Personal Ultron experience

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Archive 2009 · Personal Ultron experience

Greg Feldman
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p.1 #1 · Personal Ultron experience

Anyone out there have any experience with the Ultron 40mm f/2 on a 5D or 1Ds2? I am considering one (presumably Nikon mount) as a walkaround lens; I like my 50mm Summicron but I get the feeling the Ultron is significantly smaller.

Jan 28, 2009 at 04:09 AM

mawz
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p.1 #2 · Personal Ultron experience

The Ultron is very small and an excellent performer. I use mine on DX and 35mm film in Nikon-land. There's very little out there which can match its size/performance ratio in a similar focal length.

Jan 28, 2009 at 05:56 AM

ISO1600
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p.1 #3 · Personal Ultron experience

the Ultron should not be too much smaller. For use on a 5D, since you already have the highly-touted 50cron, i wouldn't bother. Go for a smaller 'cake, like the Pentax 40/2.8.

Jan 28, 2009 at 08:11 AM

HansenTsang
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p.1 #4 · Personal Ultron experience

I use my Ultron with a few different Nikon bodies and it is a very nice little gem.

Jan 28, 2009 at 08:35 AM

jcolwell
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p.1 #5 · Personal Ultron experience

I agree with ISO1600, the Ultron is not a lot smaller than the Summicron, and the SMC Pentax-M 40/2.8 is a lot smaller - so is the Contax Carl Zeiss Tessar 45/2.8. I have the Zeiss, and it's very nice.

Edit: correct error in table, Ultron is 25mm long, not 30mm as in original posting - thanks to mawz for pointing out the error.

2012 © jcolwell

Edited on Jan 28, 2009 at 06:46 PM · View previous versions

Jan 28, 2009 at 12:01 PM

brainiac
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p.1 #6 · Personal Ultron experience

Jan 28, 2009 at 12:10 PM

Steve Spencer
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p.1 #7 · Personal Ultron experience

If you are just looking for light weight then you might consider the CYZ 50mm f/1.7 it is 195 grams or about the same weight as the Ultron which weighs in at 200 grams (Jim's weight listed above I believe includes the close-up lens). The summicron is 290 grams, so either of these are noticeably but not hugely lighter than the 'cron. The Olympus that brainiac recommends is lighter yet. It weighs 140 grams--not as light as the f/2.8 lenses from Pentax or CYZ, but then again it is f/2. I hope this helps.

Jan 28, 2009 at 12:29 PM

Greg Feldman
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p.1 #8 · Personal Ultron experience

Thanks, everyone. I'm thinking mostly about size, not weight. The Pentax and CZ are nice and small, but I could really use the extra stop. f/2 and tiny would be perfect. (Well, f/1.4 and tiny would be even better, but not realistic.) Perhaps I should revisit the Oly.... Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the Oly a pretty inexpensive lens back in the day that happens to be pricy now because of supply and demand?

Jan 28, 2009 at 01:48 PM

jcolwell
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p.1 #9 · Personal Ultron experience

Greg Feldman wrote:
.... Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the Oly a pretty inexpensive lens back in the day that happens to be pricy now because of supply and demand?

It's mostly because of people like Richard, and soon maybe you as well.

Jan 28, 2009 at 02:53 PM

Ed Sawyer
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p.1 #10 · Personal Ultron experience

Greg Feldman wrote:
.... Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the Oly a pretty inexpensive lens back in the day that happens to be pricy now because of supply and demand?

It was cheap, yes, under $100 new. Priced between the 50/1.8 and 50/1.4 back in the day.

Jan 28, 2009 at 05:05 PM

mawz
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p.1 #11 · Personal Ultron experience

jcolwell wrote:
I agree with ISO1600, the Ultron is not a lot smaller than the Summicron, and the SMC Pentax-M 40/2.8 is a lot smaller - so is the Contax Carl Zeiss Tessar 45/2.8. I have the Zeiss, and it's very nice.

