Going by the large amount of feather and fur detail it captured I'd say its a lot sharper than my Carl Zeiss 180mm f2.8 "Olympic" Sonnar but I dought that it will outresolve my Nikon 105mm f2.5 AIS, unless its on further away subjects.
I would say that it has much better bokeh than the Nikon 105mm though not quite of parr with the Zeiss 180mm.
It would be interesting to compare it side by side against the Nikon 135mm f2 and/or the Zeiss 135mm f1.8 but those lenses are way outside my meagre budget.
The Sigmatel has been marketed under several different brand names, including Sun and Spiratone and it uses an upscaled Sonnar design with 5 elements in 3 groups with only six glass to air surfaces, compared to the 6 elements in 4 groups with 8 glass to air surfaces of the Nikon 135mm f2.
Its minimum focus distance is 1.3m (4.5ft), same as the Nikon 135mm f2.
I was very supprised at how sharp this lens is at f4 and f5.6 because WO it suffers quite a bit from Coma and CA, though of course that is less of a problem for B&W shots.
Surprisingly sharp and yet soft, the impossible combination needed for flattering portraits.
I have a Spiratone, and two Raynox Polaris, all YS MC versions of that Sigma 135mm f1.8. I removed the mount parts down to the T2 42mm x .75mm thread and use either T2-to-M42 or T2-to-SA(Sigma). If we run into an older CS M42 ring, replacing the CS M42 part would have those older version lenses focus a little beyond infinity, I think, due to 0.16mm longer CS ffl. They frequently come with weird diameter T2 flanges, too, so I take that off and attach conventional T2 mount flanges to the T2 thread. One of them did not have an M/A switch so I superglued the aperture pin down, and then the aperture was fully manual(versus not working!).
"Named after the founder of the Sigma Optical Co, Michihiro Yamaki. Short for (Y)amiki (S)igma. An innovation of Sigma, lenses with the YS mount were imported under the Spiratone, Samigon, Rokunar, Accura and other brands"
Are there any preset versions with front diaphragm? http://photo.net/pentax-camera-forum/00PLY0 "Kent Gittings , Jun 10, 2008; 11:02 a.m...It[105 not 135!] is not a great lens. If it is a 1965 lens and preset it will NOT be a YS lens, just a T-mount one. All YS lenses have the aperture assembly in the rear so that those YS mounts with aperture control can function properly. The Vivitar series 1 105/2.5 Macro on the other hand is one of the finest lenses ever made. As a macro it will hold it's own against the best OEM lenses from any maker. And unlike some older lenses with inferior coatings it works superbly with DSLRs also. No noticable CA and sharp edge to edge with either FF or APS-C. For cameras with mounts compatible with older lenses, meaning Pentax and Nikon, I would choose it first over any other. This lens was built to Vivitar's design specs by Kiron who later sold it under their own brand as a 105/2.8 macro lens. It might have a pinch less resolution than the even more famous Vivitar series 1 90mm F2.5 Macro (Tokina built)(Photodo 4.0 vs. 4.1) but unlike the 90mm it goes to 1:1 without an adapter or the 2x macro-focusing teleconverter...As for the Spiratone lens the one bright feature is the preset diaphagm. These have superior bokeh to rear diaphragm lenses of similar quality. As a collector of older M42 and YS mount lenses (also the guru of the YS mount according to the official 3rd party lens site) I have a really old Pentax Takumar preset of 200/3.5 that has stunning bokeh in out of focus objects due to the front mounted 18 blade aperture. If you are interested I have a Spiratone 135/1.8 in YS mount with either a regular YS M42 or a Pentax ES version (open aperture meteing with a Spotmatic F, ES or ES II). This lens was made by Sun Optical for various marketing brands like Spiratone, Polaris, Acura, and others, with a YS mount. I have a Polaris one also. They are a little soft wide open so they make a decent portait lens. Has a huge 82mm filter size. Also have a 135/1.8 in Sigma XQ series which is also a YS but it is in Pentax K-mount. This lens is sharper with a 77mm filter. This lens was also available in a Spiratone model and one sold recently in M42 on Astromart. -Kent Gittings"
bob_dodds wrote:
Surprisingly sharp and yet soft, the impossible combination needed for flattering portraits.
I have a Spiratone, and two Raynox Polaris, all YS MC versions of that Sigma 135mm f1.8. I removed the mount parts down to the T2 42mm x .75mm thread and use either T2-to-M42 or T2-to-SA(Sigma). If we run into an older CS M42 ring, replacing the CS M42 part would have those older version lenses focus a little beyond infinity, I think, due to 0.16mm longer CS ffl. They frequently come with weird diameter T2 flanges, too, so I take that off and attach conventional T2 mount flanges to the T2 thread. One of them did not have an M/A switch so I superglued the aperture pin down, and then the aperture was fully manual(versus not working!).
