p.1 #1 · Handevision Iberit 75/2.4 FE mount owners? reviews?
Anyone tried the Handevision 75/2.4 in Sony mount? I can't find any reviews or opinions on the lens on Sony bodies. Now that they are available in the $300-range, thinking about taking a chance. Really like a 35/75 combo for a two lens kit.
p.1 #2 · Handevision Iberit 75/2.4 FE mount owners? reviews?
There's so many adaptable vintage lenses and even modern ones from established brands like Voigtlander in the same price range or cheaper with established reviews and performance, I highly doubt that many people are going to jump on the recent glut of MF lenses coming out from unknown manufacturers. Especially since many of these new lenses don't boast much to talk about... they're not fast... they don't boast unique rendering... no special features to let them shine above the rest.
p.1 #3 · Handevision Iberit 75/2.4 FE mount owners? reviews?
Yeah, it's been hard to justify this lens when something like the Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 is available. I've been using it with the CV 35mm f/1.7 Ultron VM in my 35/75 combo. Used they seem to go for $250-275 and are good performers. There's room for improvement, but at the prices these Handevision lenses came out for originally it didn't seem like a compelling option to me.
p.1 #4 · Handevision Iberit 75/2.4 FE mount owners? reviews?
75mm, manual focus, light and small, low cost and native FE mount (no adapters) are why I am interested in learning more. And positive reviews of the 75 in M mount (sounds like it is the only lens in the series worth looking at, based on limited available reviews).
Leica Summarit and Voigtlander Heliar are only 75’s I am aware of. Are there other 75’s worth considering?
p.1 #6 · Handevision Iberit 75/2.4 FE mount owners? reviews?
There's also the Pentax 77mm f/1.8. That's an excellent lens, though I don't much like the MF experience. Short travel, no dampening. I'm not aware of any others, though there are certainly a lot of 85mm lenses which are close enough in actual use, though perhaps not for OCD field of view demands.
One advantage of the Voigtlander 75/2.5 over the Handevision 75/2.4 is the number of aperture blade. The Handevision has 6, which is a big turn-off and is really surprising for a non-SLR lens.
p.1 #7 · Handevision Iberit 75/2.4 FE mount owners? reviews?
Focal length is weird... I really liked the 50/2 on Fuji, a very useful general purpose lens for me, like a tight normal. The 56 was too tight... 85s feel more tele to me than 75. Maybe I should just shoot a 50 in crop mode on the a7r3...
p.1 #8 · Handevision Iberit 75/2.4 FE mount owners? reviews?
If that's what you're after, there you go.
Have you ever checked out the Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5? The f/1.8 is supposed to be good, but I've read that the f/2.5 might be sharper when stopped down and is a better generalist lens vs portrait lens. I love how tiny and light it is.
p.1 #9 · Handevision Iberit 75/2.4 FE mount owners? reviews?
arduluth wrote:
Have you ever checked out the Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5? The f/1.8 is supposed to be good, but I've read that the f/2.5 might be sharper when stopped down and is a better generalist lens vs portrait lens. I love how tiny and light it is.
Have not. Will do. Thx for suggestion. How is focus throw? Looking for focus throw on the longer end if possible.
p.1 #10 · Handevision Iberit 75/2.4 FE mount owners? reviews?
For the Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5, the focus throw is pretty short. I can check the lens when I'm at home, but I believe it's less than 180 degrees. From memory, it's somewhere 90-120 degrees.
p.1 #11 · Handevision Iberit 75/2.4 FE mount owners? reviews?
I asked kipon about differing coverglass thicknesses and whether they're designing custom lenses for each different mount. They said that I don't know what I'm talking about and coverglass has no impact on lens design. Suffice to say - buyer beware.
p.1 #13 · Handevision Iberit 75/2.4 FE mount owners? reviews?
arduluth wrote:
There's also the Pentax 77mm f/1.8. That's an excellent lens, though I don't much like the MF experience. Short travel, no dampening. I'm not aware of any others, though there are certainly a lot of 85mm lenses which are close enough in actual use, though perhaps not for OCD field of view demands.
One advantage of the Voigtlander 75/2.5 over the Handevision 75/2.4 is the number of aperture blade. The Handevision has 6, which is a big turn-off and is really surprising for a non-SLR lens.