That table is incorrect, the Ultron is 25mm long, not 30 (They obviously measured with the hood rather than without). The Ultron greatly outperforms either the Zeiss 45 or the Pentax 40 at wide apertures, is a stop faster and offers 1:4 magnification with the included closeup ring. Unless you really want a Tessar or something native in Contax mount, I wouldn't bother with either of the f2.8 'cakes.

Jan 28, 2009 at 06:09 PM

jcolwell
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p.1 #12 · Personal Ultron experience

Thanks mawz, I just corrected the table.

Jan 28, 2009 at 06:47 PM

JonasY
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p.1 #13 · Personal Ultron experience

Has anyone compared the Ultron 40/2 with its sister 58/1.4? I have the latter and I'm so impressed with the colors and bokeh that I'm thinking of replacing my 35/1.4 (Nikon) with the Ultron instead.

Jan 28, 2009 at 08:00 PM

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p.1 #14 · Personal Ultron experience

the 40 and 58 are two totally different lenses.

the 58 is amazing, and i think the 40 is completely boring other than its small size and CPU chip.

Richard, i really wish you would stop touting the Oly40 so much. If there was more interest in pancakes, you would have turned it into the Distagon of 'cakes by now, or pulled a "Yates" and had people hacking tehm up to almost reach inf. on their EF bodies.
Yes, the Oly is great, but no, it is not affordable or realistic for most people wanting a pancake.

Jan 28, 2009 at 11:24 PM

Sam N
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p.1 #15 · Personal Ultron experience

I'm curious how many times that image of the Oly 40 has been posted.

Seriously tho, it is a pretty neat little lens.

Jan 29, 2009 at 12:19 AM

mawz
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p.1 #16 · Personal Ultron experience

JonasY wrote:
Has anyone compared the Ultron 40/2 with its sister 58/1.4? I have the latter and I'm so impressed with the colors and bokeh that I'm thinking of replacing my 35/1.4 (Nikon) with the Ultron instead.

I own both. Love both (And also own and love the Nikkor 35/1.4). But they're quite different in character.

Colour is very similar, bokeh on both is similar but the 58 is smoother. But the 40 is quite sharp wide open all across the frame and just keeps getting sharper, the 58 is softer wide open (although quite sharp for f1.4) and sharpens up until performance is similar by f4-5.6. The 40 is a better landscape lens, the 58's a better people lens. Both are VERY competent for most uses though.

The 40's also rather different than the 35/1.4, since it's sharp across the frame wide-open rather than being very sharp in the centre and softer in the corners. It also lacks the curvature of field of the 35.

I find them very complementary lenses. The 35's my really low-light and wide portrait lens, the 40's my general carry normal and the 58's my long-normal low-light and portrait lens.

Jan 29, 2009 at 01:19 AM

ISO1600
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p.1 #17 · Personal Ultron experience

mawz- if the 35 and 58 were both F2.0 like the 40, then they would almost be the same exact lens. That is where a large part of this difference comes from, except for the fact that the Nikkor is a very old design.

All three of them are excellent lenses though.

Jan 29, 2009 at 01:50 AM

alexandre
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p.1 #18 · Personal Ultron experience

My pancake on XSi:

This image is copyrighted by the owner

Jan 29, 2009 at 04:13 PM

mawz
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p.1 #19 · Personal Ultron experience

ISO1600 wrote:
mawz- if the 35 and 58 were both F2.0 like the 40, then they would almost be the same exact lens. That is where a large part of this difference comes from, except for the fact that the Nikkor is a very old design.

All three of them are excellent lenses though.

Well except for them being completely different designs with different optical characteristics. The 40 is a 2 aspherical surface design, the 58 and 35 are spherical. The 40 is pretty much a straight Planar design while both the 58 and 35 differ from a standard Planar design. The 58 closely resembles the Rokkor and Noct-Nikkor in basic optical formula. Very different performance across all three wide open and down 1-2 stops. They don't start to perform similarly until 2 stops down from wide open.

Jan 29, 2009 at 07:21 PM

brainiac
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p.1 #20 · Personal Ultron experience

alexandre wrote:
My pancake on XSi:

This image is copyrighted by the owner

Try the f3.5 version: it's is noticably better on XSi.

Jan 29, 2009 at 08:25 PM

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