p.1 #1 · UPDATED: Twelve 50ish Lenses Do Battle! Part 2
Looking on my lens shelf, I realized I had a fair amount of lenses in the 50mm range. 12, to be exact, between 40-58mm. So I decided to see which was sharpest. I haven't tested anything else, though I will eventually do bokeh between all 12 as well. Right now, I just tested center sharpness, since I didn't have time to do more. I will not evaluate rendering, since there's such variation, and as you all know, it's so subjective as to what each person likes.
This was just for fun...nothing earth shattering to conclude. The lenses include an old Petri 55/2, some Canon FDs, a Rokkor, Olympus OM Macro, a bunch of Hexanons and some native micro 4/3 lenses as well.
Edit:
Part 2 of my evaluation is now up, which looks at the edge of the frame. I took the advice of many and tested all at f/5.6. I was going to do that for the bokeh test anyway, so I just combined both. I will compile and post comments on the bokeh either tomorrow or Tuesday.
p.1 #2 · UPDATED: Twelve 50ish Lenses Do Battle! Part 2
cool! thanks.
you should probably have stopped the faster lenses down more for the optimum sharpness part. while i'm sure the OM 50/3.5 is probably at best performance at f/5.6 and losing sharpness due to diffraction at f/8, i'm also sure all the f/1.4 and f/1.2 lenses will be sharper at f/4 and probably f/5.6 than at f/2.8. also exposure differences will bias appearance of sharpness (fine detail can be lost in highlights etc).
p.1 #3 · UPDATED: Twelve 50ish Lenses Do Battle! Part 2
12 lenses in the 50mm range?. That's even more than I have. I've only got 8, and I thought that was excessive. I know its a lot of work to do something like this, so my hat's off to you. All I can say, however, is, "What, no Zeiss??"
p.1 #5 · UPDATED: Twelve 50ish Lenses Do Battle! Part 2
I debated shooting all the lenses at f/4 or f/5.6, but decided I'd go the 'two stops' route for a few reasons. It would mean that all the lenses were closed down similarly compared to their lens designs, which I thought might be more fair for a comparison. Number 2, some lenses might be sharper two stops down than 4. I also could find the sharpest aperture for each lens, but frankly, I just don't have the time for that. As it was, with this quick test, it took me over two hours to take the pictures, process them, crop them and write the article. Doing it that way would probably have added another 3-4 hours. Since this test was more for fun than anything, I didn't want to spend too much time. (as it is, with the other tests, I'll probably spend another 4-6 hours on it).
I have owned the Zeiss 50/1.7 and the SMC Takumar 50/1.4 (and Super Takumar 50/1.4). All great lenses, and I'd love to have them in this test, but I can't justify repurchasing them now, especially since I use my Oly 45/1.8 now for 95% of my work in this range, except for macro work of course. The Hexanon 57/1.2 gets the remainder for it's rendering and super shallow DOF possible. Before I got the Oly, the FD 50/1.4 was on my camera a lot, as it's probably the best overall performer of the manual focus lenses I have now...very sharp wide open, still sharp stopped down with decent bokeh and good color...but it doesn't hold a candle to the Oly 45/1.8, so it's fallen by the wayside.
I'm still trying to think about how best to do the bokeh test. I know I'm going to do wide open and all at f/4, but I'm not sure how I'm going to set up the background or best show the comparison. I think that full shots (reduced to about 1000 pix) would be best to show the character of bokeh, but I'm not sure how best to let people compare the shots.
p.1 #6 · UPDATED: Twelve 50ish Lenses Do Battle! Part 2
Lotusm50 wrote:
12 lenses in the 50mm range?. That's even more than I have. I've only got 8, and I thought that was excessive. I know its a lot of work to do something like this, so my hat's off to you. All I can say, however, is, "What, no Zeiss??"
I'm probably going to sell my FD 50/1.8, as I haven't used it since I got the 50/1.4. I thought I'd use it for a more compact solution, but now with the Oly 45, it's even smaller than the FD 50/1.8, so that went out the window. The Hexanon 50/1.7 will also likely be sold soon, and possibly the 40/1.8, though I love the look that lens gives from time to time.
