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Fred Miranda wrote:
I was testing the ZM 35/1.4 (with 5m PCX) against the FE 35/2.8 today just for fun and was impressed how good the little FE lens is. (Well, I finally got a good copy of it...)
The ZM 35/1.4 PCX peaks at f/5.6. That's the aperture that finally brings the mid-field to the max resolution and yields sharpness across the entire field. All zones are very impressive at this aperture (center, mid and edges). I have not seen a 35mm performing better than this on any system.
The FE 35/2.8 ZA on the other hand does very well wide-open. At f/2.8, its mid-field is actually noticeably better than the ZM while center is very similar. The ZM has a slight advantage for the edges. The image has a lot of contrast and it's actually on pair with the ZM. I was surprised to see this. This tiny lens is definitely impressive at f/2.8. Colors also look very, very similar...Vignetting is stronger for the FE lens.
The FE 35/2.8 peaks at f/7.1 but is just as good as f/5.6, except for the corners and mid with a very slightly improvement at f/7.1. (f/6.3 looks identical to f/5.6)
So, how do they compare? I would say that center and mid-field are very similar starting at f/5.6. The mid-field looks better on the FE at f/2.8 and f/4 though.
Once we start approaching the edges, the ZM jumps ahead and it's absolutely superb. The FE 35/2.8 maintains sharpness while showing some astigmatism. From my tests, the FE 35/2.8 performs very similarly to the RX1RII at infinity distance but I was only able to see that with my latest copy.
Sunstar rendering looks strong after f/16 and is has 14 points. Best at f/22. The ZM 35/1.4's sunstar has 10 points and looks impressive starting at f/4.
Would this difference show in a print? Well, at 1:2 mag, both lenses at their optimum aperture look very similar at center and mid-field. Towards the edges, I can see better sharpness (resolution) on the ZM image but the difference is not that big and perhaps would go unnoticeable depending on the image. Of course, this different is much bigger at pixels level (1:1)
Contrast, believe it or not is slightly better for the FE!
I can tell you from experience, there is copy variation for this FE. I tested many copies and this one is finally well centered and performs great optically.
I can post some crops later but after studying images from both lenses, that's my consensus....Show more →
Excellent write up. Funny, I've heard high praise to meh for the FE 35 2.8--seems like maybe it's partially related to sample variation.
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