The 180/3.4 APO continues to be my sharpest lens near 200mm by a large margin - it along with my 135/2 APO Zeiss and 16/3.5 AI Nikkor are my sharpness benchmarks at 36MP.
jhinkey wrote:
The 180/3.4 APO continues to be my sharpest lens near 200mm by a large margin - it along with my 135/2 APO Zeiss and 16/3.5 AI Nikkor are my sharpness benchmarks at 36MP.
Yes, it's quite amazing that 180/3.4 APO is dated in 70's. A remarkable achievement from leica.
phuang3 wrote:
Yes, it's quite amazing that 180/3.4 APO is dated in 70's. A remarkable achievement from leica.
I've got an older model that came to me needing some significant TLC - I've cleaned it up, Leitax-converted it to chipped F-mount and it delivers the goods even though it's just in fair shape cosmetically.
I like it so much that I might find a more recent model that has the improved coatings and the built-in 60mm filter threads. It even stands up to the pixel pitch of my GX7 and also produces tack sharp images even wide open.
I've been distracted by my latest acquisition, a 28-70. I got it as a knockabout kind of lens that plays well with my existing equipment. I'm surprised by how well it performs. I'm going around and taking comparison photos from time to time, and I haven't created profiles for its sometimes-significant distortion, but I'm very pleased with this lens so far. Definitely better than expected.
28-70 (II), Speed Booster, NEX-7; I think around 25mm f/2.6.
JonPB wrote:
I've been distracted by my latest acquisition, a 28-70. I got it as a knockabout kind of lens that plays well with my existing equipment. I'm surprised by how well it performs. I'm going around and taking comparison photos from time to time, and I haven't created profiles for its sometimes-significant distortion, but I'm very pleased with this lens so far. Definitely better than expected.
28-70 (II), Speed Booster, NEX-7; I think around 25mm f/2.6.
The sb adds some barrel distortion. Do you have sb ultra or old sb?
Hah! The distortion often isn't visible, but it also takes a mustache shape so it isn't easy to correct when it matters.
On the other hand, from what I've seen so far, I might be content to carry only this lens on a daily basis. Between 28 and 50mm, none of my other lenses put it to shame; the 28-70 can even best all of them in some ways.
Mine is the original SB. I haven't seen evidence that the Ultra is much of an upgrade, though that may just be because there aren't many reviews for it out there. (I offered to do a review for Metabones, but they turned me down because they didn't have enough stock yet. Maybe I should email them again.) Then again, it probably won't be too long until an A7 costs as much as a Speed Booster, at which point I might just have to deal with my thumb digging into my right eye as I shoot with my left.