The 40-150 and 14-45, of course, have uses far different than '50mm use'. I MIGHT sell my Oly 50/3.5 macro, but it's hard to get rid of...it's got a great look. The Petri, of course, isn't ever used...I don't know anyone who makes a Petriflex mount adapter, so it's relegated to display right now, though it might be fun to try and put a roll of film through the camera.
p.1 #8 · UPDATED: Twelve 50ish Lenses Do Battle! Part 2
Jman13 wrote:
I debated shooting all the lenses at f/4 or f/5.6, but decided I'd go the 'two stops' route for a few reasons. It would mean that all the lenses were closed down similarly compared to their lens designs, which I thought might be more fair for a comparison. Number 2, some lenses might be sharper two stops down than 4. I also could find the sharpest aperture for each lens, but frankly, I just don't have the time for that. As it was, with this quick test, it took me over two hours to take the pictures, process them, crop them and write the article. Doing it that way would probably have added another 3-4 hours. Since this test was more for fun than anything, I didn't want to spend too much time. (as it is, with the other tests, I'll probably spend another 4-6 hours on it). ...Show more →
i'm pretty sure all the 50ish lenses should be sharpest or very close to it at f/5.6. after that they'll all start losing to diffraction on the gh2 unless they really suck (unlikely as 50s are easy to make sharp). here's a comparison of a bunch i did a while ago on a lower pixel density nex-3: https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/978848/0?keyword=50ish#9281573
p.1 #9 · UPDATED: Twelve 50ish Lenses Do Battle! Part 2
Typical Zeiss, high contrast, but the Leica has lower contrast, but apparently better resolution. Both look great. The Voigtländer also looks decent. The others? Oh well.
p.1 #12 · UPDATED: Twelve 50ish Lenses Do Battle! Part 2
Yeah there have been a bunch of 50 tests here. It would be way cool if they were all posted in one thread. Here's my most recent go. I used the 1m rez-chart for mine - I only did 10 tho:
WB was set manually using the Canon nFD f/1.4 because I also wanted to see the color differences between them.
p.1 #14 · UPDATED: Twelve 50ish Lenses Do Battle! Part 2
Yeah, I have a lot of lenses like that. Fully wide open == not so good... But WAY LESS than one stop closed - where the blades are juuuust peaking out and bam! Much improved!
p.1 #16 · UPDATED: Twelve 50ish Lenses Do Battle! Part 2
Part 2 of my evaluation is now up, which looks at the edge of the frame. I took the advice of many and tested all at f/5.6. I was going to do that for the bokeh test anyway, so I just combined both. I will compile and post comments on the bokeh either tomorrow or Tuesday.
p.1 #17 · UPDATED: Twelve 50ish Lenses Do Battle! Part 2
Thanks for taking the time to test and share, Jordan! Even testing a few lenses takes a lot of effort, twelve is pretty extreme.
If you didn't see the very long thread about photozone and other tests there was an interesting discussion there about lens testing and magnification ratio (subject distance for a given focal length). Some lenses testing quite a bit different at close focus than distant focus. So for test shots it can be pretty important to set up the correct size test target.
Since I know you probably use these lenses for head/shoulders portraits of your daughter I think you chose just about the right size for your uses. For more distant shots you might find the order re-arranged a little bit. Though based on my use I'd expect the 45/1.8 to always come out on top.
What is definitely clear is that the 45/1.8 purpose built for m43 is stellar. No need to bother with adapted lenses at that focal length anymore. I compared the 45/1.8 and FD 50/1.4 at a longer distance (about head and shoulders for an adult) with very similar results.
p.1 #18 · UPDATED: Twelve 50ish Lenses Do Battle! Part 2
Very interesting -- thanks! By any measure, the new 45/1.8 is a solid choice.
It might also be interesting to see how the various f/1.4 lenses do in a comparison at f/1.8 -- I think you'll see a lot of the bloominess tamed quite a bit. Still, it's hard to see anything beating the utility of the 45/1.8 as an all-around choice for M43.