The 77mm was absolutely my favourite lens when I shot with Pentax. Considered one of the top 3 lenses ever made at one time. It's a beautiful lens but as you say the MF experience is awful otherwise I'd have picked it up again.
p.1 #14 · Handevision Iberit 75/2.4 FE mount owners? reviews?
thrice wrote:
I asked kipon about differing coverglass thicknesses and whether they're designing custom lenses for each different mount. They said that I don't know what I'm talking about and coverglass has no impact on lens design. Suffice to say - buyer beware.
This bears out something I wrote in an earlier thread:
First prize, one Handevision Iberit lens of your choice. Second prize, two Handevision Iberit lenses...
His Conclusion:
The Kipon Iberit 75mm F2.4 is a real gem and a fantastic manual lens for the price (300$)
It is a excellent for portrait and there is currently no other 75mm For Sony E mount
The Aperture of 2.4 may seems modest but I prefer a very good F2.4 than an average F1.8
Pros
Very good build quality (much better than 7Artisans or Meike Lenses)
Small and light
Excellent sharpness in the centre as of F2.8
Superb background blur
Very good color rendition
Low price
Good focusing ring
Good Bokeh balls wide open
Low distorsion, good resistance to flare
Moderate lensfall off
Full family of lenses (24, 35, 50, 75, 90mm) to get consistent results for most common type of usages
Cons
Bokeh when close down (Hexagon)
Aperture ring with no click less possibility
no lens hood provided (but you can buy one for 10$
Corners sharpness wide open only average (but not very important for portrait)
Some CA in difficult situation
Manual lens with no EXIF transmission to the body
From my test this is certainly the most desirable lens of the IBERIT series and their top performer even if most of the other IBERIT are also very good
Highly recommended for manual lenses portrait shooters
p.1 #16 · Handevision Iberit 75/2.4 FE mount owners? reviews?
Just got my Kipon Iberit 75mm f/2.4. Here's my "quick review" & comparison. I'll update this as I get to use this lens more. A week from now I will be taking it for a 4 night trip to Barcelona, where I plan to use it in a kit with CV21/3.5 and CV40/1.2. I also have the Voigtländer Color-Heliar 75mm f/2.5 which I immediately pitted against for comparison.
The main reason I was interested of the Kipon was that it was a good looking native lens so no closeup adapters needed to focus close, like I have to do with the Heliar. I wanted to see if I could replace my Color-Heliar with the Kipon. But more testing will be needed until I sell my beloved Heliar. From the few reviews so far I've seen from this lens it seemed quite the bargain for what you get. Since I either shoot this lens mostly wide open or stopped down to about f/8 for landscapes, these two "extremes" are all I'm interested in. This is why the six-leaf aperture blades don't bother me at all. Sunstars are more important to me with my wider CV21 & CV40 lenses.
DISCLAIMER: I'm not usually that much of pixel peeper, but I've used a lot different glass in my Sony's, including native glass as well as legacy glass. This Kipon optically seems very nice and nothing like the old legacy portrait lenses I've used. Just don't expect me to shoot test charts or anything like that. And I'm more interested in practical use, so no tripod test scenarios either. I'm using it on the 24Mp A7III body, so keep that in mind.
BUILD QUALITY: I'm positively suprised. These current versions are said to be improved from the earlier models, which had their own problems. I've used many cheap chinese lenses from 7artisans and Meike and this Kipon is way better than any of those. The mount snaps with equal firmness as my Voigtländers, focus ring moves with almost identical smoothness and dampening as the Color-Heliar (which I've got a nice specimen). The focus throw is also very similar, although a bit longer since it continues further from 1m to 60cm. Overall not that long but long enough for getting accurate focus easily, which is helped by the fact that focus peaking works really well with this lens. The aperture ring has a bit more rough grinding feel to it but not that bad. Not as luxurious as with Voigtländers, but similar to many legacy lenses from Minolta and Pentax that I've used. It has the half-click stops which I like. All in all this lens feels really nice and balanced with the A7III. Weight is almost the same as with the Color-Heliar and adapter. They've also dropped the "Handevision" branding and are "Kipon" branded lenses now. The Sony versions are still "Iberit", unlike Nikon and Canon where they are branded "Elegant".
IMAGE QUALITY: What surprised me the most was how close this thing is to the Color-Heliar. Almost can't tell a difference - and actually couldn't if I didn't watch the images side-by-side.
