I just did my own comparison of:
85/4 ZM
90/3.5 CV
90/2.8 Sigma
85/2.4 Lox
on my A7RIII.
And I have to say that these are all great lenses and as far as sharpness goes it's really splitting hairs at 42MP.
I had planned on getting the 90/2.8 APO CV, but I really don't want to go back to non-CPU lenses (like my 85/4ZM or 90/3.5 CV) and the optical performance doesn't appear to be superior to any of the above based on initial results from folks here on FM.
As such, of the four lenses above, the 90/2.8 is slightly the weakest of them sharpness-wise (only off-center wide open), though not by that much. I will be selling the 85/4ZM and 90/3.5 CV APO because they will not get used that much anymore now that I have the Sigma and the Lox (both recent purchases).
We really have some great options now at the 85/90mm focal length.
Infinity Performance compared to Sigma 90mm f/2.8 DG DN
Two completely different lenses sharing the same focal length and maximum aperture. One manual focus, designed for the M-mount and other equipped with fast AF for the E-mount.
They are both compact and light lenses with great build but the Voigtlander has a wider field of view at infinity distance.
Just like the Voigtlander copy in hands, the Sigma 90/2.8 at hands is perfectly centered and sharp at any distance, which makes me confident this is a fair comparison.
Here are how they compare in size:
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Here is the full image thumbnail showing the area demonstrated at 1:1 magnification.
At 90mm EXTREME CORNER resolution/contrast comparison between Voigtlander 90mm f/2.8 APO-Skopar and Sigma 90mm f/2.8 DG DN
Extreme Corner at f/2.8: The Sigma is stronger wide open at the extreme corners. It has even higher vignetting though. Also notice the difference in field of view. The Voigtlander is noticeably wider
Extreme Corner at f/4: Both lenses improve slightly. The Sigma is still ahead capturing higher frequency detail. Perhaps optimal aperture for both lenses
I doubt you'd be able to pick a difference in a blind test with the center, but the midframe and corner show exactly the sort of microcontrast loss you'd expect with significant distortion correction; and in the case of the corner, there is some loss of resolution visible as well.
Relatively coarse/ low frequency structures look similar, but its the fine fractal nature of the vegetation that takes a hit - as well, there's a sort of haze over the image that degrades the impression of 3D, so more of an issue for landscape photography.
Overall, the Sigma does well though, and I'd probably chose it over the new Cosina for landscape. Begs the question: what was Cosina up to here? It should of been relatively easy to produce a razor sharp lens across the frame: the fact that its not, well, that must be on purpose, and provide some, as yet, undiscovered quality in the rendering.
Petegh wrote:
I doubt you'd be able to pick a difference in a blind test with the center, but the midframe and corner show exactly the sort of microcontrast loss you'd expect with significant distortion correction; and in the case of the corner, there is some loss of resolution visible as well.
Relatively coarse/ low frequency structures look similar, but its the fine fractal nature of the vegetation that takes a hit - as well, there's a sort of haze over the image that degrades the impression of 3D, so more of an issue for landscape photography.
Overall, the Sigma does well though, and I'd probably chose it over the new Cosina for landscape. Begs the question: what was Cosina up to here? It should of been relatively easy to produce a razor sharp lens acros the frame: the fact that its not, well, that must be on purpose, and provide some, as yet, undiscovered quality in the rendering....Show more →
I think for rangefinder shooting, which this lens was designed for, one of the big things this lens provides is a small size--small enough that it doesn't block the 90mm frame lines at all. It also is a great general purpose lens. A jack of all trades but master of none and that too is a great design goal for a rangefinder lens. I plan to pick it up and I think it will be great for my M10 travel kit.
Steve Spencer wrote:
I think for rangefinder shooting, which this lens was designed for, one of the big things this lens provides is a small size--small enough that it doesn't block the 90mm frame lines at all. It also is a great general purpose lens. A jack of all trades but master of none and that too is a great design goal for a rangefinder lens. I plan to pick it up and I think it will be great for my M10 travel kit.
Hi Steve,
As it turns out, I did not make it out to use the lens Thursday or Friday and today Christmas Day it is raining. Tomorrow, Sunday is supposed to be sunny with a high of 48 degrees F. So, I will plan for tomorrow.
Fred Miranda wrote:
Honestly, I can't tell much difference at 100% magnificaiton.
Here is a comparison at f/4 showing center, mid-field and extreme corners.
Corrected (using the Lightroom profile) versus Uncorrected:
That's a great comparison! ... and it matches my impression when I played around with 85DN distortion correction, that it's indistinguishable to my eye. I think this is good news as the distortion on both 90i and 85DN is pretty massive .
j4nu wrote:
That's a great comparison! ... and it matches my impression when I played around with 85DN distortion correction, that it's indistinguishable to my eye. I think this is good news as the distortion on both 90i and 85DN is pretty massive .
Yes, it will be a case of emperor's new clothes.
Some photographers will see a difference and others won't. To my eyes, any difference is negligible, especially considering we are analyzing this at pixel level. (100% mag.)
I'm curious about this lens as I need a decent portrait performer on my M9. CA control is quite important on that sensor especially around highlights so I'm curious as to how this performs. The Voigtlander 75mm F1.5 already doesn't seem like a bad performer here though. It'll probably come down to these two performers.
Thank you so much for the comparison, Fred. I have the sigma and feel it is quite exceptional for the size. it does have the corner bokeh issue (strong cat eye etc..) but I think the total package overtake its flaw to me. I am sure I will take it with me on trip.
This doesn't change the value of this Voigtlander. If you prefer manual lens, better build small glass with good color correction, this is the one. My need at this focal is AF so Sigma take the lead. (to match my 24/45 f2.8 set) For M, I seldom put longer than 50mm on it, and then I also have VC75 which I like a lot. It is not much bigger, but much faster and I think at least as sharp as this 90mm.
