


Samuli



Oct 13, 2014 at 01:53 AM
pdmphoto
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Thinking about a Zoom


If you can afford (and find a good copy for a decent price) the Olympus 35-80/2.8 is the best normal zoom I have ever used. At the other end of the price scale, I also recommend the Tamron SP 35-80/2.8-3.8. Great performing lens for the price.


Oct 14, 2014 at 11:39 AM
banpreso
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Thinking about a Zoom


i've got a CZ 35-70 incoming from japan. i hope to pair it with my EOS-FE tilt adapter to get the best of both worlds (zoom and shallow DOF). so far the tilt adapter worked well on my other CZ glasses. let's see how this ends up


Oct 20, 2014 at 05:06 AM





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