- Both lenses are roughly just as sharp wide open. Good resolution across the whole image on 24Mp sensor.
- Both are more than sharp enough to edges/corners when stopped down to f/8. Impressive.
- Kipon takes in more light. With otherwise same settings wide open, camera chose smaller ISO with Kipon.
- Bokeh balls also seems larger with kipon when wide open. Didn't expect to see as much of a difference.
- CA-wise both are pretty equal. Nothing to complain about.
- Kipon seems to render with a tiny bit warmer cast than the Voigtländer.
- Mechanical vignetting (bokeh with oval shapes in corners) seems similar as with Color-Heliar.
- Kipon can focus closer than Color-Heliar, even when using the VM-E closeup adapter. A BIG PLUS.
MY TEST SHOTS: Full 6000x4000 size available.
Just some of my default import editing, keeping identical settings, white balance etc. No vignetting or CA removed. https://www.flickr.com/gp/tonipalmen/gLM25x
BOTTOM LINE:
I don't think I'll need more comparison shots. I'll retire the Color-Heliar for now, but will keep it as backup just in case for a while, until I feel confident enough this Kipon can replace it in the long run. At the moment I feel it could actually do that. And I might even try the Kipon 35mm f/2.4 as well... We shall see.
p.1 #17 · Handevision Iberit 75/2.4 FE mount owners? reviews?
Just checked the throw of the Color Heliar 2.5/75, it's around 100 degrees. 10 blades. I'll post a good number of people shots from this trip and usability commentary upon return. The filter thread-hood-cap setup is the best I've seen. It's 100g lighter than this Iberit, it all counts to me. I bought it to complement my 3.5/100 Sonnar, which sees either f3.5 or f8, seldom see 6 blade remnants. 100mm is a little remote for my efforts. Looking forward to your thoughts post-trip, Tonzah.
p.1 #18 · Handevision Iberit 75/2.4 FE mount owners? reviews?
Yeah, the Color-Heliar is one of my favourites. So I'm pretty impressed this Kipon can pretty much match it and even exceed it in some departments.
The closeup adapter adds weight to balance them out, if you have one (like I do). Sure you can get a bit lighter with the Voigtländer when using a lightweight simple adapter. I feel they are so close in IQ department as well as usability standpoint, so it's up to personal preferences which one to have. Even if it has only six blades, the aperture stays rather round at the first few stops (rounded blades). Reminds me of the legacy Minolta lenses in many ways. Also got the separate metal bayonet lens hood for this. Seems pretty nice. Although it doesn't click firmly, it stays on well enough. The Kipon is a nice option if you don't want to look for a good copy of the Color-Heliar or don't want the hassle with adapters. I really need to test more, but I think Kipon renders a bit smoother at longer distances wide open. But can't be sure yet. Will be going outdoors hiking this sunday. Gonna test the Kipon more then.
Here's couple casual shots from yesterday. So far I'm really enjoying using this lens.
p.1 #19 · Handevision Iberit 75/2.4 FE mount owners? reviews?
Few pictures from sunday with the Kipon. Went outdoors with my parents and my own and sister's families for mother's day. I am actually pretty torn about this lens. I really, really like it's handling and overall image quality quite a lot. For portraits it's razor sharp in the middle and it renders a bit smoother image (bokeh) than the Voigtländer Color-Heliar 75mm f/2.5, but the difference is so small I find it hard to justify replacing the Color-Heliar with the Kipon. Overall I fink Kipon a really nice lens and well worth the money if you don't have the Color-Heliar. But I think I'll stick with Color-Heliar in the end. It's a tough call as both are great. But I just like the idea of a kit of three Voigtländer lenses.
Some observations (Kipon vs Voigtländer):
- Both are sharp enough for me at least on the 24Mp body.
- Stopped down Kipon might a bit sharper for landscape shooting. Not so much it would matter to me.
- Kipon has a bit smoother rendering wide open at medium distances. Close up they're pretty identical.
- I like the "character" of the Voigtländer maybe a little bit more.
- Voigtländer build quality is a tiny bit better. (Only the aperture ring in Kipon ain't as smooth.)
- Voigtländer has a bit better contrast and less blueish CA & haze in bright subjects. Both are low element count primes (which I love), so it is expected. Nothing to really worry about in either.