"Named after the founder of the Sigma Optical Co, Michihiro Yamaki. Short for (Y)amiki (S)igma. An innovation of Sigma, lenses with the YS mount were imported under the Spiratone, Samigon, Rokunar, Accura and other brands"
Are there any preset versions with front diaphragm? http://photo.net/pentax-camera-forum/00PLY0 "Kent Gittings , Jun 10, 2008; 11:02 a.m...It[105 not 135!] is not a great lens. If it is a 1965 lens and preset it will NOT be a YS lens, just a T-mount one. All YS lenses have the aperture assembly in the rear so that those YS mounts with aperture control can function properly. The Vivitar series 1 105/2.5 Macro on the other hand is one of the finest lenses ever made. As a macro it will hold it's own against the best OEM lenses from any maker. And unlike some older lenses with inferior coatings it works superbly with DSLRs also. No noticable CA and sharp edge to edge with either FF or APS-C. For cameras with mounts compatible with older lenses, meaning Pentax and Nikon, I would choose it first over any other. This lens was built to Vivitar's design specs by Kiron who later sold it under their own brand as a 105/2.8 macro lens. It might have a pinch less resolution than the even more famous Vivitar series 1 90mm F2.5 Macro (Tokina built)(Photodo 4.0 vs. 4.1) but unlike the 90mm it goes to 1:1 without an adapter or the 2x macro-focusing teleconverter...As for the Spiratone lens the one bright feature is the preset diaphagm. These have superior bokeh to rear diaphragm lenses of similar quality. As a collector of older M42 and YS mount lenses (also the guru of the YS mount according to the official 3rd party lens site) I have a really old Pentax Takumar preset of 200/3.5 that has stunning bokeh in out of focus objects due to the front mounted 18 blade aperture. If you are interested I have a Spiratone 135/1.8 in YS mount with either a regular YS M42 or a Pentax ES version (open aperture meteing with a Spotmatic F, ES or ES II). This lens was made by Sun Optical for various marketing brands like Spiratone, Polaris, Acura, and others, with a YS mount. I have a Polaris one also. They are a little soft wide open so they make a decent portait lens. Has a huge 82mm filter size. Also have a 135/1.8 in Sigma XQ series which is also a YS but it is in Pentax K-mount. This lens is sharper with a 77mm filter. This lens was also available in a Spiratone model and one sold recently in M42 on Astromart. -Kent Gittings"...Show more →
For a guru on YS lenses he does'nt seem to know much about the history of them
I'm not sure about the older preset versions with 82mm filter threads but I'm sure that all the 135mm f1.8 lenses branded Spiratone, Polaris, Acura, Sun, Sigmatel and others with rear aperture dials and 77mm filter threads were all made by Sigma. I use a 3" deep Sonia brand 77mm metal lenshood on my Sigmatel as its the perfect hood for it.
BTW, the YS mount is actually named after the creater of Sigma optical in Japan (the Y stands for Yamaki and the S stands for Sigma).
The sharpness was a complete surprise to me because I have seen a lot of images from this lens and they all appear soft. f4 is not difficult to focus, and at f4 you are "already" getting that great sharpness.
bob_dodds wrote:
The sharpness was a complete surprise to me because I have seen a lot of images from this lens and they all appear soft. f4 is not difficult to focus, and at f4 you are "already" getting that great sharpness.
It might have something to do with the fact I was using it on a Sigma SD14
You have a great lens there. The Sigmatel 135/1.8 that I once had was not nearly as sharp when stopped down, compared to both my current 135/2L and to your shots. You might be interested to know that the All Sky Automated Survey prototype camera used the Sigmatel 135/1.8, see http://www.astrouw.edu.pl/asas/?psect=history&page=prototype
I tend to overlook that your images have any oof. If I think about it, your lens shows graceful decay into oof on these macro-like shots.
I have not seen the same sharpness with my Spiratone or Raynox Polaris versions of this lens, but I do notice the graceful decay into oof, both in front and behind focus.
I was wondering if Alf just got a good one. I got two out of three to perform about equally. The third may just be lagging in comparison because of a different aperture size by the same name leading to under-exposure. I think both Raynox are mc, Spiratone not sure. The Raynox have the same even light frequency profile on Sigma SD14 lcd info(even--less blue spike) and one says multi-coated.
I have heard of Spiratone the most, but we can expand the "market" by hyping the whole list of gallery and ebay search keywords.
Not sure about Porst but that is another marketing label for different makers. Actually "Zeiss", western and eastern, and "Nikon" are marketing labels for different makers.
